Cold but uncaged

We live in Minnesota, which means a) it snows and b) it gets cold.



Last night we had our first decent snow. Not nearly what they had predicted (6-10 inches at one point), but enough to whiten the ground a bit.

Now, don't get me wrong. I do love the outdoors. Love the outdoors.

But I hate being cold. Really hate being cold. So it takes a bit of convincing to get my warmish self outside into a blowing snow, below zero with windchill kind of day. You know, like today.

But there is one thing that always convinces me: children who act like caged animals.

Now while its cute to think that two high strung boys and yourself can relax, staying warm and dry inside the house, snuggled in together under a quilt reading storybooks and sipping hot chocolate...the truth is, that hardly works.

I was blessed with two boys who go until they crash, never giving into defeat. They don't know the meaning of slow down. They run without stopping to rest, they talk without stopping to breathe. They need to move. A lot. Snowy cold weather does not mean snuggling to Iggy and Ooky. It means sledding and wrestling in the snow and snowball fights and run run run turn your cheeks red and no we don't want to go inside. That's just the facts of how it is.

But not liking the facts doesn't change the facts.
Sigh.
So we bundle up and go outside.



Smile for the camera, MamaTea. Come on, its not that bad out, is it? ;)

And within a few minutes, the boys are doing what they do best. Attempting to use all that energy. All that excitement and zest and power that I wish I could bottle and sell to every adult I know.







I wish I could bottle and sell their flexibility as well. Iggy plowed himself right under a chair around our campfire ring while whizzing down the hill at a billion miles an hour. He laughed the whole time, even while his crazy mother was saying "Holy crap, Iggy! Are you ok? Wait...let me get my camera!!!"



I'm glad he was laughing. I can tell you, for sure, I would not have been laughing if I would have been stuck in the same position. Under a metal chair. At the bottom of a hill. Notice, his legs are underneath his back??



But I was laughing. Laughing because he was happy, because Ooky was happy, and because I was happy. And warm.

Ooky tried to give himself a Santa beard...



Iggy tried to see how much (very clean white) snow he could fit in his mouth at once...




After an hour or so of playing in the cold, it was time to call it quits. We did have hot chocolate. And a wee bit of a snuggle. You know, for that brief moment Iggy and Ooky weren't moving. But I'll take what I can get. Because its not long before they are up and ready for round two. Or three. Or ten.

Such is life. :)