Things to do While your Parents are Trying to Build a Skating Rink

1. Figure out how to ride your toboggan off the back deck so it slides the length of the area Mommy and Daddy are stamping down, nearly knocking Mommy's legs off at the kneecap.

2. Turn your climber into an ice castle and dance around on it shouting, "I'm a Queen! I'm a Queen!"

3. Tearfully request your own shovel and then use it for three and a half seconds before placing it directly in front of a parent who is trying to stamp down the snow the shovel is now on.

4. Loudly point out that in weather like this it sure is nice to have hot chocolate.

5. Ask if Daddy is going to learn how to skate now.

6. Ask Mommy repeatedly if she will go under the climber to retrieve the soccer ball that has taken refuge underneath it.

7. Throw yourself into the snowbanks Daddy has just built up and then allow yourself to slide gently backward onto the ice, saying, "Aaaaahhhhhhh."

8. Place your toboggan directly in the path of whatever shovel is nearest.

9. Lie down on the ice and gloomily say, "I'm tired of skating."

10. Ask when we're going to go to the tobogganing hill.