Two days before Christmas break began, we woke up to a winter wonderland – and a snow day. From the second she looked out the window and squealed, Annalyn couldn’t WAIT to play in the snow. She was prepared, after all. She had a winter coat, gloves that matched and boots.

(This has not always been the case, sadly. One winter a few years ago, I didn’t buy her snow boots. No big deal . . . until it snowed. When that day came, though, we weren’t deterred by some silly little thing like bare feet. (Well, you know, not BARE feet – but bootless feet.) I simply grabbed a couple plastic grocery store bags and stuck her feet in them. I secured them with ponytail holders, and she was good to go!)

Anyway. Back to this year. Annalyn was all ready for playtime in the snow. But . . . OH YEAH. I have two kids now! Since I’ve still been carrying Adrienne from the car to places in her infant carrier (yes, my back agrees with you that this is STUPID), I hadn’t bought her a winter coat yet. I simply wrapped her up in one blanket and covered her with another one.

Apparently I hate buying my kids appropriate winter wear.

No big deal, though. Once the streets cleared up a little, we drove to Walmart, where we bought a few groceries and a baby winter coat. Finally, we were ALL SET. (Which was a relief since Annalyn was keeping one eye on the clock as her window of snow playtime ticked away . . .)

We went home, cut the tags off Adrienne’s new coat and got all bundled up. I picked up my puffy baby girl – and realized I had another problem.

She can’t walk yet. I didn’t buy snow pants. (OF COURSE I DIDN’T.) What was I supposed to do with the baby??? HOLD HER the whole time? Well, that was going to make it hard to take pictures – and isn’t that the whole reason for playing in the snow?

EASY. I grabbed her baby bathtub and hauled her, the tub and my camera outside. I plopped that tub on our patio table and set Adrienne in it.

I wasn’t sure what she’d think. Though she’s never been a total fish like Annalyn was from day one, Adrienne used to like baths. But a few weeks ago, she FLIPPED OUT. We put her in the tub and she started screaming like a maniac. A terrified maniac! We aren’t sure why she suddenly became so scared of baths, but since we’d been dealing with that, I wasn’t 100% sure my brilliant bathtub-in-the-snow would work.

But it did! It totally did. She was unsure at first, but then she sat in that tub on that table and had the best, coldest ten minutes of her life.

Well, that might be an exaggeration. But she had fun. And, in the win-win category, it’s possible that her bath fear worked to our advantage in the snow, because she never even tried to climb out or down. She sat REAL still – and giggled REAL hard.

What works for me? Deciding to focus on fun when plans change (that snow day was supposed to be my last kids-gone work day before two weeks of Christmas break). Being creative when we don’t have everything we need – and being a yes mom, even when that means thinking outside the box. And finding ways to take both my babies out to play in the snow!

I’m linking up to Works for Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family today. Make sure you head over to Kristen’s place for more great tips – and an exciting announcement!