100 Ways We Spent Our Snow Days
I have friends who live in the North. They experience freezing temperatures for months, and I'm assuming do so with reasonable functionality. But here in TX, we had 3 days of ice, and we pretty much shut down. Oh, and I did mention that Karl was gone for those 3 days? Fortunately he and the snow came on Day 4.
Here is a list of 100 ways we spent our days...in no particular order & not exhaustive...the fun, the frenzied, and the familiar:
1. Bake 36 Banana Cream Cheese Bars for women’s brunch.
2. Make paper snowflakes.
3. Set up humidifiers to combat the effects of almost non-stop heater.
4. Annual Pin the Tail on the Groundhog game (this pic from 2009).
5. Roll the ball on the floor.
6. Pull out my New Year's Resolution list that I packed away until Feb. 1.
7. Organize girls’ hairclips, bows, jewelry, etc. (Check-off list!)
8. Roll the ball on the floor.
9. Snuggle and watch The Sound of Music Act 1
10. Followed by a spontaneous puppet Show (yodel-lay-ee-oo).
11. Roll the ball on the floor.
12. Annual Groundhog Day Pancake supper.
13-15. Roll the ball on the floor. (Inside activities during the cold of Winter have never caused disappointment with my 2 girls--they love to color, paint, bake, craft, watch TV, read, etc. But my 1-yr-old boy... his 2 favorite things are simple: Daddy & Dirt. Take away one, and it is a challenge, take away both and there is a lot of rolling the ball on the floor. And prayer. Lots of prayer).
16. Color pictures on really big paper.
17. Watch The Sound of Music Act 2
18. Followed by a spontaneous chase around the house where the girls were trying to escape from the Nazi’s.
19. Conversation about how we’re not going to pretend to be Nazi’s. (Be Swiper the Fox, be Captain Hook, but don’t be a Nazi).
20-28. Eat Banana Cream Cheese Bars from canceled brunch. (Seriously—we ate wayyy too many of them—not all at once, but still...They were good! Recipe)
29-34. Play with new toys from birthday party last Saturday (hooray for new toys!)
35-39. Change and wash pee-soaked sheets and pj’s. (Yes, you counted that right, 5 times in 4 days. The stress of Daddy being gone manifests itself in many ways. For my potty-trained 3-year-old, it manifested through pee).
40. Figure out how to turn off leaky toilet. (Apparently the commode was also stressed in Karl’s absence).
41. Wrestle mania—pillows & blankets on the floor—knock each other down & tickle.
42-45. Discipline my first born who rarely ever disobeys (stress in a 5 yr old = power struggle over who’s in charge when Daddy’s gone).
46-49. In quiet alone time, read book and scripture that encourages not yelling at children (my stress = a short fuse).
50. Plan a surprise for Karl's birthday (check off my list!).
51. Make music with toy instruments.
52. Begin relocating normal activities to prevent T’s boredom with the indoors:
53. Rocking horses in the living room.
54. Outdoor cars/scooters up and down the hall.
55. Puzzles on the floor in the girls’ room.
56. Fold the laundry in his room.
57. Picnic supper in the living room.
58. Search the house for non-toy items that are baby-safe & put them in a box for T.
59. T explores the box, has a blast taking things in and out: plastic serving spoons, measuring cups, medicine dropper, rubber thingy that I use to open tight jar lids, unopened box of diaper rash cream, infant hairbrush with soft bristles, rubber ducky-shaped washcloth.
60. What else can we explore?—The toiletries under the bathroom sink (and I will check off a resolution: sort and organize the girls’ bathroom).
61. Continue the multi-tasking exploration by letting T play with my old CD folder circa 2004, while I make a new playlist for chore-time.
62. Try to lick your own elbow--they say it can't be done.
63. Line dance in the kitchen.
64. Welcome Daddy home!!!
65. Take a bubble bath with candles, ahh.
66. Build a snowman with Daddy!
67. Snowball fight with Daddy!
68. Snuggle & watch the Wizard of Oz
69. Follow the Yellow Brick Road around the house.
70-73. Continue along with our daily reading activities & "listening" time. (Currently: 3-4 pages of Charlotte’s Web, 3-4 verses from Proverbs).
74.Darn the hole in Karl's shirt (sew it up, not curse at it).
75-90. Wipe noses (this is a conservative estimate). Marvel at how my baby boy will blow into the tissue.
91. Catch snowflakes on your tongue.
92. Indoor parade (this is how I cook dinner when Karl is gone).
93-99. Play the quiet game (You'll never guess who likes to start this game--The baby! We play the game by pointing every time someone makes a noise--he LOVES to start pointing. I guess for a person whose only words are Dada, Mama, Thank You, Uh-Oh, and Yuck, pointing is a family activity that he can readily join).
