So then, as quickly as possible, I start layering the kids (who are still in pajamas) in clothing fit for the cold weather. We live in Texas, and don't own snow clothes, so layers must suffice. That accomplished, I start to blow-dry my hair as it really wouldn't have been wise to go outside with a wet head. Then come the shoes, jackets, hats, and mittens for 3 small children, all who need assistance. Especially with those silly gloves!
By this time of course, the snow has stopped. It is only cold rain coming down. *sigh*
Thankfully, more snow was in the forecast for the day. I decide that we are NOT going to take all those layers off just to have a repeat performance later. Instead, we lower the heat and stay comfortable in our layers.
Sure enough, within an hour or so, the snow starts again. This would of course happen right after R was put down for her nap and right as P is ready to eat.
Big J had decided to work from home so he takes J and E out for some fun.
I sat in the office feeding P and watching them - it was fun and relaxing and WARM. They played outside for a while until the snow again turned to rain. In troop some cold, wet, and slightly muddy children. Off come the shoes, hats, and gloves.
Next, we start fixing lunch (tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches) when all of a sudden I remember that Big J has a dentist appt - in 30 minutes. So after a very quick lunch, he heads out the door. So now, I'm on my own with all 4 kiddos. J and R are still eating and E hasn't yet made it to the table (as she dallied over cleaning up some blocks.) I sit down to feed P while they eat. Not long after, I notice that it has started snowing again. R hasn't yet had a chance to play in it so of course here we go again bundling everyone up. But E STILL hasn't finished cleaning up (mostly b/c she was reading books instead) so I tell her she can't go out until she is done.
Now before you think me heartless and cruel, this child was told over an hour before to clean them up. And it would have taken all of 5 minutes to clean them up if she would just start.
Of course she starts crying and then P starts crying and I'm feeling ready to pull my hair out. I give P the pacifier again and head out in the backyard with J and R.
It was cute. I walked R out into the grass and she just stood there looking around for like 5 minutes repeating "snow" over and over again. Periodically I go inside to check on my 2 crying/fussing children (insert elevated stress level here) Eventually R starts walking around and J and I grab a few minutes to frolic in the snow. I also spun around in it a bit with my head tilted backwards only to remember that I get dizzy much easier than I did as a child. Still, it was fun.
Meanwhile, E is inside throwing a major temper tantrum. Yes, instead of taking the 5 minutes to clean up the blocks, she is screaming/crying like the world has ended.
R's mittens wouldn't stay on very well so she finally took them off. Of course this made her hands turn pink from the cold and she didn't last much longer outside. So I bring her in (she's now crying from being cold) and begin to take off her wet things. At this point E has FINALLY finished with the blocks and is ready to go outside. Just as I finish getting her bundled up, J decides he is cold and wants to come in. So off come his wet/muddy shoes, gloves and hat. And now E doesn't want to go out by herself. I tell her that maybe Daddy will go out with her later and amazingly there are no more tears.
All the while, P is having a very fussy nap which frazzles me like nothing else. My kitchen is still dirty from lunch, my kids are in various states of disarray (or so it feels) and I am tense and thinking "Why did I attempt all this?!" Oh and E mentions she is hungry, because, as I had forgotten, she had not yet eaten lunch. If you've ever been around my kids you know that if one person in the family is eating, every other kid wants to eat, too. Even if they finished eating 2 minutes ago. So back to the table go J and R. The rest of the soup is dished out as well as the grilled cheese sandwiches.
At this point, I find a moment to pick up the baby and things slowly calm down. Eventually he drifts off happily and I lay him down. The kids are now fed and calm and I am able to clean up my kitchen.
J returns from the dentist and asks if we played in the snow while he was gone (the snow had returned to rain by this time).
By this time I have reached the conclusion that I am officially done with snow for the day. I inform my wonderful husband that if he wants to take them out again, he's on his own.
I did make a slight exception though. During nap time the snow began again and Big J and I took the opportunity to go out in it just the two of us. A snowball, er, iceball, or two were thrown and we felt like kids again. (Or something like that)
As I said on facebook - I think a snow day would be a lot more fun if it didn't take sooooo long to get all the kids bundled up to play in it. My favorite part of the day? The moments I had to sit in front of a window in my nice warm house watching the snow fall outside.
More pictures from the day can be found here - http://picasaweb.google.com/kimberlyspain/SnowDay2010#
2 comments:
I'm tired from just reading that!
WHEW!! what an event snow can cause in TX!
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