"Snow provokes responses that reach right back to childhood."

When I was woken at 6am on Friday morning by two very excited boys shouting "there's snow!!!", I pulled the duvet back over my head and thought 'all this for a light sprinkling' I need my sleep. 5 whole minutes of excitement passed before I was literally dragged from bed to join in with the prancing about. As I walked over to the window rubbing my eyes I wasn't expecting the magic that was going on outside. Despite my lack of motivation for getting out of bed that morning, I should probably point out that...

I can probably go as far as saying that when it gets to this time of year I crave it. If you don't mind the cold then snow can be the best fun. Ive never seen the boys get dressed so quick, we were outside just after 7am throwing snowballs (quietly of course). Gridlock traffic 5 minutes up the road on the school run soon changed to me u-turning my way back home so that we could have some serious fun. 9am and we already had a snowman built and that just kick started what has been an amazing 4 days so far. after the snowman was built we started building a snow base because lets be honest, a huge snowball fight was inevitable.

 It wouldn't have been fair, the kids having a base and not me, so we used a really useful box to make lots of snow bricks and built three walls for me to hide behind, it was the perfect way to protect myself from heavy fire.

Although we stayed out pretty much all day we had lots of hot drinks and snacks to keep us three snow brawlers warm and full of energy.

 With no sign of the snow leaving anytime soon and with Seth's school closed, today's snow fun was a morning of snowball fights, followed by sledging down the hills of a local farmers field, snow bliss.

To make things even more exciting, when we finally came in this evening we found out that the school will be closed again tomorrow. So we can continue the snow fun for another day.

"Snow provokes responses that reach right back to childhood."

It was freezing this morning and I really didn't feel like going out. I didn't feel like doing much house work either so we got out a big stack of colourful paper, cardboard, glue, pens, scissors and Duck tape. It was time to let our creative juices run wild. The theme for Opeie's dance class next week is 'snow' and Opeie had made it quite clear exactly what he wanted to take.

Opeie loves the old frosty the snowman cartoon which auntie Lotty had bought him at Christmas and he wanted to make a mask to show off at his class. I try and leave Opeie to his creating these days unless he asks for my help as he is very independent and if you try to get to involved your greeted with "I CAN DO IT!", so I sat next to him and made a mask of my own. I'm a touch fuzzier on the face so I decided to be the abominable snowman (based on the boys Lego minifigure because it's simple yet very cute).

Opeie lovingly hacked away at his paper and covered everything in glue but he knew exactly what he was trying to do. I decided to make mine out of paper cardboard and lots of Duck tape (it's a must for any craft box as it's so strong and sticky).

It wasn't a long craft session, we were pretty much finished within 45 minutes but it kept the little one entertained and the outcome was fun. Opeie was a little upset when he realised he wasn't going to the class after we'd finished the masks but he was very excited to show mommy what we had been up to.

A chilly walk through the hills at Carding Mill Valley

It's Mrs M's last few days of freedom as she told us this morning, She goes back to work Monday to Friday next week so she wanted to get out and do something. Seth on the other hand just wanted to stay in and wait for the postman as he is expecting some packages. But as Mrs M is the boss in our house we got ready for a day out. Seth decided that he wanted to go to Carding Mill Valley so we made a packed lunch for the car, wellies and everything we needed for wrapping up warm. The sun was bright and shiny and the sky was blue but it was rather nippy.

It was a nice drive down there and it didn't take too long, just long enough for Opeie to have a quick nap before the brisk walking commenced. Opeie was adamant that he was going to be wearing my hat and seth's gloves (quite the fashion statement). As we got closer to our destination we started to notice the snow and knew we were going to be in for a chilly mini hike.

We had a spot of lunch in the car when we arrived and then wrapped up warm for our rambling adventure. Seth finds it difficult to walk to far because of his muscles so the 10 minute walk from the car park to the reservoir took more like 40 minutes with the stopping for rests. It was lovely to be out and about walking though and the boys we're really enjoying themselves. Seth was desperate to get his wellies on so he could go splashing in the little stream and Opeie was just mesmerized by the sheep casually walking around.

We reached the Reservoir and Seth was looking a little tired so we all sat down. It was such a beautiful view...

After a 15 minute rest we headed back towards the car, the litre of water i had drank on the journey there was telling me that i needed to find somewhere before i burst, so we headed down to the coffee shop for a nice hot drink and a slice of cake, Seth for some crazy reason opted for an ice lolly?? Strange boy.

Seth by this point was itching to get back to the car so he could put his wellies on and go splashing but before leaving the coffee shop we popped into the gift shop next door and brought the boys a net each so that they could go hunting for little animals. Mrs M and the boys changed their footwear at the car and we headed to the stream which luckily was on a few meters away. Sadly i don't own a pair of wellies so i sat on the grass and took some snaps. Opeie slipped over while in there but luckily Mrs M managed to hold him up before getting a wet bum.

After the splashing in the stream the troops changed their footwear back and we headed home. Seth looked exhausted bless him. We were back home in no time and in the warm so we all went and had a cuddle on our bed. It was so nice to be out and about even with the chilly air. Seth's not with us tomorrow but we're planning on heading out somewhere nice for a walk again.

