Snow and Chocolate Soup

We spent the weekend indoors, thanks to a winter storm that brought us about 6 inches of the fluffy, white stuff. Sabrina is apparently very much an outdoor person (we have no idea where she got that trait from, certainly not us!) and absolutely loves the snow. In fact, she likes anything cold, as we discovered when long ago she dipped her hand in an ice-water glass and kept it in there for what felt like an uncomfortably long time. In previous snow storms, she's even taken pleasure in sitting on a pile of snow :) Hard to believe she's a summer baby!

So on Saturday the 3 of us ventured out to shovel the driveway. The snow was still falling at that point, but it seemed like a good time to at least clear what had already fallen (about 3 inches at that point). We bundled Sabrina up in her snow-suit and let her "help" us by giving her a broom. Unfortunately we had some issues with the water-proof mittens I bought for her, and we never could get her thumbs to go in the designated slot... so her ability to grasp things was limited. Nonetheless, she loved being out there and exclaimed "Snow!!" several times.

When it came time to go indoors, Sabrina was not a happy camper. In fact, she cried when I carried her up the deck stairs and into the kitchen.

We decided that the occasion called for some hot chocolate. So I began heating up some milk (soy for Gene; whole for Sabrina and me). Once the chocolate was mixed in, I brought a tablespoon of it to my mouth to assess the need for extra sugar/sweetener. Sabrina said "Shoup". I looked at her and, as I sometimes have to do these days, ask her to repeat what she said so I can de-code it. "Shoup," she reiterated. I thought for a moment before realizing was trying to say "soup" because of the way I tasted it! I couldn't help but indulge her, as I put a little bit of hot chocolate on the spoon, blew on it to cool it off, brought it to her lips and said "*chocolate* soup...". Yummmm.