What do to when your heater breaks

We are used to HMB weather around here. Foggy chilly days with some sunny days sprinkled here and there. 55 outside is park weather, sometimes even with short sleeves. 65 is bordering on too hot. But 40.....I repeat 40. That is damn cold. Especially when the heater isn't working.

So we did what any sensible person would do. We broke into Grandma's Christmas stash and stole warm winter coats and hats and wore them inside. Thanks Mama (what the kids call my mom).

This is how Adam was dressed inside, and his face says it all. He was not happy. A few times I couldn't find him anywhere and then I thought to look in our bed and found him under two big blankets, refusing to get up and play because he was too cold.

When the house temp dropped below 50 and even being bundled up didn't get the job down, we turned our daily dose of dress up up a notch:

I pulled out old costumes, a lion one Charlie wore two years in a row, and a nice big dinosaur hand me down that we were saving for when Charlie was 4 or 5.

This costume over their warm clothes did the trick, but as you can see by Kate's face, it made her scared. She heard Charlie roaring like a dinosaur and did her scared face.

Charlie was so incredibly sweet, he came right up to her and said, "Don't be scared Kate, it just me, Charlie. I not really a dinosaur. Look touch my hands, it is my hand not a dinosaur claw." It melted my heart.

I just sat on the kitchen floor and watched the whole thing, snapping pictures the whole time. She turned back at me as if to make sure I was on board with this not being a really scary monster.

And once Kate warmed up to the idea that it really was Charlie, she gave him a hug of relief.

And then the fun began. She kept trying to grab his "bum bum" or his tail, and then the three of us started laughing uncontrollably.

The heater is now fixed, but the costumes have their own home in the playroom and we play with them almost everyday. Yes, we are whimps. 40 isn't that cold, but when you don't own a warm jacket or gloves, when your kids have thin sweatshirts that are too short because they are from over a year ago, and when you are used to spending half your day outside....40 is just too damn cold.