"To cease to admire is a proof of deterioration."

Well it seems that we've had our fill of the snow for this winter. I think we made the most of it though. We did all of the usual snow activities, We made snow angels, had a snowball fight, Made a LEGO  snowman, built an LEGO igloo, all with our own little twist. Although we had lots of fun and I do love the snow I'm glad it's cleared as getting out and about in the car was a bit of a pain at times. It was great while it lasted but lets please all stop to think about the casualties of the snow. The deteriorating snowmen with missing arms and eyes and the igloo's that would be no good to any of the passing Inuit's we may have in the Shropshire area. Today I will be thinking about you all. Until next year my fallen frozen comrades.

“May you have warmth in your igloo, oil in your lamp, and peace in your heart”.

Today was day three of the Shropshire snow, we checked online to see if Seth's school was open but then decided it wasn't safe enough for him to go in so we kept him off. Obviously Seth was over the moon at that. We wanted to make sure that we made the most of the snow and i asked Seth what he wanted to do. Seth decided that he wanted to build an Igloo, one that he can sit inside. I asked him what shape he wanted it and he decided on an Igloo shaped like Jokers head (Oh dear).

When i told Mrs M what i was going to try and attempt she looked at me like i was losing my mind. in hindsight i guess it was a bit much for an activity that should be finished in a couple of hours. It was a very cold afternoon after all. I decided to give it a try anyway.

First we got our sledges and filled them with snow from the front garden and pulled them round the back as we knew we were going to need loads of it. We made a really huge pile of snow and started to shape it. It did take us some time but Mrs M being the thoughtful thing that she is she broke up the cold afternoon with an outdoor tray of hot chocolate and cookies for us.

I think at that point Seth could see that a Joker shaped igloo was going to take a long time to make. Which i guess is the reason Seth said "it looks a bit like a Lego mans head, could we make a mini figure shaped one to go with the snowman we made?" It was like music to my ears, that was definitely doable so we shaped the pile into a Lego head shape.

Seth wanted the mouth to be the door so after patting the pile until it was solid and adding the Lego bump on the top we started to carve the door and insides out.

Opeie came out to join us for a bit after his nap too which was nice. He didn't really know what to make of the igloo and he definitely wouldn't go inside. Mrs M was pretty impressed with what me and Seth had been doing with our morning.

The whole thing took a few hours to make but we had lots of fun and i really enjoyed our 'boy time'. The end result didn't come out quite how i wanted it but Seth loved it and was pleased that he could sit inside it. It was starting to get really cold so after tidying up our creation we headed in to get changed and have some warm drinks.

As we were heading in i found some carrots in my pocket from feeding the rabbits and Seth decided he wanted to give our Lego head igloo a classic snowman nose...

"Then come the wild weather, come sleet or come snow, we will stand by each other, however it blow."

It seems that everyone in the UK has gone 'snow mad', Every time it snows in this country people act like it has never snowed before. Mrs M has been hilarious this week, checking the Met Office every hour and updating me on when the snow is coming and how long its staying for. I love the snow but I'm patient and much prefer the surprise of it coming round. Ive avoided the social networking sites as much as i can as it seems that each one has turned into weather.com and there's only so many 'it's snowing' updates i can take.

Well the snow is actually here now so i thought i would write a post about what we've been up to (snow related of course). We didn't have any last year so this is the first bit of snow that Opeie has experienced so he has been excitedly sitting at the window desperate to get outside.

There wasn't much on the ground when we woke up this morning so i got Seth ready for school as usual but as we walked through the gates it was clear that he wouldn't be in school very long. After the slightly dangerous drive home, brakes locking and skidding all over we sat patiently waiting for a text from the school which came at 11am saying we could get Seth. It took me three times as long to get to the school but i was happy to have Seth out so that we could concentrate on having some fun. 

After what seemed like an hour and a half getting the boys dressed we were ready to head out. I know the boys need to be warm but Mrs M seems to want them both looking like the Stay Puft Marshmallow man in all their layers. They each got in a sledge and we pulled them down the road, although Opeie soon lost interest in that and wanted to be carried. We headed up to  a local school where there were some hills for us to make the most of the sledges.

We all had a great time but Opeie started to really get cold it was very cold and we all had bright red cheeks. Silly daddy should have put Opeie in a balaclava (I'll know for tomorrow though).

Mrs M decide to take Opeie home, i think they had both had enough of the snow. Me and Seth stayed for some more sledging and a 'snow battle' as Seth called it. We went down the hills on the sledges backwards, on our tummies and i even used mine as a snowboard which made Seth laugh.

We had a snowball fight but sadly the inevitable happened and i hit Seth in the nose with one (Oops), he was Ok though and soon got over it after giving me a big snow beard to get me back...

Soon after we both started to get really cold so Seth got back in his sledge and i pulled him home so that we could have a nice cup of tea and a cuddle under a blanket. It was a great couple of hours and we will definitely be making the most of snow over the next few days. Tomorrow we'll be making a snowman i think so be sure to keep reading.