navygreen | A snow day. (Reply)

It was a perfect day for kids to be out of school - we had lots of nice snow to play with from yesterday! Philip had cleared the driveway and sidewalks this morning when he came home from work, so it was easy for me to get out and go to work at the usual time. I had an early-out shift today, so I brought home soup and chili for lunch for all of us. Then Philip had to go to work, and the boys and I ran a quick errand before coming home again.

Early this morning, Ann had called. We chatted for a bit, and then she said she needed to get going since her kids were ready to get out and romp in the snow. I told her that she was welcome to come play and sled over here if they could wait until I got home, and she agreed that sounded more fun. So I called her as soon as we were back home, and they came over a few minutes later, bringing freshly baked chocolate chip cookies with them.

And the kids played and played. Philip had helped Jack to build a small snow fort before he left for work, and he and Ty tried to "attack" me while I was taking pictures (good thing I stood *just* out of range - hehehe). And then there was lots of sledding. We also went to the empty house across the street to the slightly bigger hill, and they continued to sled there. Eventually, Ann couldn't feel her toes anymore, and I was having difficulty keeping my hands warm to ANY degree, so we rounded up the kids and came back inside. We stripped off all our wet items, and I tossed everything in the dryer. I swear, Rudi must've had on four layers underneath her snowsuit, and they were practically ALL wet!

I sat the kids at the table with milk for dunking cookies, and they giggled while they smeared chocolate everywhere. I made cocoa for Ann and myself, and even some buttered toast for her. (I guess it was a childhood thing of hers - she likes to dunk buttered toast into her hot chocolate. It sounded weird to me, but hey - she can have her strange cravings right now 'cuz she's pregnant.) After the kids left the table and went to "camp" in Jack's room (and we actually had four sleeping bags - one for each kid), we were able to talk in relative peace at the table for some time. That was nice.

Eventually, it rolled around to almost 7pm. At some point in time, two of the neighbor girls had knocked on my living room doors, and I'd let them come in and play with everyone as well (what's two more kids running wild when you already have four, right?). We pulled all the assorted clothing out of the dryer and redistributed it to the right kids, and then everyone headed home. It was too late to start dinner then, so the boys and I went to Burger King instead... and it's just not as good as Runza.

After dinner, warm showers, hugs and applications of much chapstick, my two were tucked into bed before 9pm. The kitties have wanted extra snuggles tonight - partly because it's cold, and partly because they didn't get a lot of attention while we had guests (but that's because they hide out in fear under our bed whenever someone comes over). Philip's in the shower now, and I think he wants to watch a movie afterwards, but I'm starting to feel pretty tired myself already. Playing in the snow makes me TIRED!