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At least it was justified

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (1)· February 10th, 2013

The one thing I kept saying, after rebooking our flight home, was that this storm had better be pretty freaking spectacular. If I had come home and the storm had gone out to sea and only given us a couple of inches, I was gonna be PISSED.

Yeah. Not so much.

Schools were closed on Friday, despite the fact that the snow didn’t start to fall until 10AM and at sunset we only had maybe 3 inches. But the storm was only getting started. Public transportation in Boston was shut down at 3:30PM. The governor issued an emergency ban on road travel starting at 4PM. After nightfall, the snow fell heavier and the winds got stronger. By Saturday morning, my yard had a solid 20 inches, with windblown drifts even deeper. It was, for reference, approximately one Ellie deep.

Saturday was still windy and frigid, but Sunday was sunny and not nearly as cold. The roads were narrow and a little slippery, but plowed and passable and the travel ban had been lifted. My sister-in-law and her husband escaped the city for a visit and built a little sledding hill in the yard for the kids. They were out there for ages, enjoying the snow.

When we don’t have to be anywhere, and we don’t lose power, I actually love a big snowstorm. I enjoy winter, I don’t mind the cold. Of course, I also wasn’t the one who had to dig us out…

All in all, though, a successful ride through the blizzard for us. Now, if they would just quit canceling school…

Comments (1)

Categories : Family, Home

Tags : blizzard, nemo, snow

The year of the snowpants

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (4)· December 22nd, 2010

When I picked the kids up from preschool the other day, there was a little note in all of the family mailboxes regarding snowpants. It was surprisingly strongly-worded for a note about clothing from our friendly little school. In a nutshell, they try to take the kids to play outside every day, so long as it isn’t bitter cold (think teens or colder) or pouring rain. The note said that, if the kids were not properly attired to play outside in winter weather, we should expect a call to come pick them up early. Dang. Not messing around, little Montessori!

We’ve gotten snowpants and boots in previous years, generally of the inexpensive Target or Old Navy variety, but have gotten pretty minimal use out of them. I don’t mind playing in the snow, but it seemed that it took longer to put all of the gear on than it did for them to decide they didn’t actually want to be outside, anyways.

This looks like it might be the year we change our minds.

We arrived in Chicago on Monday morning for our annual holiday visit extravaganza, and on the ground was the first snow my kids had seen this year (it finally started snowing in Boston a few hours after we left). Driving to my mom’s house from the airport, Daniel exclaimed “oh my! Look! More snow!” about every quarter-mile. It snowed a bit more that night, and by Tuesday morning, the kids were dying to try on their new snowpants and boots (which we had to splurge on at LL Bean – Target and Old Navy were both sold out of 3T, barely halfway through December!).

Oh my lord was it a hit. They happily stomped through the (not at all deep) snow in their heavy new boots. They plopped down on their bellies, and flipped over on their backs to make their first snow angels. They were disappointed that it wasn’t good snowman-making snow.

And it didn’t end there. After 15 minutes of playing in my mom’s little yard, we walked the block and a half over to the snow-covered playground (oh, to live that close to a playground!) and they had at least as much fun playing on it as they do in the middle of the summer.

The Farmer’s Almanac isn’t predicting a very snowy year for New England (just cold, sadly), but I get the feeling we’ll be out in it every time the white stuff comes down.

Comments (4)

Categories : Preschoolers, Travel

Tags : playing outside, snow, winter

Long Winter’s Week

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (7)· March 7th, 2009

Apparently Winter decided it needed to give me one more swift kick in the ass. I can only hope this is its last hurrah before Spring finally decides to show up. Let’s review the last week:

Saturday: I woke up sick, spent pretty much all day in bed. My achy legs and arms felt like limp spaghetti. I had some cute visitors in my cave guest room, but otherwise M took the kids all day.

Sunday: Felt better, M not so much. We traded, he spent much of the day in bed.

Monday: Snowed in, stayed inside all day long and managed not to kill anyone.

