Snow Stompin' and Cocoa Smiles

I dread going outside almost as much as I dread doing crafts with Tanner. It isn't the act of actually being outside... it's the preparation process that is such a drag. My kid SCREAMS the entire time I'm putting on his snowsuit, boots, gloves and mittens. He rips his hat and mittens off over and over again until I finally get him outdoors. Once he's out there he's usually pretty good about leaving it all on, and gets down to the business of stomp, stomp, stomping snow!
For the amount of time that we end up staying outside, the hassle of getting him ready usually doesn't feel worth it, until I realize that we just did our bodies and minds mass amounts of good by breathing some FRESH, CRIP air into our lungs.

 

After playing outside for a bit we came in to make some hot cocoa.  Tanner had never had cocoa until today.  He's stolen plenty of sips of coffee, latte's and chai teas... never cocoa though.  He didn't just wait for it to cool down, he waited for it to get cold.   I made it with 2 cups of milk, 2T Sugar, 2T Cocoa (That you'd use for baking), and 1t vanilla.  It was too sweet for me, but Tanner loved it.

Multitasking~stirring and eating a pumpkin muffin at the same time!

Tanner approves of "cocococo"