Don't lick anything metal

Our thermometer quit. When I woke up this morning to get everyone ready for church, it was reading -23 F. Some time while we were at church, the sensor couldn't take it any more and refused to work until we brought it inside and rested it next to the stove.

With that in mind, we've been doing a few things to make the most of the cold weather. There's a gymnastics gym in town that had an open house last week. All three of the kids had a blast. Quinn loved jumping into the foam pit

but was seriously distracted by all the action going on around him.

Max and Mae both loved it too. We're constantly looking for more things to do inside while the temperature is so low. To make freezing temperatures a little more bearable, we picked up a little hobby over the past week: making lanterns out of ice.

The neighbors had all sorts of explanations for what we were doing in the backyard, until we finally had a few frozen globes to show for our effort.

Quinn and I took some time a few days ago to make the frozen orbs candle-ready (using this great hand drill and auger I picked up at a garage sale last summer. Here's a testament to buying inexpensive tools even if you don't (yet) have a purpose for them).

Tonight, we lit candles in all of them and they look quite wintery on the front porch. I picked up some tips along the way from a woman in Minneapolis that does an outstanding job of making carrying a 50 lb water balloon in zero degree weather seem easy.

http://iceglobelanterns.com/