In case you missed my Jan. 10 post, I'll catch you up. This week's going to be bad. Really bad. Cold, nasty -- the whole nine. 

What are you going to do with your kids if you're stuck in the house? Every day this week I'll give you a little something to do, an idea that doesn't cost a lot or require you to leave the house.

Today's plan? Hit the kitchen.

For some reason, I didn't learn until my kids were older just how much kids love to cut stuff up. I was always slicing food into little pieces for them, not realizing how much they just might like doing it themselves. 

Give each child a cutting board or plate, a butter knife (or a plastic knife, if you're more comfortable with that) and some peeled bananas and kiwis, strawberries, cantaloupe slices -- whatever your kids will eat. Let them go nuts hacking up the fruit however they would like. Even completely smushed bananas are fine.

Give them each a carton of vanilla yogurt and let them layer in the fruit and yogurt into a short glass or bowl. Do this early enough in the day and this could be breakfast.

If your children like baking with you, here's a peanut butter cookie recipe that's so simple, you'll want to make it all the time. The nice part is that it only makes about 15 to 18 cookies, so you won't have a ton of them around, threatening to ruin your New Year's resolve. (And you're not missing anything on the recipe -- there's no flour, baking soda, butter or added salt in this recipe.)

Easy Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

chocolate chips

Combine all the ingredients and bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool completely.

So now we've had our day in the kitchen. On tap for tomorrow? Get ready for some sensory fun.

Day 1: Dance Party

In case you missed my Jan. 10 post, I'll catch you up. This week's going to be bad. Really bad. Cold, nasty -- the whole nine. 

What are you going to do with your kids if you're stuck in the house? Every day this week I'll give you a little something to do, an idea that doesn't cost a lot or require you to leave the house. 

Today's plan? Dance Party.

This is something I used to do with my kids from time to time. It has no rhyme or reason to it, but the kids always loved it and it keeps them occupied -- at least for a little while. 

In the dead of winter, when we were going stir-crazy, housebound insane, there were some days that were just made for dance parties. If you can call a friend and invite her and those kids too, even better.

Throw a pot of coffee on, and then head for the basement or closet to dig up last Halloween's costumes or costumes from the last few years. Ask your friend's kids to come wearing their old costumes, and also ask them to bring any extras they might have from years past.

Grab any other dress up clothes, sunglasses, big boots, hats, scarves, purses or other accessories that would make it fun.

Throw all the costumes the kids aren't wearing and any accessories into a big pile on the floor. Push back the furniture to make some room.

Now here's the key part -- find some music that really gets your kids rockin'. Back in the dance-party days for us, my kids and their friends were partial to the Disney "Tarzan" soundtrack and the "Spirit" soundtrack. Also big for us was this CD I bought for no good reason but it ended up being one of our favorites. It's called "African Playground."

Get your music going, encourage costume accessorizing and costume swapping, and just watch and enjoy. For some reason the combination of loud music, Halloween costumes and silly accessories seems to pass the time nicely. There's nothing quite like a Spider-Man costume paired with a Hannah Montana wig, a beaded handbag and aviator glasses and a "goofy dance move" competition to get everybody giggling.

Throw out a few bowls of crackers and some juice boxes, and you're all set.

Keep 'em moving, and you might even get some nice naps out of the whole experience.

OK, now you're all warmed up for the temperature drop. Get ready for tomorrow, when we're heading to the kitchen.

I was at a meeting last week and the opening chit-chat was about -- surprise, suprise -- the snow. Someone then brought up the big ol' freezing cold snap headed our way.

If you don't live for winter, it's enough to make you want to burrow under the covers and set your alarm clock for April.

So if you've got little ones at home, what do you do to keep yourself -- and your kids -- from going insane when you are, in fact, going insane?

Starting Monday morning (and every morning through Friday) I'll post a blog with an idea to do at home each day for a little activity to remind you that all is not lost when you can't get outside. Whether you're a stay-at-home mom of little ones or a working mom who wants to do something fun in the evening, give these ideas a try. 

And look on the bright side -- we're supposed to be in the double digits (granted it's only 12 degrees) by Friday.

It's just one week. Say it together: We can do it.

If you think you might try some of this stuff, here are a few things you'll need that you might not have at the ready at home. And don't worry -- these are random things you'll need. They aren't all combined together in one recipe that includes both chocolate chips and shaving cream. Shop on Monday; it's supposed to be 30. From there it's all downhill.

Shopping List

two packages unsweetened Kool-Aid

cream of tartar

corn oil

peanut butter

chocolate chips

bananas, kiwi, other soft fruits

vanilla yogurt

shaving cream

brown paper lunch bags

construction paper

yarn and/or pipe cleaners

So how happy are your kids? Mine were banking on this, so if it didn't happen -- oh, that would have been rough.

Remember the days when the weather forecasters would get us all hyped up and then nothing would happen? They'd close school in advance for a snow day and then a scattered two or three inches would fall?

Why does it seem like that never happens anymore?

The past two winters I have been amazed by the accuracy of the weather folks. If they say snow's rolling in at 10 p.m., sure enough -- the flakes start falling at 10 p.m.

I guess that's progress and technology and all that, but it does take a bit of the surprise out of the whole thing, which, as a kid, was part of the joy of it. Waking up and finding out that there was a snow day when you had no clue the night before? Nothing better than that.

Now the kids know it's coming, when it's coming, how much is coming -- and they basically book it on their calendars. 

But in fairness, it doesn't seem to matter. They're doing the Snow Day Dance around here and for them, life is good.