100. After kids are in bed, Karl & I complete the Feb.2 tradition (2 days late) by watching the movie Groundhog Day.
Here is a list of 100 ways we spent our days...in no particular order & not exhaustive...the fun, the frenzied, and the familiar:
1. Bake 36 Banana Cream Cheese Bars for women’s brunch.
2. Make paper snowflakes.
3. Set up humidifiers to combat the effects of almost non-stop heater.
4. Annual Pin the Tail on the Groundhog game (this pic from 2009).
5. Roll the ball on the floor.
6. Pull out my New Year's Resolution list that I packed away until Feb. 1.
7. Organize girls’ hairclips, bows, jewelry, etc. (Check-off list!)
8. Roll the ball on the floor.
9. Snuggle and watch The Sound of Music Act 1
10. Followed by a spontaneous puppet Show (yodel-lay-ee-oo).
11. Roll the ball on the floor.
12. Annual Groundhog Day Pancake supper.
13-15. Roll the ball on the floor. (Inside activities during the cold of Winter have never caused disappointment with my 2 girls--they love to color, paint, bake, craft, watch TV, read, etc. But my 1-yr-old boy... his 2 favorite things are simple: Daddy & Dirt. Take away one, and it is a challenge, take away both and there is a lot of rolling the ball on the floor. And prayer. Lots of prayer).
16. Color pictures on really big paper.
17. Watch The Sound of Music Act 2
18. Followed by a spontaneous chase around the house where the girls were trying to escape from the Nazi’s.
19. Conversation about how we’re not going to pretend to be Nazi’s. (Be Swiper the Fox, be Captain Hook, but don’t be a Nazi).
20-28. Eat Banana Cream Cheese Bars from canceled brunch. (Seriously—we ate wayyy too many of them—not all at once, but still...They were good! Recipe)
29-34. Play with new toys from birthday party last Saturday (hooray for new toys!)
35-39. Change and wash pee-soaked sheets and pj’s. (Yes, you counted that right, 5 times in 4 days. The stress of Daddy being gone manifests itself in many ways. For my potty-trained 3-year-old, it manifested through pee).
40. Figure out how to turn off leaky toilet. (Apparently the commode was also stressed in Karl’s absence).
41. Wrestle mania—pillows & blankets on the floor—knock each other down & tickle.
42-45. Discipline my first born who rarely ever disobeys (stress in a 5 yr old = power struggle over who’s in charge when Daddy’s gone).
46-49. In quiet alone time, read book and scripture that encourages not yelling at children (my stress = a short fuse).
50. Plan a surprise for Karl's birthday (check off my list!).
51. Make music with toy instruments.
52. Begin relocating normal activities to prevent T’s boredom with the indoors:
53. Rocking horses in the living room.
54. Outdoor cars/scooters up and down the hall.
55. Puzzles on the floor in the girls’ room.
56. Fold the laundry in his room.
57. Picnic supper in the living room.
58. Search the house for non-toy items that are baby-safe & put them in a box for T.
59. T explores the box, has a blast taking things in and out: plastic serving spoons, measuring cups, medicine dropper, rubber thingy that I use to open tight jar lids, unopened box of diaper rash cream, infant hairbrush with soft bristles, rubber ducky-shaped washcloth.
60. What else can we explore?—The toiletries under the bathroom sink (and I will check off a resolution: sort and organize the girls’ bathroom).
61. Continue the multi-tasking exploration by letting T play with my old CD folder circa 2004, while I make a new playlist for chore-time.
62. Try to lick your own elbow--they say it can't be done.
63. Line dance in the kitchen.
64. Welcome Daddy home!!!
65. Take a bubble bath with candles, ahh.
66. Build a snowman with Daddy!
67. Snowball fight with Daddy!
68. Snuggle & watch the Wizard of Oz
69. Follow the Yellow Brick Road around the house.
70-73. Continue along with our daily reading activities & "listening" time. (Currently: 3-4 pages of Charlotte’s Web, 3-4 verses from Proverbs).
74.Darn the hole in Karl's shirt (sew it up, not curse at it).
75-90. Wipe noses (this is a conservative estimate). Marvel at how my baby boy will blow into the tissue.
91. Catch snowflakes on your tongue.
92. Indoor parade (this is how I cook dinner when Karl is gone).
93-99. Play the quiet game (You'll never guess who likes to start this game--The baby! We play the game by pointing every time someone makes a noise--he LOVES to start pointing. I guess for a person whose only words are Dada, Mama, Thank You, Uh-Oh, and Yuck, pointing is a family activity that he can readily join).
100. After kids are in bed, Karl & I complete the Feb.2 tradition (2 days late) by watching the movie Groundhog Day.
