It's Finally Snowing!!!

Snow, oh glorious snow! Last winter we only got two snowfalls. So far this year it has snowed to the south of us and it has snowed to the north of us, but we've gotten nothing. This morning we awoke to a world of white and school cancelled due to SNOW :o)

The girls immediately wanted to go outside. (Let me amend that, the little girls, the teenager slept until 10am.) Middle DD and youngest DD geared up and went outside to build an igloo. Of course they have no concept of how an igloo is actually constructed.

Of course, the dog didn't know what an igloo was either. She jumped right in and started digging. She loved the snow! It must be that bit of Husky blood in her. She's been romping around in the stuff all morning.

DS went outside and got in on the action too. He found out it was good packing snow. Perfect for making snowballs and throwing them at little sisters and dogs. After he had enough playtime I got him to shovel the driveway and sidewalks. I think DH will be pleased when he gets home.

Adding Another Teenager

DS turned 13 in January. Ahhhhh! Another teenager! For a party he elected to have some extended family over to play on the Wii. For his birthday gift we took him to the toy store and let him pick out a new Wii game. I'm very happy that he picked out a game that has up to 4 players (after the hours he's spent playing Avatar by himself or with only one other since Christmas). Of course previous to the party the Wii malfunctioned and we had to have a new unit shipped out by the company. Ugh.

Here's his cake. He requested a yellow cake with plain frosting. I used a FG approved yellow cake mix. But when I went to make the frosting I ran out of the last of my Crisco. I can't buy more because they have now added TBHQ to the formula (a petroleum based preservative). So I whipped up some cream and slathered his cake with authentic whipped cream frosting. When he and DH left for the toy store, we quickly decorated it. I used a stencil for the stars. It was a round stencil, slightly smaller than the cake, so when I sprinkled cocoa powder on the star area it billowed in clouds and got beyond the border. I just went with it and it ended up looking like I had done that on purpose :o) The numbers are chocolate chips. And I sprinkled India Tree Colored Sugar Sprinkles on top (blue, green and yellow). It tasted even better than it looked.

Here's everyone participating in our extremely lively Wii party. (Okay, so the dog didn't really participate).

A meal in the dining room.....

A few gifts.....

And cake. He's officially 13.