Snow Day - The Prologue

Think I spent about 2 minutes trying to ski...

Years ago, (before kids!), hubby
 and I were invited to spend a few nights at Mt Hotham with a group of friends. I had never even seen the snow before, so excitedly we hired all our gear, endured hours on winding roads in the back of a crowded 4WD and had an incredible (read drunken) few days.

A week or so ago, my mother in law fielded the idea of a snow day with both our family, my SIL and her kids.  The kids are super excited and can't wait to throw snowballs and go tobogganing. In my typical worry wart style, my first thoughts were; "But we don't have any snow clothes, this is going to cost a fortune, I'll be left to arrange everything."

Much to my amazement, hubby is right on top of things - he is looking at where to hire our stuff, what lunch to take up with us and how much the day will cost. My only headache has been trying to find winter scarves/gloves etc in the stores! A trip to DFO might have been advisable to try and find end of season bargains, but trying to tackle anywhere like that during school holidays is NOT my idea of fun!

Source: 500px.com via Jannes on Pinterest

For those of you who are snow goers, any tips as to what to take/do/avoid for the complete newbie?? Any tips would be much appreciated!

Scavengers

I was told after the birth of two children, to thank my lucky stars both were girls, because I would never have to face 'empty fridge' syndrome.

I was lead to believe that the "Y" chromasome was directly responsible for the emptying of pantrys, the tornado in the kitchen, the lack of food in a household.

Well guess what? WRONG! I don't know what I am doing wrong, but these kids, at 6 and (almost)  4 are always ravenous. Even after a decent breakfast they return again and again to the kitchen. I make sure there are healthy options available to snack on: fruit, vegie sticks, popcorn, muesli bars etc, but the words "Mum, can I have something to eat?" is like fingernails on a blackboard to me.

Very familiar scene in our house!

Now we are in school holidays, I know it will get worse. I know some of it may be out of boredom, so we have lots of things to do/make/watch in our time at home. However, there are only so many diversionary tactics up my sleeve, and short of putting locks on the cupboard, I cannot patrol the kitchen 24/7.

I admit, I am a grazer by nature, so it should not come as a surprise to me that my kids are doing the same. I would worry more if they were not finishing dinner, but more times than not they will clean their plates.

My worry is that I am being too soft by letting them help themselves, and in the future, mindless eating will become a habit for them. I would love to hear what the 'rule of the land' is at other homes. Is the pantry open to all, or are three meals a day the way to go?