Snow Day #2

A gal from my ward had previously asked me if I could watch her Kindergartner M-W after school. I said I could. At church on Sunday I said I could still watch him, even if school was out. Monday she didn't go to work, but Tuesday and Wednesday she needed to. She asked if I could watch her 9 year old daughter as well, since school was closed. I said no problem. So on Tuesday, Dec. 16th, Malissa and Jarrod came over at 7:45am.

The kids actually entertained themselves well and for quite some time. Around 11am they asked to go to the park across the street and play. They lasted longer than I thought they would...30 minutes. I give them lots of credit, too. It was sooooooooo cold. Sadly, I've endured worse weather conditions than this, but it's amazing how un-used to it you can get when it's not the norm.

The foursome trompped back in, had some hot chocolate and I was debating about lunch while trying to think of a fun "we're trapped inside" kind of activity. I remembered an idea I saw in a magazine a few days before....make snowmen out of pancakes. What a miracle...I actually had everything we needed to do it and I could combine lunch and the activity. What kid doesn't like playing with their food? So I made banana pancakes in graduated circles as best I could and the kids used pretzels, chocolate chips, marshmallows, and cheerios to create their snowmen.

They seemed to have fun and each of them made and ATE 3 different snowmen creations.

After they played some more, we watched the Pixar Short Films we got from Netflix complete with popcorn and then before we knew it, our friends' dad was there to pick them up. It was a not so bad snow day after all.

But I had yet to go to the grocery store. I was dreading it on many levels. The crowd was as bad as I had anticipated. I really have yet to find a day and time that Winco isn't busy. But the drive was okay. The main roads were decent so that was a relief. I can certainly navigate snowy roads, but don't want to any more than I have to especially as the temperature drops and in the dark. But it was my grocery day and there was no getting around it.

While I was gone, the school districts announced they were closing school again on Wednesday. Once I heard the news, I had no hope for school to resume the rest of the week. I was bummed for the kids--mainly because they were trapped at home with boring me all week. Not to mention the week of school before the Christmas break is usually an extra special one. And it's one thing for the kids to be out of school, quite another for it to be unexpected, day after day, on top of weather conditions that deter you from being outside. But for someone who isn't very crafty or creative, we made the best of it. And the kids have done really well under the circumstances.