Snow Day

Don't get me started on having a Snow Day in middle march, 2 days before Spring starts but we had one.  On Saturday we had gotten 2-3 inches of snow and it was still covering the ground come Monday morning.  We were predicted to get another big storm early Monday morning through Tuesday morning.  Much like our school district has done in the past, they jumped the gun and called school off for the day.  I woke up to nothing happening outside but hey, it was early and school wouldn't have even begun for 1.5 hours.  Well "bus stop" time rolls around and nothing. Then lunch time, then the time they kids would've been getting home had they had an early dismissal, still nothing.  At 1:40 it began to snow.  A few flurries at first then blizzard!  For the next 4 hours or so, it snowed.  By the end, we had received 3-4 inches of snow, roads were a mess and the weather prediction was right, only LATE!  So the kids had a the day off and now have to make it up in June! So frustrating, but the thing that is more frustrating about snow days in general but this one in particular....the kids need a break from each other! 

It is middle of March and still "winter" weather outside.  The kids have been inside the four walls of our house for way too long!  They are on each others nerves (and on mine!) and they are bored.  How they are bored, I do not know because they have more toys and Toys R Us but that is another story for another day!  Two weeks ago, they had a little spring break (3 days off) and it was cold and wintery outside.  These kids need some warm weather and a LONG day off playing outside!  Yesterday they wanted to play in the snow.  Perfect, get them outside, fresh air, even though its cold they can handle it.  So I proceeded to get the snow gear out for the three older ones and get them the dressed.  That is one time consuming task.  Once they were bundled and ready to go, out they went.  They played for awhile, close to an hour and then one by one they approached the door with looks of pure pain from the cold fingers and red cheeks.  As the came in, I got them underdressed, a cup of hot chocolate and turned on a movie.  Okay, maybe this day isn't going to be that bad after all.  Then I looked at the clock....9:58am!  Oh my, it wasn't even 10 AM and they were already done outside.  :(  I had a HUGE pile of wet snow clothes sitting by the back door, a line of snowy snow boots melting all over the towel they were set on.  Time for some new plans!

As I begin to rack my brain on things to keep my children from fighting all day or sending me to the looney bin, I get some ideas.  Of course these ideas involve my help, therefore my list of chores to do around the house has been pushed until the next day but hey, what are snow days for.  When the movie was over, we all retreated to the basement to build one heck of a pillow fort. While that was fun and time consuming I knew it wouldn't last.  It was getting close to lunch time so I told the kids I had to do a few things upstairs and I would be back down.  About 15 minutes later I returned with 4 plates of food and a blanket for an indoor picnic!  Kids LOVE doing this.  We picked a show on TV that everyone could agree on...that is a task in itself...and went along eating our lunch.  Mmmm...

When lunch was over, a full blown game of Ninjas broke out!  Whoa, that escalated quickly! ;)  After being the bad guy for way too long, I needed a break and took J up for his nap.  I then decided to see how long it would be until I was missed in the basement.  I was able to get some cleaning done and a few emails/phone calls done before the parade of children one by one exited the basement for the worlds silliest reasons!

The kids decided they then wanted to go back outside.  Okay, why not.  So we spent the next 20 minutes getting snow clothes on and playing the mystery of the single glove.  Of course their gloves from their first outing were still wet and the kids weren't happy with that and every new pair of glove I pulled from the drawer caused a raucous.  Finally after telling one child they would were "this" pair or NO gloves and another that no one would see him wearing pink gloves, they went on their way.  This time they played for about an 45 minutes before they began to act like they were ice cubes couldn't help me at all when trying to get their clothes off.  At least they got more fresh air!

Next on the snow day list....movie theater in the basement!  Kids have been wanted to watch the Nightmare Before Christmas for a few days so I figured it was the perfect time.  Everyone went down and took a seat, I brought down popcorn and water bottles and the lights were turned off!  Just like a movie theater...but WAY cheaper!

At this point, I had not planned dinner since my original dinner plan involved going to the store and NOT having a snow day so out to the freezer I went.  Thankfully, since I had just stocked up the freezer, I had a few choices.  Frozen lasagna it is!  Dinner...check! 

Phew.  At that point I knew I would survive the snow day....just hope there isn't another one the next day!!!