snow fun – Mom on the go in Holy Toledo

Snow Ice Cream

January 7, 2014momonthegoinholytoledo

With all the beautiful snow that has accumulated over the past few days the kiddos are begging to play outside. And trust me, by day 18 of winter break I NEED them to go outside. Cabin fever has set in BAD. I am praying for a heat wave and school tomorrow, mostly just school tomorrow by whatever means possible. Haha! One small factor that continues to put a huge damper on any outside plans, the temperature! The temperature currently reads -5 degrees and with the wind it feels more like -26 degrees. That. Is. Cold! All that snow and not one thing we could do with it! Or is there?

The kiddo’s favorite show on Netflix is 17 Kids and Counting, the show that showcases the Duggar family. And in one of their episodes they made snow ice cream. So the kiddos asked if we could make some. (FYI…we are on day 18 of winter break and day 2 of cabin fever so appearances were not our number one priority…I was just happy everyone had on clean underwear…we can worry about clothes and hair later. Haha!)

As mom, I saw this as a golden opportunity to teach kitchen measurement…I am a sucker for hands-on learning opportunities. Mostly because the children don’t even realize they are learning, they just see it as fun. Well, maybe not so much the youngest…her expression is priceless in this pic. Haha!

So we looked up the snow ice cream recipe on the Duggar’s website and got to work. I was a tad skeptical if it was going to taste good.

And what do you know, it taste fantastic! Thanks Duggars for sharing your snow ice cream recipe with us. It was a great way to integrate a hands-on learning experience and it tasted delicious!

Have you ever had snow ice cream? Do you have a fun snow activity you enjoy doing with your kiddos? Any suggestions or idea for indoor snow activities/experiment, please!!

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of Parenthood

December 15, 2013momonthegoinholytoledo

The day started off perfect. We picked the kiddos up from my parents’ house after a fabulous overnight. We stopped at Meijer’s and got a few odds and ends. Most importantly, boots for our son since the forecast called for 6 inches of snow. We didn’t want him to be the only one not enjoying the snow. (BTW we totally lucked out, one of the 6 pairs that were left on the shelf was a size 3, score!)

Once home the kiddos managed to find their mittens, hats, scarfs, and snow pants with ease. And not one had to pee after getting all bundled up. I am telling you it was like that perfect euphoric day that moms’ only dream of…like an urban mom legend. Haha! Then we all headed outside to enjoy the beautiful snow that graced our yard. The hubs cleared the snow while the kiddos and I got to work making igloos, snow angels, and more!

We tend to gauge our outdoor time by the youngest. When her hat, mittens, and scarf are caked with snow and her face is a blushing pinkish red it is time to go in. So we all headed indoors. My husband took our son to a birthday party while the girls and I made hot cocoa and decorated the gingerbread house.

I so treasured that time together. The girls and I talked about dolls, candy, and the future (immediate future, mostly Christmas and Valentine’s Day) our conversation took me back to my childhood. As I sat their frosting the house and placing one gumdrop on the house, one in my mouth, and giggling I suddenly felt like a little girl again. All my worries about getting everyone’s Christmas gifts, bills, laundry, etc. went out the window and I was totally encapsulated by the moment. I experienced pure mommy bliss. And thank goodness I did because the Mr. Hyde of parenthood was lingering just around the corner.

My husband picked up our son from the party while I got dinner ready. We planned on a movie night so that means pizza woo-hoo! So the kiddos got their little tables out and placed them in front of the television. Our son returned from the party. He had a great time! I inquired about the food situation at the party. To which he replied that he had a little to eat but he was hungry for dinner. So we sat down and started to eat and watch Family Man (love that movie but there are definitely a few parts you need to fast-forward if kiddos are watching). Then it happened! Like a flip of a switch my mommy bliss was turned off!

Our 3 year old stated she had to go potty so she ran upstairs. Our oldest daughter started to complain, weep, and whine about her day and how it wasn’t fair that her brother got to go somewhere but she didn’t. Our son stood up and expressed that he wasn’t feeling very well. He made it up two whopping steps before vomiting everywhere! He then expressed that he had already eaten a lot at the party (um, ya think!?) Meanwhile our 3 year old who has been trying to master wiping after going #2 managed to use an entire roll of toilet paper which shockingly did not flush. Oh the sounds! The smell! The horror! AHH!

Parenthood…in the words of Forrest Gump…you never know what you’re gonna get. Surprisingly those perfect blissful moments make all those nasty, toilet clogged, vomit clean up, while listening to a child whine moments totally worth it! True?

Snow Much Fun!

January 4, 2013January 4, 2014momonthegoinholytoledo

Our kiddos nearly lost their minds when they saw the white precipitation falling from the sky. As the snow accumulated the kiddos’ anticipation intensified as they eagerly awaited the moment that they could go outside and play. So, after bundling up, unbundling, to use the potty, and then bundling back up again it was finally time to go out to play!

This year I decided to put together a Snow Much Fun basket for the kiddos and we are having a blast with it, so much so that I just have to share!

The Snow Much Fun basket consists of:

Snowman Soup (hot chocolate, chocolate chips, mint marshmallows, peppermints)
Snow themed activity sheets (educational)
Various pails/buckets
Spray bottle and squirt bottles
Food coloring

So first things first, I removed all the paper activities from the basket as well as the snowman soup. Then I placed water and a few drops of food coloring in the various water bottles. Placed them back in the basket along with the pails/buckets, and we ventured outside for some snow fun!

We had fun playing in the snow, making various things, such as the Very Hungry Caterpillar in the picture above. The spray bottles were easy for all three kiddos to us, ages 2-7, and the colored water did not stain (though I suppose it could if the kiddos turned the spray bottles on each other, so do make certain there is adult supervision).

Once the children’s cheeks started getting too pink it was time to head inside for some warm Snowman Soup near the fire.

As we warmed up we talked about the fun we had outdoors. It was also the perfect time to talk about precipitation, the effects snow can have on a city, the need for salt, etc. Then we decided it might be fun to do some of the other activities that were in the Snow Much Fun basket.

I had printed off an entire packet of lessons for our preschooler from Living Life Intentionally and we had so much fun completing the activities together. His favorites were the snowman mathematics and the Capital/lower case worksheet since it required bingo markers.

To print off a packet click here. While you are there be sure to take a second to peruse, I love that blog!

For our 7-year-old I came across a fun activity about compound words that introduced her to the Dictionary, remember that thing we used to reference before google…you know that ginormous book just gathering dust? She had to look up snow words in the dictionary and determine if they were 1 or 2 words. snow_compounds

And then for our toddler I printed off some fun activity sheets from Kiboomu. Click here to print off the Mitten Counting Sheet we worked on. Then she had fun making her own snowman out of cotton balls and construction paper.