On Friday morning, we headed downtown to take Katherine to see Disney's Frozen On Ice.  Dressed in her "Elsa" dress, we told Katherine it was "Coronation Day" and that we were going to see Elsa and Anna.  She was so excited.  We left the house promptly one hour before show time.  This was not enough time.  At all.  We arrived downtown only to be stuck in "Frozen" traffic with only 30 minutes left before showtime.  After taking a few side streets, it became obvious we were not getting any where near the arena where the show was being held.  We ended up having to park four blocks away and literally running to the arena with only 10 minutes left until showtime.  After wandering aimlessly and scaling a wall (yes we climbed over a wall to get to our seats), we finally made it to our seats as the show was starting.  Talk about a close call.

Anyway, Katherine absolutely loved the show.  She couldn't take her eyes off of the ice.  Even when the show went to intermission, Katherine stood at the rail and watched the empty ice, not taking her eyes off for a second.


She was completely worn out on the ride home.

For dinner, we took advantage of Fish Fry season here in St. Louis before hunkering down for yet another snow storm.

Katherine loves the snow and sometimes calls it "icing," at which point she grabs a handful and shoves it in her mouth.  This gave me the idea to make Snow Cream (using this recipe), but unfortunately if the snow isn't coming straight from the ground, Katherine doesn't want to eat it.  Fail.



What else do you do when you're snowed in?  Make as many sweet treats as possible.  So, I decided to make homemade donuts (recipe here).  I had some trouble with the dough, but they still turned out fine.  I even added some chocolate ganache to some of them.  My poor misshapen donuts looked ridiculous, but tasted great.  Fail-ish.



A quick Katherine story before we go:

Katherine loves watching The Voice.  She'll sit and watch it for hours, clapping and cheering on each contestant after their performances.

Katherine (after almost every contestant) : "Yay song!  You did great!"

After a contestant chose a coach:
Me:  "Katherine which team would you pick to be on?"
Katherine:  "Elsa's."
Me:  "You'd pick Elsa's team?"
Katherine:  "Elsa's or Daddy's."

I hope you all had a wonderful and lovely Valentine's Day!  We kept it pretty simple around here (like we do most years).

Saturday morning, Katherine opened her Valentine's (with crazy wild bedhead), and of course did some dancing in the living room.



When Jason got home from work later, we had our family Valentine dinner at Jason's (and Katherine's) favorite restaurant.  It was the perfect Valentine's date.


Valentine's Day was followed by frigid temps and snow, which I was actually excited for since our last snow was back before Thanksgiving.  We spent Monday morning eating cinnamon rolls and watching Frozen, before heading out to play in the snow.




Katherine had so much fun in the snow.  Of course, she danced in the snow.  Because that's what she does.  She dances.

It looks like the cold temps are sticking around this week.  I can't complain too much because it's been a fairly mild winter for us so far.  I mean, last week we were playing outside in 70 degree weather.

We're busy planning our second (second?!) birthday around here and waiting anxiously for spring.  And recovering from a long snowy weekend.

Happy Tuesday friends!

I cannot believe there is snow on the ground and it's November 16.  The smile on Katherine's face when she woke up from her nap and saw the snow on the ground more than made up for the fact that it snowed in mid-November.

It had just started snowing when Katherine went down for her nap.  We watched it snow for a bit, then waved "bye bye" to the snow.  When I opened the blinds on her bedroom window later, her eyes lit up, "SNOW!" she said.

So we went "side" to play in the snow (after I explained that her Elsa doll couldn't actually go out in the snow).




All was going well until she slipped and face-planted into a snow pile in the yard.  It was hilarious.  Katherine didn't think so.  After I got her up and dusted her off, she was off and running again.  We came in soon after that, because her nose dive had left her soaked.

She of course cried her eyes out when we came inside.  It looks like the winter may be fun after all.

We woke up Saturday morning to a blanket of snow outside.  It was my favorite kind of snow.  Light and fluffy.  I love how snow makes everything so pretty outside.  We took this opportunity to take Katherine out in the snow for the first time. 

This wasn't her "first" snow.  It snowed several inches back in March when she was about two weeks old.  Obviously, she didn't go outside then. 

So, we bundled her up and went outside. 





Overall, she wasn't into it.  She had that look on her face that said Why are we outside?  It's cold.  I'm not impressed. 

After a few photos of her first time in the snow, we went back inside.  Oh well. 

On Sunday, we headed east to Illinois to have lunch with some friends at their beautiful farm.  It was Katherine's first trip to Illinois and her first time seeing chickens, peacocks, and a pig. 

We all had a great time and came home with a dozen farm fresh eggs.  I'm so glad we got to visit at Christmas time with snow on the ground.  It was so beautiful and peaceful.  Ah.  Now, with just a little over a week left until Christmas, let the craziness begin!

{Snow Day.}

Yesterday a frigged winter blast dumped 3 inches of snow on St. Louis.  Along with the freezing temps and snow, the wind chill made it feel like at least 10 below 0.  Luckily I had planned ahead.  I bought plenty of groceries and refused to leave the house.  I wouldn't have even gone outside if it weren't for my 2 dogs.   

This was Sammie's first time in the snow and while I assumed she would freak out at the sight of it, she instead embraced it.  It was hard to even get her back into the house.  Callie on the other hand does not like anything wet on the ground.  She did not appreciate the snow.  Every time I took her out, she looked at me like "you're kidding right?".

{ Sammie in the snow.}

When I wasn't freezing outside with the dogs, I was inside making sure to stay warm and cozy.  I was thankful that I didn't have to go anywhere.

{A cup of Christmas Tea with peppermint stick.} {A fire in the fireplace.  This means Christmas scented candles.}