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… the small figures will climb it!

I’m not sure which child put Abby Cadabby at the very top, but I suspect it was Abby to commemorate her ascent of the snow mountain on our street this morning.

I’m grateful that Evelyn didn’t want to climb snow mountain and instead we could stay inside to build block mountain. I’m done with Winter.

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I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been sick or if the wind has just been blowing the wrong way, but I’ve been cold all week and today has been no different. So today I’m grateful for fleece sweaters, blankets, and warm slippers.

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If someone told me a month ago and I would be calling Kale “comfort food”, I would have laughed. Of course, a month ago, I hadn’t tried Kale. I had heard of Kale, and heard that it was healthy, but outside of the health benefits I had the impression that it was much like chewing grass. Or seaweed. And not seaweed in the tasty sushi form.

Now, sushi is comfort food. Chocolate is comfort food. Starbucks Chai Lattes are definitely comfort food. But Kale? Kale is good-for-you* food and most good-for-you food is not comfort food. Or at least I didn’t think it was. But all that changed when I tried this recipe. It’s gooooood. Really, reeeally good. So good that Abby, who doesn’t like “the green stuff” in salads, likes this salad. Even Paco will eat this salad (you’d think that being a pug he’d eat anything, but he’s usually adverse to green leafy stuff too). And although it keeps in the fridge for several days without losing its crispness, I do think it’s best served shortly after preparation. The other good thing is that it takes about five minutes to prepare, so it’s not like making up a huge batch saves you much time or effort.

I’ve made this recipe twice in the last month. And after a week of dealing with a sick kid (“MOMMA! SNOT!!”), and getting sick myself, I needed some comfort food today. And this totally did the trick. And, just to make sure I was sufficiently comforted, there’s the chai to round it out. 😉

*Of course, while putting this post together I ran across information that Kale is not-so-good-for-you if you happen to have hyperthyroidism. But, as with everything, moderation is key and I’m not that addicted. Close, but still within the bounds of reasonable.

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I’m grateful that after 4 days of her yelling “SNOT!!” at me, today she felt better enough to yell “WAFFLES!” (although she’s still stuffed up too).

Next we’ll work on the yelling. 😉

I don’t know what it is about kids that makes them immune to the cold. It doesn’t matter if their mittens are soaked through or if they are falling over because they can’t feel their toes, they still don’t seem to feel the bite of Winter. I remember being the same as a child, but somewhere along the way my immunity wore off (maybe I missed a needed booster shot?) and now even inside I huddle under blankets on the couch or try to warm myself from the inside with hot chocolate or tea. There was a brief surge in my immunity when I started snowboarding, but it has plummeted again. So you can imagine how excited I am about venturing out in the cold except when I need to.

However, we have at least one little one who *is* excited about venturing out in the cold to find an ice slide to zoom down, again and again.

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And again. And again.

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And even when she crashes into the snow and has snow on her face and covering her head to toe …

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… I still had to work to convince her it was time to go home.

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I’m grateful for Dora on demand when one of the kids is sick.

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I’m grateful that this little one is still in good spirits despite looking like a bloodied zombie from wiping her nose constantly. I’m also hopeful that tomorrow will be a less zombie-like day.

IMG_20140202_145015Grateful for a husband who tells me to drink a glass of wine when I’m feeling antsy. And who bought me awesome wine glass charms for Christmas.

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I’m not sure who lives in this little hole, but it made me smile today when I saw it. It leads to one of our snow-covered evergreen bushes, so the inhabitant does have more than just snow covering their head. The natural equivalent of an igloo, I suppose.

I’m also grateful that I was able to spend an extra 3 hours in bed after Evelyn’s 5am wakeup (even if 1 of them was spent trying to get her back to sleep).