Go Outside & Play - Building Snowmen

We love winter.

We had a late start on winter here in Wisconsin, but it finally arrived...in March!

Luckily, we were all ready to go and enjoy the snow when it arrived.
We got ready for some serious snowman building fun.

 

Every year I take a picture of the kids with their snowman and add it to their memory book.

It's a tradition that gets us really excited about the winter snow.

We needed a few supplies for our snowmen.

Charcoal briquettes are an old fashioned must for snow man decorating.
We use them as buttons on the front of the snowmen.

My very talented mother made mittens out of this adorable plaid fabric.
I stuffed the mittens and tied them onto sticks so the kids would have easy snowman arms.

Carrots for noses

Red marbles for mouths.
Cranberries work as well, but it was too late in the season for fresh cranberries.

A basket of beautiful scarves for our snowmen was also provided by my mom.

These are not for the snowmen.
These are for the snowmen creators and their cold little hands.
They are filled with rice and microwaved.
The kids loved these things for a quick warm up.

I hope you get a chance to enjoy the great outdoors this winter.

Go Outside and Play - A Bonfire and Hot Chocolate

Go Outside and Play!
Did you ever say that to your kids?

I do.

A lot. 

Sometimes it's how I keep my sanity.

Sometimes it's because it's a beautiful day.

Sometimes it's a great way to spend time together as a family...like today.

We have lots of bonfires outside in the fall.

S'mores, hot dogs {or the little irons stuffed with lots of yummy things} and a bonfire makes any kid happy.

But we thought a hot bonfire on a cold winter would be fun too.

We covered stumps with blankets so we had a warm place to sit.

I made our two favorite flavors of hot chocolate.

We let the kids invite some friends to join us.

And added a few treats for an extra sugar buzz.

Chocolate covered pretzels are always a hit.

Puppy chow showed off in some fancy little jars.
{Although, I came up with the decorations, I got the puppy chow in jars idea from Pinterest.}

We had crushed mint candy or homemade snowflake marshmallows to add to the hot chocolate.

Marshmallows were a hit.

The hot chocolate is from a mix...so easy to whip up.

I used these cute little note cards as coasters.
I added everyone's initials with brown stickers so everyone could keep track of their mug.
It worked perfectly.

The kids managed to find a bit of snow here and there.
 

Every drop of hot chocolate disappeared.

We had so much fun.

I have to tell you...

My Kids Took Every Single Picture For This Post!

I am so proud of the great job they did.
I loved watching them work together.
I hope you get some time to go outside and play this winter.