It takes a village...

One thing that makes our family very lucky is having people that are willing (and able) to do the things that Brian and I can't (or won't) do with our kids, like play in the snow.

 (Brian can't, I won't.)

Caite and Patrick came down today just to play in the snow with my kids and build an awesome fort. 

We don't even own enough proper snow gear to outfit all three of them, but with some borrowing and making do we managed to keep anyone from getting hypothermia.

The awesome and manly snow fort

complete with tunnel entrance 

and other features.

After playing as long as their little bodies could tolerate the cold (which was nowhere near as long as they wanted to be out there) we had some toast and watched Doc McStuffins while waiting for Lila's hands to thaw out.

Since tomorrow is Sunday and we don't really have bathing facilities at our place right now, we loaded up and went to Pa Dave's to make use of his bathroom. The kids were pretty tired by this point but fighting to stay awake and watch their movie on the way home. I must admit the DVD player in Brian's van is a pretty sweet feature, it keeps the kids quiet even on ten minute drives to the store or visiting relatives. 

Of course the second we got back to our house everyone was starving again, so while I fixed some mac n' cheese the girls tried on the new gloves Brian got for them. 

Evie's came with a pair of finger less mitts to wear under her gloves, and she LURVES them. She refuses to take them off. She's even worn them to bed and fully plans on wearing them to church tomorrow. 

Here she is having an 80's pop-star moment. 

Lila was not pleased that her gloves didn't come with similar mitts, and I caught her in the nick of time from taking the scissors to hers and trying to recreate the look. Sheesh, I have to watch this one every minute!

Thanks again Caite and Patrick for being the cool, fun, playing in the snow kind of aunt and uncle. You make our children's lives fuller and we appreciate it... even if you did throw a snowball and hit me in the butt with it.