Eating snow, making messes, etc.

So like I've posted previously, I am desperate for ways to keep my kids entertained during this dreary Erie, winter. 

Currently they are each eating their own bowl of snow that I scooped from our porch. They are in heaven. Who knew? Snow+bowls+spoons=happiest kids ever. They are mixing, and distributing to other bowls and plates from their play kitchen. The snow is melting faster than they can eat it, creating a wet mess, but at least it's just water. 

We've also been baking up a storm. We made cranberry orange bread, more chocolate chip cookies than you shake a stick at, cranberry chocolate chip bread walnut bread (which I ate the entire loaf in 2 days). We painted pictures. We played a made up game "dinosaur of the forest" in which Abigail is always the dinosaur and she chases Olivia and I around the house. She yells "ROOAAARR!" Olivia and I scream terrified screams and run away from her. Then we laugh uncontrollably. 

We go from one random toy to the next. Never putting away. Leaving toys strewn about all three floors of this apartment.

And we watch TV. Probably more than an hour a day. Probably closer to 2 hours a day. And I'm kind of okay with that. Today Olivia watched the Cat in the Hat and she learned the colors of the rainbow, and which order they appear. I asked her a couple hours after the show was over what color is on top of the rainbow. She told me red. I asked which was on the bottom, and she told me purple. So I feel justified in letting her watch TV since she's not just mindlessly sitting there, but she really does learn what she watches. And then sometimes I take what we watch and try to create a little lesson about it. Or activity or something. So today we painted rainbows and hung them in the playroom. 

We leave tomorrow for ARIZONA!!!! My house is a disaster and the laundry situation is out of control. No packing has even begun. I need to get busy.