A Georgia Girl in Germany

We woke up on Monday to a wonderful white blanket of snow. Amazingly, the kids weren’t chomping at the bit to head outside and play...although they didn’t protest when I explained that snow on a holiday (Presidents’ Day) meant we had to go outside to play. When we made it outside, they immediately set out to build a snowman.

Zachary began by rolling snow and letting it accumulate directly off the ground. It worked! He used this technique for all three large snow balls needed for their snowman.

Benjamin and MacKenzie opted for the traditional squat-in-the-snow-and-gather-it-with-our-hands method. Their method worked too, and allowed MacKenzie to cover up the chunks of leaves and dirt that Zachary gathered with his method.

Benjamin set out to make his own “snowkid.” He was very diligent about getting the snow packed just right. He didn’t want to wear waterproof gloves, so I was (pleasantly) surprised that he didn’t complain about his hands getting cold through his mittens.



They really worked well together on their snowman creation. I love how you can see the path where Zachary rolled up the snow for the bottom. They were working on smoothing out the snowballs here -- covering the dirt and making it more round.

Benjamin’s “snowkid” was finished well before Zachary and MacKenzie’s snowman, so he decided to make a snow angel in our driveway ... then promptly picked up some snow to throw at me. He loves hitting me with snowballs. {He even occasionally wads up his blankie and throws at me while yelling “snowball!”}





After a while, he decided he was done being outside in the cold, so he watched Zachary and MacKenzize’s progress from our back window.

Time to add the second snowball for the snowman’s body. MacKenzie claimed that it was too round, while Zachary complained that she had removed too much snow while she shaped the bottom. Oh what fun learning to work together!

Benjamin was adamant that they use the two pieces of coal that Santa left him in his stocking in 2007 for the eyes, and they were gracious enough to let him place them on the snowman.

Finally, their new friend was finished -- complete with a slice of sweet potato for a nose (we were out of carrots) and a leaf for a mouth.

MacKenzie’s next project? Throwing snowballs at mom ... she’s contemplating her next move here.

Zachary and MacKenzie then decided to make snow angels. Since most of the snow in our yard had been rolled up into their snowman, they plopped themselves down into our neighbor’s yard. I don’t think she minded the artistic additions to her yard (she has no kids).





MacKenzie decided to add twig arms to the snowman.

MacKenzie still wanted to stay outside even though Zachary was ready to come inside and warm up. She moped a little that no one wanted to stay out with her, but soon started on another creation.

Yup, a “snowdog,” complete with four stubby legs, two ears and a leaf for a mouth.

Labels: Benjamin, MacKenzie, Zachary