Snow Day 2.0

We got a real snow day! It was on the lighter side of what they were predicting (kids were really hoping for the 8 inches that had been thrown around--I think we got a solid 3), but it was enough to have some fun with this morning. And more important, it was enough to get school cancelled.

 

 

 

The snow was really wet and started getting slushy almost immediately, so the kids got in some good hard playing right after breakfast--sledding, snowman (and snowdog and snowmonster) building, exploring, tackling--you know, the normal snow day activities.

I'm hoping that this ends our winter streak. It's been feeling very Utah-like for the last couple weeks, with single digit temps and all this white stuff. But March is full-on spring in the Carolinas and I am ready!

The Fun Never Ends

You know you've been sick when you come to breakfast wearing yoga pants and one of your children exclaims, "You got dressed today!" It was a rough weekend.

It all started with Valentine's Day, when Peanut upchucked his lunch during his nap. For the next week, both Daddy-o and I felt a little queasy, but honestly, being around sick people tends to make me feel that way anyway, so after several days of that, I figured I wasn't going to actually get it. And I didn't get sick in quite the same way as Peanut had.

But I did go to bed Friday night with a stomach ache, and when I woke up several hours later to pee, I ended up fainting in the bathroom, and coming to with my head smashed between the toilet and the wall and being totally confused as to why there was such a bright light shining in my face as I woke up. When things finally came in focus and I realized I was not waking up in my bed, and then remembered how I'd been feeling kind of dizzy, I realized that I'd just broken my 12 year streak of not fainting. Last time, I was on a crowded bus in Mexico, and was coming off the worst case of food poisoning I've ever had--apparently stomach things can do this to me, although it's a miracle I never fainted while pregnant.

Luckily, I wasn't hurt worse--my right jaw and left knee are a little bruised, and my neck was sore from being trapped at a weird angle for a couple mintues, but that was it.  But it's still not the nicest feeling in the world. And poor Daddy-o felt so bed when I called to him asking if he could come help me back to bed. My fall had woken him up, but when I didn't answer when he called out to me, he figured I was throwing up and would want to be left alone right then, so he stayed in bed. It's actually probably a good thing he didn't come in because he may have called 911 when he found me unconscious in the bathroom, and that  would have just cost us a bunch of money we didn't need to spend.

So, I spent the weekend in bed feeling sick, Daddy-o spent all day Saturday trying to maintain some semblance of control over the kids, who were a little crazy after a week of cold weather, Peanut illness, and too much TV, and poor Bean was left with trying to take care of Peanut on Sunday because Daddy-o had to go to church. I don't think anyone will be remembering this as their favorite weekend of the year.

Now I'll be hoping for at least another 12 years before that happens again.

The Year of the Ram

It seems like there are a lot of little celebrations to have in February: Valentine's Day, Mardi Gras/Lent, and now, Chinese new Year. While I made dinner tonight, Bug helped Peanut make a few lanterns and then they made a sign to welcome the new year.

Dinner was egg drop soup, chicken chow mien, stir fried veggies, rice, and pot stickers. The kids basically ate rice and pot stickers. I cannot get my kids to like Chinese food. Makes me so sad.

And then Bug wanted to do a little puppet show for me. Because how else do you celebrate the new year than with a bunch of little stick puppets that he photocopied from a book and then colored and a shoebox puppet theater complete with pull curtains. He'd heard a story about the new year and the animals in school and that speared this whole creation. Seriously love this kid and the crazy way his mind works.

 

And where was Bean during all of this, you might ask? She would be reading her way through her fourth Sisters of Grimm book of the week. Snow days and delayed starts for school have given her hours and hours to read and she's been taking full advantage.

Snow/Ice Day

These two were so excited to wake up to this winter scene, even if there was more ice than snow.

It may not be as soft as real snow, but there were a few nice things about today. 

 

First of all, ice makes for fast sledding. And second, it wasn't actually all that cold today. Mostly in the 30's all day, which is warm enough for some good outdoor time. The kids were outside for hours.

Friends came to play, snowiceballs were thrown,

The play got a little violent, and of course ended with ice in the face and tears. Wouldn't be a day home from school if it didn't.

And to make it an even better day, it was also Pancake Tuesday!

Pancakes with whipped cream and strawberries for breakfast.

German pancakes with Buttermilk Syrup for dinner. Yum! Had to get in one last sugar fix before Lent starts tomorrow and I give it up for the next 40 days.

Weekend Review

This week has been a hodge-podge of typical and not so typical activities. Mostly small stuff, but it has kept us busy. Kids had a half day on Thursday and no school on Friday, so our normal  routine was a bit off, and I'll admit I've had trouble remembering what day it was when I first wake up in the morning.

But since Monday, I've been to a couple parent-teacher conferences (I always love these--I know I'm lucky, but my kids are way better in school than at home, so their teachers always love them and other than talking to much (Bean) and occasionally having trouble transitioning because of being hyper-focused (Bug), their teachers don't have much else to correct--I'll take it.)

