Snow day!

So how do we spend a snowy day with no school?

There is, of course, the necessary work of snow removal but after that comes lots of play...

First games...

Victor insisted he had to be on

Isaac's team. It worked. They won.

...then snow.

Those are smiles. In case you couldn't tell.

and for the Mama, time to sew while there are extra Victor entertainers in the house. A while back I heard of organizations like Dress a Girl Around the World and Little Dresses for Africa. I was intrigued and went to the Salvation Army to find a few pillowcases that could be repurposed into dresses.

And then those pillowcases sat on my shelf for a long time. A few days ago I pulled one off the shelf and then another and another. I added pockets and ruffles. Today, I finished off three more. How fun to look at a plain pillowcase and then look through the odds and ends in my stash to add flowers and lace and other embellishments. Now there are no more pillowcases on the shelf and these dresses are ready to be shipped out. Anyone have any pillowcases in the linen closet that aren't being used? Just in case there's one more snow day left this season?

Two boys got stuck cleaning off the hot tub so some could enjoy the fruits of their labors.

And that's how we spend a snowy day with no school.

Snowmageddon 2016

Noon on January 23, 2016:
They aren't going out the front door.

So out the garage it is.



They used walking sticks to get from the front to the back. Should have bought some traditional wood webbed snow shoes. Had we known the PA snow forecast that typically would be a bust would actually end with more snow than forecast.

Hot tub's toasty.

We tried to ease Mr. Sensory Issues into the idea of snow.

One little touch is all we got.

But when his buddy, Isaac, said he was going outside, Mr. Victor insisted on going along. He almost gave up at the hat and gloves but an MandM was a successful bribe.

He's outside! Wanted to be out, didn't like anything getting on his head or face, so they brought him in, and then he had a tantrum because he wanted to go out. Welcome to my world.

But then he did decide to get a little closer to the indoor snow.

The Good Doctor was very thankful that this is the year he got a hand-me-down snow blower. Unfortunately it does mean a little less winter cardio for me. Fortunately, it means less arguing with able-bodied teen-agers to get their butts out the door. And The Good Doctor was so motivated he shared his services with the neighbors.

And upon waking up this morning, more fun! Faces on cars, forts, slides, and sledding. Forced family togetherness is a good thing. Two days (so far) of working together, eating together, playing games together, and getting spa treatments together.

Doesn't get much better than this!

Not for the faint of heart

Someone once gave the older boys a few action figures to take on vacation. They were given the suggestion to hide them each night after the little kids went to bed so they could find them in the morning. It was kind of an Elf on the Shelf idea except the mischievous elf had not been born yet. And it was summer, not Christmas. And there was no Pinterest for creative, over-the-top ideas. So, no, I guess it wasn't anything like the elf at all. Anyway, the little kids enjoyed finding the action figures hanging from the chandelier and dangling over the toilet and I don't remember what else.

So I guess I should not have been surprised when Victor's snake started showing up all over the place. Actually, Victor calls it a fake, not a snake. I don't know why. He can tell me that the fake says ssssss so I told him to say sssssssnnnnnnnnn-ake but he said "Ssssssssssssnnnnnnnnnn-no . .  . . . . fake."

I tried.

Imagine running down the steps, minding your own 

business, and finding this at the bottom.

Now we're on a roll. No one has ever spelled out the rules but I think it goes like this: If you find the hidden snake, you are allowed to move it to a new location.

I will admit to a little jump every time I open a drawer or the microwave or see this thing dangling from HopeAnne's pull-up bar but it's good, clean fun so why not?

She wasn't impressed to find it in her backpack. 

Not too thrilled about the time it was in her bed, either.

(And if you decide you'd rather not visit just in case you find the newest hiding place, that's fine. I understand.)

Only 24 years

Looks like someone borrowed my camera while The Good Doctor and I were out for an evening.

And then Mr. Victor got in on the fun.

Or maybe he was ruining the fun. It all depends on your perspective, I guess.

Colorful runners

The girl loves to run. Now that she's run the Healthy Kids Running Series 1/4 mile several times over,

and a 1 mile race,

and a 5K Color Run, she has decided she prefers longer distances.

While HopeAnne has had great success in her running so far, she has two older siblings who shall remain nameless but who haven't had such a successful career.

Once upon a time, two brothers decided to buy green men suits. They had a lot of fun with those suits. Who wouldn't enjoy going places undercover with full length green spandex suits? Many of their exploits cannot be written on these pages because they don't want their cover blown. But one story stands out among all the rest and deserves to be told here and now.

The brothers got the great idea to enter a 5K race. This wasn't just any race, it was in  the mountains, in the dark. In their green spandex which of course goes from head to toe. To make certain they knew where they were going, they took flashlights and a friend with a flashlight.

We all forgot to consider the fact that two minors running a race would need a parent's signature. Never fear. These minor racers were undercover so they just said they were over 18. They decided to sign in as brothers but with assumed names. The only problem was that they didn't confer ahead of time on the spelling of the last name and one of the brothers is not the world's greatest speller. This resulted in the "brothers" signing in as Kevin Burton and Jay Burten.  Oops Number 1.

