Snow Morning

I have a love/hate relationship with snow.  On one hand, I find it absolutely beautiful to look at a fresh snowfall.  I love to sit inside the house, drinking a cup of coffee, watching the snow fall while I get to spend time with the kids.  What I don't like is the way that a snowfall disrupts plans, causes necessary changes in work schedules that are delicately balanced under the best of conditions, and increases the workload at the office at a time when I can't get there.  But...as with most things, I try to embrace the fact that there must be a reason I am supposed to be at home instead of at the office, and soak up the extra time to be with the kids while I can.  I came home early on Wednesday and then had a late start on Thursday because of the storm, so we tried to make the best of it by doing some cooking, playing a whole lot of Minnie Mouse Bow-tique Bingo and Dora Candyland, and playing outside in the snow. 

With last year's unusual winter without any significant snowfall, the kids hadn't had a chance to play in the snow at all for a long time, so I updated their boots with some larger sizes and we had big plans to play in the snow for a bit yesterday morning.  Before that, though, Joshua lost tooth #2 while eating his blueberry muffin that Lauren and I had made earlier that morning.  This one was without any dramatic tears, thank goodness.  I am still marvelling at the fact that he is big enough to be losing teeth.  It seems as though I was just pulling all-nighters rocking him in his room while he was getting those teeth yesterday.  (This makes me chuckle because I am so reminiscent about Joshua, but I realize after I typed this that the all-nighter rocking session memories are very fresh for good reason......just insert a different baby in my arms in a pink and purple nursery instead of a blue one.  HA!)

After we had appropriately celebrated his new hole in his mouth and giggled about how funny it felt to drink things through it, we decided we should get outside and enjoy the snow a bit.  I was still hoping that Grandma might be able to safely make the trip down so that I could go into the office in the afternoon.  It took us sweet forever to get everyone bundled up with boots and mittens and everything else that was required.  And now I know why my mother always used to try to talk us OUT of going out in the snow.  But here they were...

They seemed to have a great time tromping through the snow and they ended up in quite a snowball battle with each other.  I was impressed (though not a bit surprised) at how well Lauren held her own against her big brother.  She's a good shot, and she wasn't the least bit afraid to let him have it with as much of a snowball as she could make in her little mittened hands.  I was a bit handicapped because of having to hold Mara.  Her footing isn't anywhere near sure enough to put her in boots and turn her loose in the snow, so she was stuck in my arms and wasn't too happy about it.  But having her in my arms made it pretty hard for me to adjust mittens and I certainly couldn't be helping them to make snowballs or build the snowman they wanted to.  We'll have to enlist Daddy's help for some more intense snow playtime without the baby.

By about 10:30 their noses were officially frozen and they decided that a cup of hot chocolate would be more fun than more time outside in the cold.  Fine by me.  And Mara.

I did manage to get to the office in the afternoon.  It was a full day for sure--- but I appreciated the fun with the kids in the morning a whole lot.

I somehow get the feeling that this winter is going to be far different than last- with lots more snow, and lots more chances to enjoy it with the kids.  I'll just say that if I am inside the house, with Mara, while drinking that cup of coffee, it'll be OK with me.