Pygmy snowman

.
The school was closed again today, so Lily and I got to build our snowman after all. We waited until Emma went down for her nap, left poorly Tom in the care of Daddy and headed to the garden to pile up some snow. Lily tends to get cold and fed up before we make much progress, so any snowman we make together tends to be on the small side. I think this might actually be one of our smallest yet, but Lily loves it. We used berries to make the face and buttons...I think our usual stones and carrot approach might have been a bit over the top for our pygmy snowman!
.

 .

Lily wanted a picture with her Daddy and the snowman, so Mark braved the cold in just his shirt to oblige her.

.

Lily's snow day

.
It didn't come as any surprise that Tom and Lily's school was closed today. This didn't make any difference to Tom who is very unwell at the moment, so wouldn't have been going to school today anyway. Lily, on the other hand, woke up thrilled to discover that not only was it snowing, but that she got to stay home and play in it. Lily had a lot of fun today and I took a lot of pictures of her and Emma in the snow. Poor Tom spent most of the day in bed or on the sofa and didn't want me to take his picture. My poor boy is not at all well!

Lily and Emma had some playtime in the garden before lunch and Lily had a lot of fun making snow angels and throwing snowballs at me. After lunch, with Emma safely tucked up in bed, Mark and Lily took the sledge out for its maiden voyage. Lily has never been sledging before and she loved it. They were out for quite some time before the inevitable returning home in tears because her hands were cold. I well remember that feeling from my own childhood!

I stripped off her wet clothes, wrapped her in a blanket and plied her with hot chocolate and Lebkuchen. Before long she had warmed up and was smiling again. I really hope they close the school again tomorrow as I love having my Podlings home. It will give us a chance to build the snowman we didn't get around to today too!

 Sledging with Daddy

.

 I think her face says it all!

.

Back up the hill for another run.

 .

Baby, it's cold outside!

 .

Hot chocolate in a special cup, Lebkuchen and a warm blanket...all is well with the world!

.

I can't hear you!

I've been rather fancying a pair of ear muffs. I love hats, but hate the resulting flat hair you end up with afterwards. Ear muffs provide the perfect solution...warm ears without the resulting hat hair, These aren't quite what I had in mind, but they did the trick. They are the ones I bought for Lily last year, but she said they hurt her head so she wouldn't wear them. Waste not want not!
.

Emma's snow day

Please, please let me out!

Freedom! Mummy said I should wear mittens because snow is cold, but I know better.

Oh my, It is rather cold isn't it!

Wow, white stuff is falling from the sky! I wonder if I can eat it.

I wonder if you can skate on snow.

.

Emma's snow day would have lasted longer has she consented to wearing mittens. After about 10 minutes she started crying because her hands were cold. Not as loud as she cried when I make her come inside! Emma hates being indoors when she could be out!

.

Cooking with mother

Emma has recently taken to wanting to help me out with the cooking. One might say she insists upon it, which makes meal preparation somewhat challenging. I was trying to fry some onions and garlic for the start of the pasta sauce I was making this evening when my littlest lady started her shenanigans. I used to be able to fob her off with a saucepan and wooden spoon of her own, but she has recently twigged that real meal prep involves food. I was suddenly struck with the notion of giving her a few broken biscuits to play around with while I cooked and popped some Digestives in her saucepan. What a hit! Lily came out and wanted in on the action, so before long the two girls were sat happily on the kitchen floor crushing up Digestives with wooden spoons and having a ball. Kept them occupied until tea was ready, though I did have a few crumbs to sweep up afterwards. Okay 'a few' might be playing it down a bit, but at least we were all happy!
.

 Emma samples her 'cooking'

.

 And that's why I can't let her help me!

.

Lily pops a batch of biscuit crumbs in the oven.

.

It's very...ummm...pink!

.
Lily is a typical four year old girl, which for anyone who doesn't have recent experience of four year old girls means that she loves Disney Princesses and pink. Preferences which lead us to the current solution to the toy situation in Lily's bedroom. Behold, the new delight of Lily's heart, her Disney Princess drawer unit!

Lily likes toys that have lots of bits. Lots of bits that were spreading their way all over her floor and stopping me from getting in there with the hoover. Something had to be done! We saw this drawer unit in Tesco the other day for the rather reasonable price of £12.48 and thought it might be the solution we were looking for. Now in an ideal world, The Solution would have been something tasteful in white and pastels with Beatrix Potter characters on it, but then I'm not a four year old girl so what do I know!
.
This unit is working really well and Lily is able to keep her room tidy without help. Her play food is in the bottom drawer, the middle drawer contains her Disney Princess dolls and their accessories and the top drawer is for everything else. 'Everything else' mainly consists of bags and purses of various sizes, though mostly in pink. Lily has a thing for bags. She has a couple of boxes of toys under her bed and everything else is in the playroom. I crave order and if bright pink Disney Princesses will help me achieve it, then so be it!

.

Naughty, but nice

.
Tom went to the dry cleaners with his daddy yesterday afternoon. The dry cleaners is next to a supermarket with a lovely bakery, so I told Tom he could choose 'something yummy for pudding' while he was out. I thought he might come back with some cookies or gingerbread men, but instead he chose this rather amazing strawberry gateau. Yes, it does taste as good as it looks...the leftovers in the fridge are calling to me from here! I think I'll send Tom to pick out the puddings more often!

Delicious, if a little on the pricey side!

.