Tuesday: Stir-crazy, took kids to a playspace just so we could get out. Rebecca started feeling crappy while we were out. When we got home to Daddy, she managed to projectile vomit, just for him.

Wednesday: Rebecca still a little off, felt like it was the right thing to skip our music class. More time at home. Went for a walk in the freezing cold, just so we could leave the house. Rebecca was not such a fan.

Thursday: I was excited to go to our regular Thursday class and make up our skipped music class. Except when I went to get them out of bed, Daniel’s crib contained a really lovely treat: blueberry vomit. Cancelled all plans for the day. Did more laundry. Oh, and M felt so crappy that he spent the whole day in bed. Didn’t even get up for fresh chocolate chip cookies.

Friday: Whew, it’s just a 24-hour bug, so we’ll get to go to gymnastics, right? Um, no. Daniel woke up lethargic and puked up his milk. Plus, I spent most of the day trying not to puke, myself. Climbed into bed for kids’ naptime, and again the moment M walked in the door. Not sure which is worse: being healthy and taking care of sick toddlers, or being sick and taking care of healthy toddlers. Both suck.

And, honestly, this all really felt like it was on the heels of the suckiest vacation ever, which I really hadn’t yet recovered from. It’s just all feeling like entirely too much.

Thank god, today we all seem to be better. No puking. Sun came out and it hit nearly 60 degrees. Please, oh please let this be the end of Winter. Clocks change tonight, let’s hope that smacks things into line. At least now we have puddles to play in. It still means daily laundry, but I’d take muddy jeans over puke-y pajamas any day of the week.

Comments (7)

Categories : Illness and Injury, Toddlers

Tags : snow, stomach bug

Makes My Monday – Snow and Waffles

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (10)· March 2nd, 2009

Play along with Makes My Monday at Twinfatuation!

Like lots of people in the Continental US today, we’ve got snow. Not quite the 14 inches they predicted, but a solid 6-10 and a world away from this past Friday. And while the phrase “snow day” doesn’t inspire quite the same glee as it did back in my school/work days, I’m trying to make it fun instead of freaking out about the fact that we’ll be inside all day.

My first order of business this morning? Pumpkin Waffles. Yes, that’s right. Say it with me, and see if you can avoid drooling: Pumpkin. Waffles. While the kids were eating their usual banana and Eggo combo, I got to work on a batch of these bad boys.

I make ‘em with a little extra pumpkin, a little extra spice, and some wheat flour. They’re super yummy, smell awesome, and I freeze most of them to throw in the toaster for the rest of the week. (Just make sure they’re completely cooled before you put them in the freezer.)

If you want a tasty and more nutritious topping alternative to syrup, I strongly recommend cream cheese. Hat tip to my real-life friend and HDYDI mom Rebecca for both the original inspiration (she and her hubby served these to us when all of our kids were much smaller) and the topping suggestion.

Both kids were extra nutty for them, despite having already eaten breakfast. Both kept signing “more” and asking for “wa-wa.”

Other than that, M is upstairs hiding working from home. We’re all staying in our pajamas. I’m allowing a bit more TV than we normally watch. Play-doh has already come out three times, and I built my very first fort (well, first since being a mom…). Where I saw a tunnel, the kids saw a climbing structure and slide. To each their own.

So far, not a bad day to be stuck inside. Hell, we’ve made it nearly to lunchtime without major injury or meltdown. With toddlers, that’s a success!

Comments (10)

Categories : Cooking, Toddlers

Tags : indoor activities, pumpkin waffles, snow

One more snowfall

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (1)· December 31st, 2008

We had a snowy last day of 2008 here in Massachusetts. M ended up working from home due to an urgent client call and the accelerating snowfall. To keep the kids out of his hair while he was on a conference call, I took them outside to play in the snow. Thankfully, I managed to time it before it got windy and started coming down too hard. They weren’t too keen on the boots, but eventually realized they could walk in them just fine. And they won’t let a little thing like snow and cold get in the way of backyard fun.