ColdER

On Monday the weather was predicted to bring 5-8 inches of snow throughout the day. Since this could cause the roads to be pretty bad by the time school ended they made a preemptive decision to cancel school. The predictions came true and we ended up with 8 inches of snow so it was a good thing that they decided to cancel. After the snow had accumulated I made the kids go outside and play in it. They had fun digging in it and making snow angels.

I also had the joy of shoveling it that night. It's crazy how much less I mind shoveling now that our driveway is at least half the size it used to be. The snow was also fluffy and light. The only trauma is when I came back inside and found out that chaos had ensued while I was outside. As I came inside I heard Steven say to Penny: "I didn't tell you to bite her THAT hard!" And then I see Lucy smack Penny. I don't know what game involves biting but it is now banned from our house.

Tuesday the kids went back to school and I got to enjoy a normal day. In the morning we had Penny's speech class. Afterwards I asked the teacher how she was doing and she told me that it wasn't going well. Penny being a year younger than all the other kids meant that they all needed to work on different skills than her. I had a feeling that this would be the case so I wasn't super surprised. They have now moved her to a Wednesday morning speech group with kids that have similar needs. The biggest bummer of this was that she had finally made a friend- now she is going to have get acclimated to new people all over again.

After her class we headed to Ben's class to volunteer. It was a fun time of editing papers. Ben's teacher also informed me that he has been doing really well with his writing and recently got a 97% on a math test. It was nice to get some positive feedback on Ben. I am proud of him!

When we finished at Ben's class we went to Tropical Cafe Smoothie since she had earned a date with me for filling up her jar. She ended up getting a "pink" smoothie and has already told me that she wants to get another pink smoothie when she fills up her jar again. She's addicted.

Wednesday and Thursday the weather went colder than it has been in decades- I think the lowest we got was -15 and with the windchill it was a real feel of -45. These freezing temperatures meant that school was cancelled so the kids and I took advantage of that and did not leave the house even once on those two days. 

I might have gone stir crazy if friends hadn't come to visit us. On Wednesday I had a friend and her 4 kids come over in the afternoon. We worked on a puzzle while the kids all played and it was really a fantastic day in.

However that same friend came over again on Thursday morning and it was not nearly as fantastic the second go around. It was quite chaotic and stressful. Her youngest managed to get in the bathroom upstairs and totally mess it up- towels in the toilet, pieces of toilet paper everywhere, feminine pads ripped apart. Later on her son jumped on Lucy's bed and broke one of the boards. Then her older son accidentally bumped the box of puzzle pieces and spilled them into our couch- things tend to fall into our couch and never return. Then their was the incident of the floor vent cover being pulled off and a ball thrown in it. Also her kids totally raided our snack cupboard and emptied it out. So it was a rough get together. I think she was having a rough week herself though and that's why she wasn't super helpful in all these incidents. Remembering this helps me not to get too frustrated with all that went down.

That afternoon I had two other friends come over. Things were a little stressful with them. The one friend has an infant and the other one has two kids, one of which feel asleep on her lap most of the time. It was refreshing to have some socialization without the chaos so the day ended on a better note.

Friday the temperatures warmed up enough that the kids could go back to school. It was still only -5 when I took them to the bus stop but at least I was able to drive them there since Tyler left to work a little later that morning. Sharing a car is such a pain. After school on Friday we decided to take advantage of free first Fridays at the Cranbrook Museum. It was so nice to get out of the house with the kids and roam the museum. We also encountered a beautiful sunset over an icy/snowy lake on our way there. Once there they all behaved surprisingly well which meant we actually got to read some signs and learn stuff. It was a good outing.

Saturday night Steven and Ben had their Blue and Gold Banquet. It had a fun Western theme and the food was chips and chili. Usually our family ends up alone at a table but this time we sat with the Bloomfield's which was a nice change. Highlight of the evening was when Steven got to cross over the bridge and receive his Arrow of Light. This was good motivation for Ben- he now wants to earn his Arrow of Light (mostly because he thinks the plaque is awesome).