Serious talks.

Carolyn is my serious one. She does her best serious talks in the car, on the way to school, to ballet, the gym, wherever we go.
So, the other day, she tells me, "Mommy, I need to have a serious talk." Well, it must be very important. Her face is so concerned and it really must be something troubling her.
"Mommy, did you know that if you're a kid and you get in a car and the windows are up, you could DIE!"
"Well, yes, Carolyn. I do know that. It's important to not stay in the car alone. It's not safe." I say to confirm her information.
"No Mommy, you can't breathe if the windows aren't open and you will Die. But you will go to heaven, so that would be okay!"
I respond, "That's good that you would go to Heaven but hopefully we won't have to worry about it for a long time."
"Yes, I KNOW MOMMY! But there was this girl, well, it's not a real story, but there was this girl who was looking for her mom at the mall and she couldn't find her, so she went to the car to see if she was there and then she was in the car by herself and she DIED!"
" Well, I'm glad it wasn't a real story but it could happen." I say to reassure her of my hearing her story.
"Yeah" Carolyn says, bored with the conversation.

I don't even get her started on the fact that this "girl" has lost her mom and has walked to the car alone and was able to get into it withou the mother's knowledge! Always an interesting story with Carolyn!

We are still here, Snow Day 5!!!!

So, we are onto another week, and another snow day! We survived the long days off last week only to have today as another snow day. So, it was bad this morning but now it is pretty tolerable on the roads. Too bad they didn't start school late today. I could have used one less child.

However, they have been wonderful! (Wait, maybe I shouldn't have said anything, I think I just cursed myself!) They brushed their teeth, got dressed and watched a movie this morning so that I could go back to bed. Well, I confess that Carolyn came in my bed at some point in the night and Leah was not too far behin. Four people in bed made for a little less sleep on my part. Not to mention that Benji got out and I was worried about him being in the cold and he didn't come home till midnight. Way past his curfew! So, I was more just treading water than getting to sleep in!

Anyway, I have managed to get Michelle to decide on a science fair project (checking her heart rate), got both of their bedrooms picked up and vacuumed by them and now they have nothing to do so they are annoying each other! Yeah!!!!

Well, at least they have clean rooms and I feel a little better about things! Now, to finish out the day!

Snow Day 2

Really? Why does it always get worse before it gets better? Okay, I used up all my fun yesterday. I should have listened to Brian, again. The roads are now icy. The fun we were trying to make by walking across the ice but breaking it, has now truly become a crosswalk. Slippery, dangerous, neighbors can't get to their houses up the street because we are on a slight hill. It's hard to get momentum on the bottom and driving up a street that has cars on it is challenging as well! There was no mail yesterday, no trash yesterday. I suspected there would be none today, and at least I was right on that!

Now it is COLD. 5degrees outside with windchill -12. Not a place I send my kids for much fun. They were out for all of 10 minutes I think. So, guess who is the entertainment? Oh no, not me, the TV! I listened to arguing, debates, teasing, crying, whinning, and angry stomping, all before 9am. Leah has cried about something all day. Of course she makes me feel bad about not liking her for a few hrs when she decides to get in my lap on the couch and fall asleep. Why do kids melt you like that? It's just not fair!

Brian has been home for 2 days also, wanting to go here and there, driving around! Really? He did take Michelle and Carolyn to the pond in the neighborhood to see if you could walk on it. They took Benji for the test dummy. Poor dog, he was so cold when they got back. Apparently the pond isn't frozen yet!

They are roasting marshmallows again as I am getting to finally be on the computer alone. No wonder why I never post anymore! I don't type as well with 1 hand! It helps that I am enjoying martinis tonight. I don't think I could make it to bedtime tonight otherwise. But when you have a drink that looks fun, kids want some too. So, Mommy made kid martinis and it's amazing how wonderful they've been ever since! (Well, the sugar from the marshmallows helps!).

However, even though I survived Day 2, I don't know if they will on Day 3............

Snow Day 1

I knew it was coming. I was ready. The school district even called people before 10pm the night before the rain, sleet, snow, wind came through! I still got up at 5am to a child hearing the wind and being scared. I did manage to go back to sleep but then woke up at 6am ready for my day.

I tried soooo hard to be quiet, I didn't even start coffee! (That is hard to do for me when it's the first thing I do every morning) I did not turn lights on. I turned on the TV but very quietly. I made it till 6:30a and Carolyn and Leah head downstairs, happy as always for their day to begin!

Michelle I think made it till 7a but I'm sitting on the couch thinking, "Why do my kids wake up with no trouble on a day they don't have a schedule?" So, I make pancakes, to get the kids a good breakfast in as I know that there will be a fun day playing in the new snow! I even decide to go out for awhile. I try so hard to let my kids kids see my fun side every now and then!




Well, the snow was more like 3 inches of sleet and the first layer was ice so you couldn't get to the ground easily. So, plan B on being outside. We started finding places we could try to walk on ice. The girls found it facinating that up north you can ice skate on that! After a few large gusts of wind (reports that it would be up to 50mph) we decided to stay in. Well, at least till Brian got the idea to go driving around. Well, Brian is all proud that he lived in Minnesota for awhile and was driving on ice all the time. So, I figured, what the heck, I'll endanger the lives of my children and myself for a joy ride as a family! Actually, it was kind of fun. I doubted him for nothing, as I do every time we have a storm. I am a Texas through and through. I don't drive in this.

Well, Snow Day 1 was a good day. We had marshmallows for dessert and sat by the warm toasty fire. Temps were dropping and the wind chill was getting into the negatives. Then the school called to say we would have another snow day.........