OK, it is that bad

OK, I was just starting to think it's not that bad here and I can handle the snow. I think I had built it up so big in my head before we moved and was expecting 12 feet of snow all the time that the reality has been quite nice.... until walking out of the house this morning into the 3 degree temperatures with wind chills in the -12 range or so. Yikes! LB started screaming as the wind hit his poor little face and even the pre-warmed van didn't help because in the short walk to the van (all of 25 feet) he lost both mittens and stuck his hands in the snow tunnel lining our walkway. So he cried until his hands warmed up again and LG just cries every time we put her in her car-seat with her big jacket on. I know I feel constricted in all the layers, so for a little one strapped in a seat it probably feels like a straight-jacket. Needless to say, we've been a lot more creative in our indoor actitivies... Lots of dance parties, paint in the hair, crayon on the walls (courtesy of Rohan), train set is out of retirement, 'swimming' in the bathtub (usually after the painting), dressing up (for some reason all of my shoes are off the rack), baking and tea parties (why have I gained 5 lbs since arriving here?). So that was Monday; I have no idea what we'll do tomorrow! Before the temperature drop, we actually had a couple of nice days playing in the snow. Willem was finally satisfied with the amount of snow on the ground! We finally purchased a little ourdoor firebowl when we got here, so John dug it out from under 3 feet of snow this weekend. It's been nice to be able to warm up the little hands and tushies and send them all back in the snow. It was toasty enough that Willem and Isabelle thought it would be great for the whole family to camp in their snow fort the other night. We distracted them with marshmallows and promptly went in the house...