Anatomy of a Snow Day

I have to be honest, when Scott informed me bright and early this morning that it was going to be a snow day, I was so happy to turn off my alarm and sleep in that it didn't even register that I'd have the kids home with me all day long as a trade-off.  Hahaha.  Thankfully, the day ended up better than expected -- but I'm sure that had a lot to do with the fact this was the very first snow day of the school year.  The fact that it has already arrived and it's only mid-November makes me a little nervous for the rest of the winter, but hopefully, we will not experience another one like last year.  For documentation's sake, here is what the first snow day of the season looked like...

• Snow was played in.  It didn't take long after breakfast and scripture time for the kids to make their way outside.  And then back inside, and then back outside, and then back inside, and so on and so forth for about 30 minutes or so, as they tried to find everything they needed to play in the snow while staying reasonably warm and dry.  Some fared better than others.  Hahaha.  Note to self -- everyone needs gloves and Ethan needs snow boots.  And Alex could use a snowsuit in his OWN signature color and not Jane's.  Hahaha.  {And as a sidenote, this just might be the winter that I finally get around to procuring weather appropriate snow gear for MYSELF, too.  It may have taken well over a decade of living in places where snow routinely accompanies the winter to accept reality and make myself more comfortable, but it's better late than never.  Right???}

• Scott worked from home.  And actually managed to get some work done even though the kids were home, too.  I think he was more than happy to sleep in a tiny bit, too, after the last few nights with the kids.  Alex and Jane had a couple of CRAZY sleepless night last week and then over the weekend, Sophie came down with a fever and sore throat and needed a little TLC as well.  She stumbled into our room right before midnight last night hardly able to breathe due to the choking, croakiness of her throat, and as a result set up camp on the floor in the corner by our bed and we all fell asleep to the sound of her nebulizer steadily droning on.  

•  Ethan worked on a school project.  Which isn't even due until Friday, but I think he gets a little antsy and just likes to get things done.  They're studying world religions in social studies right now and have to do research and posters on Hindu gods/goddesses.  I convinced him that the wrinkled and crumpled up poster I swept up on the kitchen floor this morning might not get top points for effort or neatness and he spent a good chunk of the day following my advice and redoing his work on a brand new piece of paper.  The girls got into the action as well, for some reason, and started drawing THEIR own posters as well.  I'm not sure if they were trying to give him ideas of what to do for Ganesha, or if they were just trying to prove that they could do a better job than he did, but it was kind of funny to see them all working so intensely.

 {Alex got in on the action, too.}

 His "rough" draft is on the bottom there in the uneven purple letters.

 He took a page from Grace's book and made the letters more colorful for the final draft.

• Wacky cake was made.  Yeah, you read that right.  Right before the peaceful interlude of poster making, I had to resort to out and out bribery to keep the kids off electronics and away from killing each other.  My solution was to try out "Jackson's Wacky Cake" from Mel's Kitchen Cafe, which claimed to be so easy that a 7 year old could make it!  Since it has no eggs or dairy in it, it seemed like the PERFECT thing for our resident 7-year-old to give me a hand in making.  The end result was a LOT better than any of us were expecting.  I've tried a couple different recipes for "wacky" cakes before -- because of Sophie's allergies -- but none of them ever turned out very well, and they certainly didn't have the same consistency or texture of a real cake.  This one, however, was pretty good!  We finished it off with a dusting of powdered sugar like the recipe suggested and it was a hit will all of the kids.  Even Ethan, who is a notoriously picky eater.  :)

•  More projects were created to work on.  I scored mega wizard points after coming up with some genius ideas for keeping the kids occupied this afternoon and too busy to bother each other.  Almost an hour was spent cutting things out of magazines and then laminating them with the brand-new laminator that I bought over the weekend.  Never underestimate the appeal of a new "toy."  Hahaha.  Grace humored my request to cut out animals for Alex from her National Geographic for Kids magazine, and after I started cutting out "paper dolls" from an American Girl catalog, all the girls joined in the fun.  :)

 

• LOTS of messes were made. Hardly surprising with five kids home all day long, but it certainly was all-inclusive.  There really wasn't an area of the main floor that WASN'T trashed by the end of the day.  

 Sample mess leftover in the Dining Room.  But rest assured that every room looked similar or worse.

• But chores were actually done.  Both kid and grown up.  I was able to get out and shovel the driveway by mid-afternoon and then head to the grocery store with my freshly written up shopping list and menu for the month.  Meanwhile, once I got back, the kids promised to get their chores done as soon as they were finished playing outside and sledding down the front yard.  I have to give them some major credit, because they actually did!  Well, except for Sophie, but she was still sounding pretty croaky, so I'll give her a pass for today.  :)

 While cleaning up the kitchen, Alex came and settled himself at the counter to play with his action figures all by himself.  It was hilarious.  I mean, he really PLAYS with them.  Using voices and sound effects and everything.  Hahahaha.

 And Jane is a budding artist.

•  FHE was held and a real dinner was made!  I got started on our Pizza pull-apart rolls a little later than I was planning, so as we waited for them to finish rising and bake, we held Family Home Evening a little bit early.  Grace was all prepared with a lesson -- they worked on it in Activity Days last week -- and did a really awesome job teaching it to the family.  It was quite adorable, really.  She can be so on point at times.  Hahaha. The lesson was on prayer, and she handed out pictures to color and a pretzel maze to do and then made us a "prayer sandwich" with peanut butter and jelly for an object lesson to finish.  It was great.  And then we went on to eat a delicious pizza dinner with a treat afterwards of chocolate dipped pretzels and sprinkles to go along with Grace's lesson.  Pretzels are shaped like arms folded in prayer you know.  :)

•  Bedtime finally came.  And the day was done.  It took a bit of time to get EVERYONE up to bed, but once we did they eventually all stayed!  Here's to hoping they stay in their own beds all night long.  :)