What we do when it's 16 degrees outside

It's FREEZING in Central Texas right now. And, i'm not complaining. I love the cold weather and the fact that it feels like winter time! (Remember, I would rather live in the mountains than the beach any day!) So, we've spent a lot of times inside. Early one morning this week Mike and I were up when the power went off at 5:30am. It didn't come back on until 7ish so Mike built a fire and lit lots of candles. Then we pow-wowwed in the living room to stay warm. I was a little dissapointed when the power came back on and I couldn't use the excuse of "my hair dryer and curling iron won't work" to prevent going into work. But the power kept going off and on at work so they sent us home at noon. Yeah, buddy!

While we've been couped up in the house (other than the once-a-day walk to get the mail and get some vitamin D outside-endorphins) we've done lots of inside playing and baking. Well, let me just show you a little of what we've done.

Bella has turned into the little helper. "I help?" she'll say. She likes to sit on the counter and help me cook or bake or clean up after dinner. Because cold weather needs to be accompanied with hot chocolate and cookies we decided to bake some this week. Ok, we may have baked them three times this week. But, as a disclaimer, we have given them away to people every time...uh hem, after we've tasted some of them.

She's a good little stirrer. Shortly after this next picture was taken we had a little "mishap" with the flour. It was "somehow" flung out of the bowl. Lots of it. That's ok though. These memories beat having to do a little clean up any day! She also helped put the dough on the baking sheet. But she got sneaky! I let her eat one tiny piece and told her we were going to wait until they were cooked to eat anymore. So, she would place a ball of dough on the sheet, pinch a little off (with her eye cocked towards me to see if I noticed), then say "uh oh" when some was "stuck" to her finger. She just had to eat that part too, right? I think she had an entire cookie just doing this. Where do they learn to be so mischevious?

The next morning Mike was getting ready to go to school. I had already packed his lunch and we were both getting ready for the day. "Where's Bella?" Mike went to go find her and found this. She loves cookies, people, and can find them anywhere! I think she ate them all out of his lunch box. And, it was 8am. Oh well. Breakfast of champions.

We also sing and smile and laugh. And we tickle. (It looks like I have a hold of her arm really tight! This was not a discipline time but a tickle time, I promise!)

We play with our ball. Sometimes we sit on it...And other times we throw it to whoever will catch it. Or won't catch it. Mike has been hit in the head a couple of times this week. Good thing it's soft!

We help daddy build a fire. This was right before bathtime. Otherwise, we typically don't let her run around the house with no pants on when it's 20 degrees outside. Ok, sometimes we do. Come on. You know you do too.

We are mischevious! She helped me open the mail this week and I received some samples of shampoo and conditioner. "Bella Grace, you know you're not allowed to open those." Here's the face that resulted! And this face.

And, this face.

I am very thankful this week for heat and warm food and the ability to pay for electricity. I know that we, as Americans, represent the priviledged in the world with these luxuries. So, I was reminded at how thankful I truly should be. I am also thankful for cold days and snow days and warm fires and snuggling with cookies and hot chocolate. Aww, winter! Thank you Lord! Stay warm everyone! And let me know if you want some cookies. We're getting pretty good at being a cookie-baking-team!