Snow Day

My Mom and Dad got in safely last night, and we were sure glad they came yesterday as opposed to today! It started snowing this morning, and it would not have been a good traveling day at all!

It snowed enough that our co-op was cancelled, much to everyone's disappointment. I decided we would just take a snow day, as opposed to doing any regular school stuff. This was a popular decision, LOL. Nathan decided to make pancakes for breakfast in celebration. It was nice for me to have a day where we didn't have to go anywhere OR do school! I did laundry while the boys worked on a puzzle that Grandma and Grandpa brought. After lunch the boys went outside to play in the snow. Anna and Grace also went out for a little while. After shoveling the driveway (why do you think we have all these boys?!), they went down to the end of the cul-de-sac to go sledding. They made a little ramp so they could catch some air when they hit a certain stump, and much fun was had. Anna even went down this ramp thing with Nathan. He said she laughed, but as soon as they were done, she told him it was too scary, LOL. Shortly thereafter, she and Grace came in. The boys stayed out for awhile. I love, love, love when they can stay outside all afternoon!

Nathan came in first, and we set up our new cocoa-latte maker, which I won in that basket from the orthodontist. When we were in the last time, the receptionist gave me the box, which had all the instructions in it--definitely what we needed to be able to try it out! Now let me be the first to say this is NOT a machine I would EVER just purchase. A kitchen appliance dedicated to making hot drinks?! I don't think so. But since we do have one, and it happened to be free . . .it turns out that it is really great! We put in the liquid (we used half water and half milk) plus the hot cocoa powder mix, put the lid on and turn the thing on. It mixes everything up and heats it up to the right temperature and there you go! Thirty-two ounces of hot cocoa on tap! Usually we're heating up tons of water, getting powder everywhere, etc. This was very non-messy, and everyone could serve themselves. I'm a fan. Poor Caleb still had to heat up water for his apple cider, but all the non-dairy-allergic people thought it was great.

Jonathan was the most sad about co-op being cancelled. While the older kids are having a writing unit, the K-4 and K-5 classes are doing a unit on community helpers. This week they were supposed to take a field trip to the library and the police station. He was very sad to miss out on that! Last week they learned about bakers, and they got to make pretzels and decorate sugar cookies. The week before that, they learned about doctors and nurses. A nurse came in and talked to them, and they got to doctor up their stuffed animals. Too cute! The first week they learned about farmers. Their project was a head made of a panty-hose knee-high stuffed with something that looks like what you put at the bottom of hamster cages, along with some grass seed right at the top. They tied a nose in it and sent it home with us to water every day. We have been doing that faithfully, and I am pleased to report that Jonathan's grass man has indeed sprouted a head of (somewhat thin) hair. It is long, however, and before the guy goes for the questionable "comb-over" style, the boys are anxious to give him a trim.

Some of you who have faithfully read my blog for awhile may remember the Shrek chia pet my brother so kindly passed on to the boys after he received it at an office Christmas party. Amazingly, this cheapo version of a chia pet turned out even better than Shrek, if you can imagine it!

Tomorrow we;re back to our regularly scheduled school day. Unless the baby comes, of course. But since there have been absolutely no signs of any impending action, I think we're good to just plan on school!