Shovel or sled?

Our nephew Carl and his lovely wife Meg bought a house within a few miles of ours. On the first shoveling assistance run of 2008, we cleared their driveway and then discovered that their front yard makes a righteous sliding hill. Note Seamus' unzipped coat.

Once Carl taught the boys how to use their shovels as sleds, it was all over. Let the fun begin. And let the crashing into Carl's car never end.

Little MJ was very excited to sled as well, but was not appropriately attired. Thus, she squirmed and attempted to leave my arms. I have an iron grip. She took eating snow as a nice compromise. (That's Carl on the left there)Finn only enjoys shoveling grass. He frequently deposits the snow back onto my freshly shoveled area. Either he's the worst helper ever, or he has a fantastic sense of humor.

Note: I deliberately don't outfit my children with snowpants on these type of excursions. This results in them getting cold quicker, which facilitates my throwing them in a hot bath and relaxing with a manhattan and a cozy fire quicker. I'm some kind of evil genius, aren't I?

Note note: Seamus of the unzipped coat was his own problem. He refuses to wear any of the other coats. His favorite is the Spiderman coat his Grandma Barbara bought him - even if the zipper is totally busted. This is my attempt to teach him the consequence of choices. He was soaking wet when we returned home. Since this did not appear to bother him (he refused the hot bath) I'm not sure my teachable moment really worked out as planned.

By the way - all of your North Carolinians, South Carolinians, and New Jerseyites visiting in December, it's really warm here. Trust me. VERY warm.

Alright, I totally stole these pics from Carl's blog. Shout out!

http://schnemarq.blogspot.com/2008/12/winter-with-cousins.html