When all else fails - Eat Snow!

Saturday evening right after Abner left to catch a flick with some of his friends it started. That white stuff... big ole huge flakes and all, the kind you want to see Christmas Eve, not at the end of March. After a good strong hour of snowing we realized that there was no way Abner and his friends would make it home, hills and all, without some help, because it was sticking to the road real good.

I think the only time I’m grateful for our big honking, gas guzzling, 4 x 4 mud-spittin’, Tank-mobile is during a snow storm. After calling Abner’s cell phone about 20 times he finally answered and we told him we were coming to the rescue. Talk about embarrassing – Nothing like parents showing up in a bus to make you feel like a little driving dork in front of your friends. Two and a half hours, and 40 miles after P.E left to pick them up, they made it back home. Barely missing all the other crazy drivers on the road, I might add, nearly wiping out a few of them but luckily not.

Five minutes before they arrived home just before midnight, the power went out. It was out till nearly seven this morning. But being that I went to bed late and didn’t sleep to well because I worried that the kids might be cold, I woke up a little grumpy. I had let some of my preparations get behind so I was secretly hoping that they would cancel church. I know super hypocritical. They probably would have if we had the morning schedule, but this year we have the afternoon, so no such luck. And wouldn’t you know it as soon as I get my girls in dresses they are out in the white stuff making snow angels without any coats on.

My insanity must be rubbing off on Princess. What is she crazy?

Plenty of people decided not to brave the roads though and I really had to scramble to combine classes and find last minute substitutes for seven different primary classes whose teachers didn’t show.

Fortunately my grumpy mood did not settle on my children. Since it only happens a few times a year, and doesn’t last more than a day - Snow is magic for them. Turns them into little happy people and no matter how glum mom’s mood is, it protects them with freezing glory. So Saturday evening and all day today they were running outside barefoot grabbing handfuls of slushy snow and then running back into the house to eat it while warming up their little feet for future trips.

Of course I had to instruct my littlest ones in the finer points of eating snow like making sure you only grab freshly fallen snow from the top and by all means avoid snow that has any specks or heaven forbid, tints of color to it, especially yellow. After seeing them have so much fun it started wearing off on me as well. I even ventured outside a couple of times for some snow myself. Don’t worry I stuck to all the rules.

You know snow isn’t so bad, while it lasts. I deal much better with the kids dragging it into the house than I do the mud, which is what they will drag in most days and will probably be what they drag in tomorrow after the snow all melts.