Things to keep us busy when it is freezing outside

Last week we didn't even see zero degrees after Monday.  Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we had temperatures around -20 and with wind chill it felt like -30. Cold!  I knew it was cold when Neil drove the car to school instead of biking.  He finally biked again on Friday, it was slightly above 0 that day.  Saturday we got some snow, but at least it has warmed up.

We had to find things to do to keep us busy while in the house all week.  Actually, I could stay in the house all week and not need anything to keep me busy, but the children needed some entertainment.
Lydia discovered that the Easter basket could make an adorable hat.  MaryAnne found out it was fun to play with bubbles while doing the dishes.  Dallin learned how to make a snowflake out of Borax, boiling water and pipe cleaners. It was a fun science experiment.  The crystals grew over night and worked really well. Matthew and Lydia did puzzles together.  We have plenty of teasing that happens at our house, I love those moments when the older children play with the younger children and it really feels like Heaven on Earth. We have been building monkey houses out of books and blocks since Rebecca was about 2 years old.  Neil came up with the activity and it has been a favorite ever since.  We built a few monkey houses this past week.  Emma and Julia decided they needed a change and both of them had their hair cut.  Emma had 10 inches cut off to donate to Locks of Love.  I miss Emma's long hair to braid, but I think her new hair cut looks cute.  Julia just had her layers cut again, she didn't really go any shorter.

Here are a few pictures of our week. Hope you enjoy.