Fun in the Snow

I have learned my lesson about snow gear and next year I will buy everything we need for the winter in September when the stuff is first out on the shelves.  Juliana is wearing her snow pants from last year again this year and all 3 of them are still wearing their coats from last year as well – yay for 2 winters with the same coats!  In November I started looking for snow pants and boots for the boys.  Size 6 shoes are very difficult to find and size 6 boots are even less available.  And snow pants for toddlers – sold out for boys – in November – after the very first snowfall!  A few weeks later I stepped up my search (thinking that the shelves would be restocked) – in stores and online – toddler snow pants are very hard to find.  I eventually found some 2T pants in dark purple.  Yes, they are supposed to be for girls, but they are made exactly the same as the pants labeled for boys, the purple is very dark, and it was these or they wouldn’t be able to play outside for more than a few minutes this winter.  I also gave up on size 6 boots and bought size 7 – I was worried they would have trouble walking in boots for the first time so I didn’t want to size up, but the larger size made it a little bit easier to get on their feet.  I forgot how difficult it is to get boots on toddlers.

There was enough snow on the ground last weekend to make it worth the effort to get all 3 kids dressed to play outside.  The boys hadn’t been outside in days so they were very happy to get out of the house – they spent the majority of the time walking up and down the sidewalk and eventually venturing into the snow covered yard.

Juliana set out making snow angel after snow angel in rows across the yard.

And then she set out with her favorite activity – shoveling snow.  Don’t get too excited about this skill – she only likes to shovel snow from the grass and sometimes she deposits it onto the already shoveled sidewalk…I need to figure out how to convince her that shoveling the sidewalk is fun.

Wyatt was very confused when he tried to use the rake – his mittens don’t have a thumb space so he couldn’t hold it correctly.  He stood there clutching it in both hands for a while and then dropped it.

When Ruslan first walked through the snow he fell, then he got up and steadied himself and continued on his way.

Whenever I crouched down to take his picture, Ruslan would imitate me.