Category: mumbling

There’s that old saying, “You can rely on two things: death and taxes.” I am now amending it to say, “You can rely on two things: death, taxes, and snow on the night before preschool. Especially if there’s something special planned.”

Yep, today was another snow day. Neko was especially crushed because today was supposed to the big pajama party where everyone wears their pajamas to school. Want to know how to devastate a four-year-old? Snow out pajama day.

I know I’ve been doing a lot of complaining about snow days, but I’ve got legitimate reasons. If you have children, you probably have normal children who can actually survive a full day in your house. They might even enjoy it and call it some endearing term like “cozy”.

But my children may be part wolf, since after a few hours in the house, they start pacing and that wild look begins to flicker in their eyes. This is why we have a schedule. A firm schedule that involves a pre-planned activity out of the house approximately three hours following wake-up. This activity is followed by lunch and quiet time. After quiet time, they can settle back in for another three hours of play, interjected by dinner and bath. This is how we operate. When the schedule is disturbed, things get ugly.

Like on snow days.

Fortunately, today my mother invited us down to her house for an “outing” which totally saved my hiney. It may not be pajama day, but it was a change of environment, which is good. After quiet time I broke out the new indoor sand table, an under-bed storage bin filled with cornmeal. After trying many containers and sand alternatives, this is the ultimate solution. A long bin provides play space for two. Cornmeal functions like sand, but is edible by little people and dogs who hang around the floor below and sweeps up like a charm. (Props to Susie for making the cornmeal discovery.)

The only downside to the day? I decided to walk down to my mom’s house carrying Ellery and slipped on the newly-fallen snow. While I made sure that Ellery made it down safely, my knee hit the gravel, which produced a nice hamburger effect. Which hurts. Okay, it may not be hip surgery and a SPICA cast, like our friend’s daughter got to endure yesterday, but, um, it does smart. I took pictures, but they’re too gross for even me to post.

This morning, the sun was out. And the temperature was well above freezing. Things began to thaw, even our kids. They spent the entire morning on the patio, running around in their pajamas. Even breakfast was served, and they dragged out pillows and blankets. I think we were just moments away from outright refusal to ever come back inside.

Neko went to school, and Susie and I took the little kids for a long walk. And then I let Ellery play to her hearts content in the recycling bins.

Come on spring….

You’d think the kids hadn’t seen the sun in months. Oh, wait. They haven’t.

We received bubbles as a favor at Noah’s birthday party, so Tom and the kids cracked them out when we got home. Obviously, they were excited.

I think we’re ready for spring.

Not available in stainless steel. But he does make a mean cafe mocha.

Oh, except that the portafilter broke on the espresso machine, so I am having to drink just PLAIN OLD COFFEE. Between that and the dishwasher, we should just hang it up entirely.

(Thus, admitting fully to our total reliance on modern conveniences.)

I never had a visual dictionary as a kid. I’m not even sure if they existed. But if I’d had one, I would have poured over every page regularly.

If you have kids, this is $30 well spent. It has information on every subject under the sun, all described in pictures. Since it arrived on our doorstep, Neko has been looking up all kinds of subjects, and even Shep is intrigued.

In fact, I was going to take a picture of it, but someone has already squirreled it away in their room. Which is probably a good sign, huh?

I knew the ice storm was coming, and since I was near Target last night, I decided to prepare. I picked up a new water table. Our old one had rubber plugs that were disintegrating, and as it was a $30 water table that lasted over three years, we were due.

This morning I happily showed it off to the kids and started assembling. Until I discovered the missing parts. Important, vital missing parts.

So now I’m stuck inside, I’ve hyped this whole project to my kids, and it’s all fallen through. I quickly threw together an oatmeal sand table, which didn’t entertain anyone for nearly long enough. (Meanwhile, Susie discovered at her house that cornmeal is actually a nearly perfect sand substitute.)

It was just that kind of day.

We muddled our way through, enduring an hour-long power outage somewhere in the middle.

In other news, Ellery is now standing on her own for short spurts, but refusing to be photographed in the act. Just as I focus the camera, she dives for the nearest chair or hurls herself to the ground. On a side note, when else in your life are chubby knees so cute?

Neko was home, too, but hiding from the paparazzi. No doubt she was doing research to build her case to support that proposed Britney Spears Law.

That’s the biggest bunch of non sequiturs, which, in itself, is a rather good reflection of my day.