A Fun Snow Day

I have the privilege of not working a secular job. I am able to concentrate on family and ministry and for that I am thankful. The kids are still in school and when it's a snow day like today I get to enjoy them all. As crazy as it is with three strong personality individual sons, we end up having a great time.Today we plan on filling the day with family things to do. You can look in on what we did together on that day. I am so glad we have had a mild winter.However, I do love a good snowed in day or two. A snowy day is beautiful.Here are some pics of some winter days that are beautiful to me. Great devotion for the family today is found:http://www.josh.org/site/c.ddKDIMNtEqG/b.4340725/k.73E5/Todays_Family_Devotional/apps/nl/newsletter2.asp

We started the day out with hot pancakes and bacon.

Anthony made a snowman with them.

I made Minestrone Soup for lunch.

Recipe:Ingredients 3 cups reduced-sodium vegetable or chicken broth 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes 1 (15-ounce) can white (cannellini or navy) beans, drained 2 carrots, peeled and chopped 1 celery stalk, chopped 1 cup onion, chopped 1 teaspoon dried thyme 1/2 teaspoon dried sage 2 bay leaves Salt and ground black pepper 2 cups cooked ditalini pasta 1 medium zucchini, chopped 2 cups coarsely chopped fresh or frozen spinach, defrosted 4 tablespoons grated Parmesan or Romano cheese Basil sprigs, garnish, optional Directions In a slow cooker, combine broth, tomatoes, beans, carrots, celery, onion, thyme, sage, bay leaves, and 1/2 teaspoon each salt and black pepper. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours or on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours. Thirty minutes before the soup is done cooking, add ditalini, zucchini and spinach. Cover and cook 30 more minutes. Remove bay leaves and season, to taste, with salt and black pepper. Ladle soup into bowls and sprinkle parmesan cheese over top. Garnish with basil, if desired. I had Anthony go out and get my storage box filled with our Family albums. We spent a long time laughing over all the pictures. After that the boys went sledding and I made them hot chocolate with marshmallows.

Hot Chocolate Recipe: Ingredients 2 cups nonfat dry milk powder 3/4 cup sugar 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa 1/2 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips 1/2 cup powdered nondairy creamer 1/8 teaspoon salt Anthony led an amazing devotion which turned into a great conversation with the boys. I love it when we are able to do that.

For the evening we were able to have a movie, skipbo and popcorn. We have really enjoyed our fun filled snow day.