Bring on Snow Day #3

We've survived day two and the 6:00pm news was nice enough to inform us that school has been cancelled for a third day. The kids have spent a good deal of time over the last couple of days playing outside in the snow, though today's snow was more ice after another light round last night. They've been sledding and had snowball fights with the neighbors. Of course I brought them in every little bit in order to thaw. They have also wreaked havoc on my stock of groceries. We've been through three gallons of milk since Monday. They've polished off a huge box of Lucky Charms, even with me fixing blueberry muffins on Tuesday. You can't forget the mountain of laundry that they leave behind when they finish their playing for the day. For example, Belle wore three different shirt layers to go outside today. I can't tell you the number of loads of laundry I've washed over the last couple of days trying to keep on top and I'm still not caught up.

The problem with snow days is trying to keep them occupied when they are inside. Bryce could be easy. Bryce would turn on a movie, get lost in it and then put in another when it was over. Or he'd play Wii. Or computer. Anything that has his face in front of some sort of screen. And only if I would let him. But that would mean I'd be a nice mom who would let him do what he wants to do, right? Too easy. Brady could compete for his time with the computer or Wii time but gets bored eventually with tv. Belle, however, is one who has to be active. She'll watch a little tv, play a little video games but she'd wants to be outside all the time or she complains about being bored inside. Unless she has a friend to play with. They have been through two movies today and Bryce had started a third when I finally told him to shut it off. I found Brady had occupied himself with my camera this morning and these two self-portraits were among the results.
I had a double-take at the last one. And for those of you who couldn't tell, he got a haircut this past Saturday. I don't believe he had brushed it by the time he got ahold of my camera.

We had a family game night tonight as well. I couldn't find my Yahtzee game so Brady wanted to play Monopoly instead. I put them in the shower before supper (Belle took hers after) to make sure that they were almost ready for bed when the game started. Makes putting them to bed later so much easier. Belle was trying to keep Brady from moving her car for her while yelling "STOOOOOOOOOOP" at him. Brady was very disappointed after coming out strong buying things left and right to end up broke by the end of the game. Especially after he landed on my yellow pieces that each held three houses each to the tune of $8,000,000. Did I mention he landed on them three. different. times? He was a very unhappy camper. Normally, I'd play nice and would leave the houses alone. But after an hour and a half of listening to "STOOOOOOP", telling them to wait until the previous person is finished before they roll and trying to get Belle to stop exchanging her smaller bills for larger ones, I was spent. It was time for bed. I declared myself a winner and sent them all to brush their teeth.

Also, this week has sent Hubby into the nice weather that has gripped the nation. He left Sunday for central Illinois and ended up in Chicago Monday afternoon/evening. They received a lot of snow over the last few days before he got to leave last night. Unfortunately, he got out of his truck Tuesday and slipped on an icy sidewalk landing on his upper back/neck area. All while I was on the phone (he wears a headset) so I got to hear the fall. He's pretty sore and I couldn't help but laugh, especially since this is not his first time falling like that. Don't get me wrong, I feel for him, but you just had to hear it. He enjoyed it tonight when I told him I have to wash my hair before bed. All because he cleaned up the shed and I hit my head on the weed eater he hung from the roof while I was trying to find the sled. I can still smell the gasoline in my hair.

I don't see the kids getting to spend a lot of day outside tomorrow. They are calling for rain and temperatures high enough to melt the mess. One can only hope that means they will be returning to school on Friday before having 2 1/2 weeks off. Then I can finish my Christmas shopping and wrapping around the time I spend attending their Christmas program. But for now, I'm going to go wash my hair. And go to bed. How has the weather been for you?