Hot Chocolate and Snow Cones

photo by TheDeliciousLife

We've been having a lot of each of these lately - hot chocolate after Sweetpea has been playing IN the snow, and snow cones when we don't want to go out but she still wants a "taste" of what's outside. I originally got the idea for making sno cone syrup from Skip to my Lou this past summer. Summer would be an ideal time for eating sno cones...but then when you have 2+ feet of the stuff in your yard, well that seems like a good enough time too, right?

I didn't have internet access at the time, so I tried to remember the recipe. I didn't get it exactly correct, but it's easy, cheap, and delicious, so I thought I'd share my version.

2 cups sugar
2 cups water
dissolve sugar in boiling water to make simple syrup.
add 1 packet of single drink mix flavoring (we used Hawaiian punch flavor) and stir to dissolve
cool before pouring over a cup of snow
Enjoy!

Why so quiet?

Having a blast with Mickey!

Happy {belated} Valentine's Day - win tickets to Yo Gabba Gabba Live!

Would you like a chance to win tickets to Yo Gabba Gabba Live in Cincinnati?

To win 2 tickets to the 5pm show on March 20, leave a comment below. For an extra entry, do any of the following and leave a separate comment:

Follow this blog

Follow me (@psmom) on twitter

Tweet this giveaway and leave a direct link (once per day)

Stay tuned for a discount code and more information in the next several days!

Finding my Bliss

I had an absolutely wonderful time at Blissdom. I will be sharing more throughout the coming weeks. Huge thanks to Beth at RoleMommy.com for helping make my trip a reality! You can read about some of my thoughts and adventures at RoleMommy this week - I'm going to be without internet access for much of this week, but I'll try and update the links as they go live.

Snowed Out

We don't have a hill nearby, so this is how we do sledding in the country!

We were all out of town last week when the first round of snow hit our area. I know it could have been so much worse - I feel for all the people east of us that are counting their snowfall in feet, I can't even imagine! About eight inches fell while we were gone, and the snow plows added another several inches to the mound at the end of our driveway. Had we been home, it would have been totally manageable, but since we weren't, I was afraid to get stuck half in my driveway with my two girls! Luckily, we were able to stay with my mom for a few days until one of my sweet neighbors could plow out our drive.

Tuesday we got another six to eight inches of snow, further extending our "vacation" at mom's house. At times it was really fun, and at times I wanted to pull my hair out. It was a lesson in patience and a reminder that I have only so much control over life. There were many dishes and loads of laundry (neither of which I had to worry about, thanks mom!) and a mid snow diaper run.

Yesterday morning I was finally able to get down the drive and to the business of shoveling. A few hours and a much needed workout later I was able to turn my car around and we were in business! Last night was sweet - a quiet night in the comforts of home, sleeping in my own bed for the first time in a week. Today I'll get to baking thank you cookies to the many people that helped us out over the past few days.

What are you grateful for this week?

Checking In & Announcing Winners!

Things have been crazy this past week, some of it fabulously fun and amazing, and some of it just unusual and disruptive. I was able to attend Blissdom at the last minute when a waitlist ticket became available. Elise and I had a fabulous time - I hope you'll visit RoleMommy.com to read about our experience.

We returned to about eight inches of snow and a driveway that was impassable. To make a long story short, the girls and I are staying with my mom until we can dig our way back into my house. I'm longing for the comforts of home, but thankful that we have a warm place to stay and that we didn't get the real blizzard-like weather that they're getting east of us. Since we're out of our element, I imagine my computer time will be spotty at best this week.

And now on to more fun news - the winners of the Bravado and Amon Maternity giveaways... Congrats to Anissa and Marina! I will be emailing you, please reply within 48 hours to claim your prize.

I hope you are all having a great week, stay warm out there!