Snow Day!

Snow days, blissful snow days! You know, this morning I was seriously grumpy. For real. So, it was 5:45am and I was up checking to see if school was cancelled. It was. Normally I would've been thrilled at the thought of an entire, uninterrupted day at home with my babes. Doesn't happen much these days and I cherish it when it does. However, this morning my focus was askew (sp?) I was only focusing on the two "important" appointments I had scheduled and how to figure out the logistics of the day. Should I cancel? Should I venture out with my three children and try to conduct business as usual? Should I be so bold as to try and find a sitter on no notice and go solo? UGG..decisions.
I decided to go back to bed. Maybe an hour more sleep would be helpful, I thought. So, an hour later, I woke, grumpier to the feeling of a small mass with pointy, jabby parts on my back. I grumbled, "Mama's trying to sleep, Nakai"...silence for a moment and then, "but Mama, I was just trying to love you. I really love you", My four year old replied in an all too serious and grown voice. Well, that was enough guilt for me! I rolled over and snuggled with that not so little anymore bundle of love! "You know," I thought, "someday he won't climb on my back and wake me up with love and kisses in the morning...this...is a gift." And so, I decided to approach my day from a place of blessings and abundance. A whole day to spend with my wee ones, doing what THEY want to do..on their time table. What a blessing! And so...
I cancelled all "work" related issues and decided that the most important things I would do today would be to watch the beautiful white stuff falling from the sky from the warmth of my kitchen, count and identify the birds in our backyard for the backyard bird count (going on now at http://backyardbirdcount.com/). So, that happened and so much more. I got some one on one time with Nolan, making paper rockets launched with windpower (thanks to Sadie and Ayden at http://love-to-learn-homeschool.blogspot.com/) ...so much fun! We had a blast (literally!) decorating those rockets and climbing on things to launch them from. I also enjoyed being able to fulfill both Nolan and Nakai's wishes to learn to sew "like Mama does" on a sewing machine. I brought a simple one down and put it on the table along with a large box of fabric and waited...less than thirty minutes later, I got requests from a pirate (Nakai) and a detective (Nolan) to make bags for their stuff. Each boy made two bags and were then feeling fulfilled. The machine is still there, awaiting Teah's discovery. What else? Oh, we made waffles together this morning and have all enjoyed lots of tea. All varieties!
We also finally did get outside in the white stuff. The plow man (is that politically correct?) offered to plow the parking spaces if we would all move our cars...so, of course, I needed everyone to hurriedly help uncover the van first and that led to shoveling the walk, climbing on the plow's aftermath mountain, which led to Nolan wanting to dig a tunnel to ..somewhere. So, then some neighbor children got inspired and got in on his project. He enjoyed his position as director and explained to everyone how they should go about helping...very empowering for a six year old. Teah enjoyed seeing some young, female faces outside and chatted as big girls do outside for quite some time. Then she came in and played some cards with Andy and I....she enjoyed the money aspect of the game. Ahem~
For most of the day though, she poured over a book she checked out at the library and chatted about needing a pocketknife and some rope! The book ,by the way is The Daring Book For Girls and is actually a wonderful resource for nine year old gals who are contemplating their place in this world. She is currently painting next to me and talking to her friend about sleepovers and such. As for the boys, they have just finished watching a Steve Irwin Documentary and are now splashing in the bathtub with some toy crocodiles! I'm hearing all kinds of Australian lingo...I'm glad they're enjoying each other!
I am so thankful that I decided to re-approach the day and come at it from a different angle. I've also managed somehow to accomplish some household tasks such as dishes, and four loads of laundry! Ahh, the feeling of productivity! I also enjoyed some reading time which I do hope to get more of later. Okay, so I heart snow days! Off to rescue those wet boys :)