Snow Days

We have all enjoyed our first ever snow days! This will be our third four-day school week in a row. And then we get President's day off as well. School-shmool. It is amazing to look out at the beautiful blue sky reflecting on the brilliant white snow in the back yard. This combination makes for a less dreary winter. It might as well be summer, it's so bright outside. Maybe that's why I have so much energy. Or it could be that Neil arrives in one week. Either way, the snow sparkling in the sun is such a welcome change from the brown leaves, brown pine straw, and grey sky. Apparently I will change my mind when this turns to slush and mud. But truly, there is something in the snow in our backyard that is sparkling.

My kids' bodies have acclimated to the colder weather. It's forty degrees outside and they're hot. They have been running around the neighborhood with their friends, sledding down the conveniently located hill that is in front of our house, and having snow ball fights. I love Deb's neighborhood: the families are so great and there is so much to explore. Our neighbors have lent us boots and some gloves-I was not prepared for how wet everything would be! I do laundry on the weekends, but somehow my piles have grown instead of getting smaller.

I rented Twilight from the library and stayed up late Friday night to watch it with Sydney. Of course, I fast-forwarded the one "part." For a PG-13 movie, the one love scene is tame. But as much as I enjoy the movie and love the books, Sydney does not need this image in her head. In the book, the main character is wearing raggedy pj pants and a tank top; in the movie, she sports a t-shirt and underwear. Surely the mental picture Sydney has from reading the book is not what she would encounter in the movie. Can I not have just one or two more years? On the other hand, we watched Shrek 2 last night. The girls picked up on the line where Pinocchio was told to lie about something crazy like wearing women's underwear. His pink thong made the girls laugh. Great. I got them to be quiet before Zach started wondering why they were laughing so hard.

I read the Duggar's book last week. Wow. Compared to that lady, I am the laziest and most selfish person on the planet. Somehow wanting to relax and read a book seems so frivolous. Regardless of how you feel about the size of their family, you should read their book. It provides great insight into their lives. I love this family even though I do not live my life the same way that they do theirs. I read comments all the time about their kids. My opinion is that their kids will go in one of two ways: either they will be responsible adults and productive members of society or they will rebel and go off the deep end. Isn't it amazing that each of our children, regardless of our family size, will go in one of those two directions? It turns out that their oldest boys have chosen the first route. They run a used-car dealership together, one of them is married and has a baby.

Also, I love the idea of a home laundromat. If I remember correctly, the Duggar's have 4 washers and 3 dryers. I would love a second washer and dryer! And then, the idea to keep all the clothes stored in one room, categorized by gender, size and color makes putting laundry away so much more efficient. This is a unique idea that most people think is weird, but my friends tell me all the time about their clean clothes sitting in piles waiting to be put away. Having an upstairs laundry room makes a huge difference at our house, but still the piles sometimes collect. I was amazed to read that the only debt they have ever had was for their first home which cost $19,000. The next house they paid $65,000 in cash that they had saved over five years. And they didn't sell their first house to put the cash towards the price of the second house. Who does that? With four or five kids. I guess they didn't pay for internet service, tv and cable or cell phones. But over five years, that would be $20,000 at the most. Amazing.

Zach also loves this family! He happened to watch an episode with me where they hung a homemade Robot pinata from the balcony for one of the boy's bdays. When Zach saw all those boys scrambling around, he thought he had found heaven.

Sydney decided to cook a few times this weekend while I was upstairs doing laundry. Seriously, I have done about 11 loads of laundry. Anyway, she attempted blueberry mini-muffins on Saturday. She couldn't find the milk, so she used water. Today Syd started chocolate chip cookies. I caught her before she used 3/4 cup of Smart Balance spread instead of butter, but I missed her use of Kosher salt instead of table salt. Luckily for her, both the muffins and cookies turned out fine.

Neil should be home by this time next week. It is crazy to think that, but it will not sink in until he calls from Georgia. Up to that point, there are many ways that his trip could get postponed. My friends have volunteered to help me clean before he arrives. I am getting the laundry and straightening done so that we can knock out mopping, dusting, washing windows, and vacuuming. Oh yeah, I still need to clean my room. Wow, do I hate cleaning my room. If you have ever wondered where my kids get it from...It is even worse now than when I was younger: I have such a big family that I do all kinds of housework, but do not clean my room. It's a great excuse.

Neil and I are taking a short vacation after President's Day, and Ann will be staying with the kids. We are going snow-boarding in New Hampshire and neighborhood/school scouting in Boston. It will be an adventure! Don't laugh. I am trying to be at one with living in a cold climate. Neil bought me some snow pants that are water-proof, lined with fleece, have something called internal gators, and extra lining on the knees and bum for when you "spend time in the snow." AKA wiping out. So I bought a jacket that is supposed to be good to -5F. You can online chat with people from Land's End, so I asked them about all of their jackets. The lady tried to convince me that maybe a -15F rated jacket would be good. Seriously. Who goes outside when it's -15F? Many years ago I told Neil that I would only move to a cold climate if he would spend the money to buy me cute winter clothes that kept me warm. It looks like it is time for me to say "Show me the money."

In some ways, I worry about Neil coming home. For six months, he has been used to adults. Mostly quiet, never getting in his personal space, grabbing his cheeks between their hands to get his attention, never running around in front of his tv, or making a ruckus at the dinner table. I've tried to warn the kids that they are going to have to dial it down a notch when he gets home. We'll see how that works out.

PS-I just revised this post, so if you read it before, I apologize for saying that someone would grab Neil's face between their cheeks. That sounds a little off. Of course, I meant to say that someone (read: Audrey) would grab his cheeks in her little hands to get his attention. As I think more about this, it wouldn't be overwhelming to Neil. I think Neil would probably give her whatever she wanted because she is so darn cute. Audrey has even been practicing how to give Neil eskimo and butterfly kisses when he gets home. Imaginary conversations as follows: Dad says to Audrey, " You want pink heart marshmallows for breakfast? Sure. You want to watch Mickey Mouse for the forth time this morning? Sure. You want to keep my side of the bed? Sure...Wait, what did you say?"

If you wonder where Audrey learned to do this, it is from watching me and Zach. When he doesn't want to do what I say, he pretends not to see or hear me. So I take his little face in between my hands to command his undivided attention.