They ran the race with their friend in the lead, calling out obstacles along the way. Tree stump right. Hole left. All went well and the end was in sight. Their friend, an avid runner, wanted to finish the race with some semblance of an acceptable time so they told him they'd be fine, he should just run ahead. They could see the finish through the green masks and thought all would be well.  Oops Number 2.

With their friend rushing off to the finish, and the two green brothers holding hands for safety, the naive but cocky younger brother decided to try to beat the older and mature other brother and he took off at full speed. All of a sudden he found himself flat on his back. He yelled at his brother, thinking he must have stuck an arm or leg out to trip him. Not so. In actuality this over 18 year old Burten/Burton brother had just run headfirst into a tree, signed in with a false name, and no parental emergency contact number.  Oops Number 3.

With a hurt pride and a very bruised face, the two brothers limped to the finish, never attempting a masked night time 5K again.

HopeAnne, the moral of the story is ... Never run races with green brothers.

Multi colors are fine.

The End.

The most wonderful time of the year

Sing with me now, "It's the most wonderful time of the year..."

I woke my public schooled kids up by telling them they had a 2 hour delay.  I don't know if that one would have worked in any other year but this one. Hey, ya gotta take advantage of small favors when you have them! Don't worry, a few seconds later, while they were still singing my praises and resetting their alarm clocks, I gently knocked on the door again, "April Fool's!" Jesse called me a jerk but all's forgiven; he's not really a morning person.

Then I heard, "I wonder what we can have for breakfast today? ... Mommmmm..."

While there were many comments about the cheesiness of this prank, and of the non-trick-qualities of this prank, I have to say it was my favorite. It brought many smiles to the faces of my children today. Even Jesse. Although Mariana did say she thought there was a scene like that in her nightmares once.

Poor Isaac went throughout his entire day checking each item in the house before using it. It took him forever to take a shower because he first investigated the whole bathroom. It served him well, however, as the ole saran wrap over the shampoo bottle didn't catch him by surprise. Maybe he should think about a career in criminal science. I may have been slightly disappointed that he foiled my attempt but since everyone else had already been caught by this one, it was only a small defeat. Even Shoun, who had his head shaved last night, picked up the shampoo, tried to get it out, tried again and again and again, picked up the other shampoo bottle in the shower, repeated the whole process, and only then remembered that he didn't have to shampoo his hair so he gave up.

From a recent trip to the Dollar Store I stocked up on all kinds of tricks like the fake golf ball through the window, the squirting water calculator and the squirting water stick of gum. They were all mostly duds except that can of fake peanuts which, of course, had a screaming, flying worm inside. Eden found the can first thing this morning, took one look at it and said, "Mom, really?" Shoun came to me at snack time and yeah, he was had by the can of peanuts.

Of course the kids need to add their own jokes and pranks to the mix which can sometimes get out of hand and go downhill fast. Shoun got Eden with the same old rubber band on the kitchen sprayer trick, the same trick he's done every year since he came here. It would have been okay in any combination other than Shoun to Eden or Eden to Shoun so then came the annual, "You have to know your audience, blah, blah, blah..." speech.  Eden looked for Shoun's and Isaac's toothpaste tubes so she could squirt blue food coloring inside. She came down to report that they were nowhere to be found. I thought that was pretty smart of them; hiding essential items the night before April Fool's. But when questioned in the morning, they admitted to not brushing the night before. Shoun's answer was, "Well, I guess it's still in my suitcase from the beach and when I went to brush last night I was too tired and couldn't remember where it was so I just thought I'd wait a day." I liked the hiding essentials theory better. Jesse and Isaac saran wrapped the toilet, later confiding that they were trying to trip me up but instead the Good Doctor came out of the bathroom saying, "It's a good thing I spit in the toilet first." Looks like some of the kids are learning the art of good pranking from yours truly but good, clean fun is an acquired skill.

Speaking of which, I learned it from the master herself. My mom was known for all kinds of great tricks, usually at my dad's expense. It's a wonder he didn't plan a business trip over the 1st of April every year. More impressive when you remember that she didn't have the advantage of pinterest to help her cause. Yes, thanks to you, Mom, I have plenty more ideas up my sleeve for years to come.

Wordless Wednesday 6

Okay, I'm not going to follow the rules. This will not be completely wordless. I apologize in advance but I really don't like it when people tell me what to do. And because some faceless person decided that as a blogger I need to use no words on Wednesday, I will therefore want to go against the flow. My first Wordless Wednesday was filled with needless chatter. My second attempt was actually published on Tuesday rather than Wednesday. But then I ran out of rebellious ideas. Until today.

Our venture into the snow (before breakfast of course, because everyone was too excited to wait), was followed by a few rather interesting conversations:

Eden: You know what I don't like about snow?

Me: What?

Eden: (as she is playing and I am shoveling) I don't like having to shovel all the snow when we go outside.

Go figure. Good thing for her I do like to shovel when I go outside.

HopeAnne: (after all the layers have been applied and she has been turned into a Pink Marshmallow, as Jesse has called her) What are we supposed to do when we are outside in the snow?

I don't know. Why don't you just make a few more snow angels, throw a few more snowballs, and crawl around a bit more in the snow. Then let me know what you think you should do outside in the snow.