Snow Day

Monday I had a breaking point with school. The kids have been so awful- so much whining and complaining and fit throwing. Lucy literally melted down and kicked and screamed and said she hated me. So I did what I always do when I can't cope anymore, I came up with a behavior plan. Now every time they give me trouble or fight with each other they get a penny in their cup. They can't have screen time until they get rid of their pennies and to get rid of them they have to do a chore of my choice (and the chores they already do don't count). I feel like it's helped some. They do not like getting pennies and I can't complain too much about more tasks getting done around the house.

This week there was a huge snow storm coming and it seemed to be all that people talked about for days. On Wednesday it hit and I will admit I was somewhat disappointed. It didn't seem to be the snowmageddon that everyone had perdicted. There was snow for sure but it didn't feel like a massive amount (maybe 8 inches total in the end)and it was just lightly falling all day. On the plus side they did cancel school so we had no seminary and got to sleep in. For us the day went as normal since it was an at home day and then when we finished school I even braved the snowy roads and drove the girls to Target to get some Valentines for school. I only had a couple brake crunching moments that gave me some anxiety but overall the drive was fine. Am I becoming a Michigander after all?

Thursday was another snow day so once again no seminary and since it was a school day for the kids they had Zoom for all their classes instead. They were not happy about this because they wanted a true Snow Day. Ben was especially upset because Jacob had a Snow Day and he wanted to hang with him. Personally, I was glad they did Zoom because it kept them busy and so I was still able to get stuff done. I cleaned out the couch (which was so gross), I did a quick vacuum of my car, and I shoveled all the snow. Shoveling the snow was quite the workout. While I was shoveling a neighbor was walking by and we had a chat. We probably only talk once or twice a year and she is always really kind. This conversation was no different, she told me she was so glad my kids were spending time with Sharon and she could tell it was making a positive impact. And she proceeded to tell me that I was raising my kids right and that she was glad my family had moved into the neighborhood. Even though she doesn't know us well, it was still really nice to hear those things and honestly I was feeling pretty down on myself lately so that was just the bit of self esteem boost I needed.

While Ben was on a break from Zoom Thursday he made a goofy, little snowman...

Thursday night Tyler and I went on a date night. It had been awhile and I needed a night out with him. We went to Benstein Grille because we had been given a giftcard to it but of course, Tyler forgot to give them the giftcard. Anyways, it had fancy food and it was good but I filled up on the appetizer and didn't have much room left for the entree. After dinner we went to Staples so Tyler could try out office chairs, he is in need of a new one. I must be a grown up because I found sitting on a bunch of different chairs to be pretty fun. Then we ran a couple quick errands and headed home. It was just what I needed, although I was glad he was driving instead of me because the roads were gross.

Friday we decided to just cancel seminary again because we were worried about the roads but mostly because I didn't want to wake up. I'm terrible. We'll get back to it Monday. School was as per usual and then that evening Tyler and I went to watch one of our seminary student's basketball games. It was a really close game and they almost won but in the last 3 minutes the other team kept scoring points because of fouls. It was a good time but holy cow stadium seating is painful on the rear and I think I may need to find some cushions if we are going to make this a habit.

Saturday, today, the girls had their friends from school over and we probably should do that more often. The girls are sisters and they all get along super well. They played, drew pictures, made stuff with Perler Beads, went to the library and watched "Encanto". Tonight I get to go to "My Favorite Things" party. I got my favorite wristlet wallet and a Lego keychain as my gift. I am not sure how these will be received but I love both these things so hopefully people don't hate them. It's always interesting to see if I come back with things that I love since not everyone has the same interests and tastes. We shall see.