I've spent a lot of hours writing and editing, including hanging out at Panera with Bean and Bug Friday morning while Peanut was in school. They've been dying to come with me, especially so they could get the insanely large hot chocolate.

Kids have gone to Activity Days (Bean) and Cub Scouts (Bug) and Storytime (Peanut). There's been lots of jumping on the trampoline, guinea pig playing, backyard exploring, dog walking, laundry folding, Lego building, cooking, baking and vacuuming.

Poor Peanut has also had some vomiting going on this weekend. We've been so lucky this winter avoiding all the illnesses that have gone around, but I guess we couldn't escape forever. We'll see how many of us come down with this stomach bug. It may only be the power of suggestion, but no one was feeling quite right last night.

The List

I feel the need to make a list of what I did today. It was one of those days that I felt like I was running around like a mildly crazy person, but not really getting anywhere. Maybe it will make me feel better to list everything out so I can see where the hours went.

packed lunches
made breakfast
drop kids at schools
3 loads of laundry
remade two beds
weekly trip to Trader Joes
monthly trip to Costco
picked kids up from school
homemade chicken noodle soup
short run
finish a small knitting project
tutored for a half hour
read to the kids
watched swimming videos with kids
made three phone calls

So, yeah, that makes me feel a little better. There were a few of those things I'd forgotten about until I sat down to do this, and since most of these things weren't listed on a to do list anywhere, it isn't like I got to cross all these items off.

And now, I think I'm going to read, or watch mindless Netflix before bedtime. Even though those three loads of laundry haven't been folded. (My streak ended with the end of the month--it was a nice run while it lasted.)

Beautiful February

This weekend, we got lucky with some beautiful weather considering it's the beginning of February. Perfect timing for the Latta Plantation Fairy House Festival. The older two kids and I went to it a couple years ago, but the weather was even better.

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Even though we didn't take our own advice from last time and bring along supplies, the kids took the building of their fairy house and grounds very seriously.

 

First, there was the picking of the perfect spot. Mossy ground, good trees to build against, and right on the lake offered a unique twist.

 

The house may have been simple but it had its own boat dock. They actually spent way more time working on the dock than the house--anything to do with water. . .

 

This sweet boy was mostly content to throw things in the water, including some of the building materials Bean and Bug had used on their creation, which didn't go over so well. But overall, they had a great morning. One of my favorite things about this is that we see a lot of people from our preschool days there, and this year, there were also several people from church, so it felt like a great community event. I love anything that makes me feel like I live in a small town--I'm always searching for my Stars Hollow :)

 

There was also a WWII event at the plantation house, so we stopped by there for awhile, too. There was a lot of fun equipment to look at and Bug even got to try on the British supplies. We talked with "soldiers" and a woman war correspondent who filled us in on the roles women had during the war. Russia even had a famous woman sniper.

 

Peanut came home obsessed with guns for the next couple days and kept wanting to shoot all of us. What is it with boys and guns?

Peanut Positives

I feel like I need to write down some positive things about this little guy, to give a fair picture of who he is at this age. Because even though the tough stuff is really tough, it's not all hard. And considering he made a big switch this last week, from his crib (finally!) to his big bed, he deserves a little shout out. Oh, and the switch has gone pretty nicely. He doesn't get out of bed, even on the days that he never falls asleep for naptime, and he doesn't wake up at night any more often than he was in the crib, which isn't saying a whole lot, but at least we didn't have any setbacks.

And now, on to the positives:

Peanut is awesome at cleaning up the things he gets out, clearing his place after meals, and generally putting things away. He notices the messes as he makes them and always wants to fix them before he goes on, which I'm really hoping he doesn't outgrow!

He loves to help with everything--making dinner, washing dishes, doing laundry. He's right there with me all day long :)

When he goes to bed/nap easily (which is probably at least 1/2 the time now), he is so sweet. I love lying next to him in Abe's bed (which is where he naps most of the time--still won't give up the crib for nighttime), singing to him and watching his eyes get sleepy. And then he gives me a kiss and repeats all the goodnight stuff I say, "Sweet dreams, I love you, I'll see you when I wake you up."

He says the funniest things. For instance, when I'm putting him to bed, I actually can't say, "See you when you wake up," because whoever gets him out of bed is "waking" him up in his mind, even if he's yelling for us to come. So we say, "See you when I wake you up," and he repeats back, "See you when you wake me up." He also calls "pretending" "intending", "massage" is "passauge".

He gives great hugs and kisses. And has the cutest, from the shoulder, wave I have ever seen.

He can be incredibly considerate. Out of the blue, he will ask, "How was your day today, Mama?" or "Did you have a good meeting, Daddy?" I suppose his polite conversation balances the crazy yelling