Snow Day Feb. 26

On February 26 we got a big snow storm. We got about eight inches of snow. Not surprisingly, school was cancelled. We were able to get outside around 10:00 and play for a long time in the snow. The kids had a lot of fun. It was the perfect kind of snow for playing. I also got some pretty good pictures, which was good because I forgot to bring out the camera the other two times it snowed. As hard as it was to have Kevin miss so much school because of the snow, I was grateful that my kids got the chance to enjoy playing in the snow. It was a fun day.

Kevin kept stealing carrots from snowmen and eating them.

These young pine trees bent over to the ground from the weight of the snow.

Kevin learned how to roll snowballs around to make a big snowball.

Heidi enjoyed seeing all of the snowmen that other people had created.

After we were done playing in the snow we spent some time with some of the neighbor kids who go to Kevin's school. I think they normally go to after school programs because their parents are students, so I had never had a chance to meet most of them before.

Laughing makes it easier to bear.

If there's anything I've learned in the past two and a half weeks, it's that laughing makes the hard things easier to bear.

I think I got proof yesterday that I'm starting to get it. I had made some cornbread for breakfast. Ryan and I ate some together because the kids had already had cereal. Ryan didn't finish his piece, so he left it on the table intending to finish it in a while. A few minutes later, Heidi came up to me and said sweetly, "Mom, is it okay if I eat that?" while pointing at Ryan's cornbread. I started to say yes, but then I stopped and said, "Actually, you probably shouldn't eat that because Daddy was sick with a stomach bug yesterday and you might get sick if you eat it. But I can get you your own . . . " Then Heidi got a horrified look on her face and I realized she had actually already eaten a few bites of Ryan's cornbread. Heidi started crying because she was so scared that now she was going to get sick. She cried so hard that she started coughing. She was coughing so hard that I started wondering if she would throw up. Then I realized she was throwing up, and instinctively I put my hand out to catch it because by this point she was on my lap and I guess it seemed like it would be better to wash my hand than to have it all in my lap. All I could do was yell, "Um, bowl!" and stare at my hand and laugh, because I just caught throw-up in my hand and how in the world was I supposed to know that she would react that way to what I had said? And of course now that Heidi actually did throw up she started crying and coughing even harder and saying, "I'm sick, I'm sick!" No amount of reassurance that she wasn't sick could get her to calm down, so I desperately grasped at straws and started talking about the freezing rain on the trees outside like it was the coolest thing ever, and luckily that seemed to calm her down enough. Once she had run off to play I just looked at Ryan and laughed and laughed at the absurdity of what had just happened. It seemed like a better option than getting upset.

Did I mention we've been getting a lot of snow here? In the past two school weeks the kids have had 1 1/2 days of school, plus Kevin missed the 13th because of an ear infection. Heidi hasn't been able to go to joy school, either. And yesterday church was cancelled because there was freezing rain. The first week with no school was rough. I had plans and I kept thinking there would be school again the next day and I could get some stuff done, so when school kept getting cancelled it was really frustrating. The second week was mostly better, although Friday was rough. At some point it got so ridiculous that I could only laugh when we got the calls cancelling school every evening, and laughing about it seemed to make it better. It also helped that the snow was better the second week, so we were able to have some fun in the snow.  It has been hard to have our routine disrupted. I haven't been able to get as much done as I want to. Some days I was lucky to get an opportunity to brush my hair.

I am hoping that school will be back in session this week. The school has changed all teacher workdays and delayed opening days to regular school days, and they've also decided to have school on Memorial Day and a couple of Saturdays (early release) to make up for what the kids have missed. The next couple of weeks still won't exactly be routine, though. I'm teaching joy school this week and next week, plus we have a piano tuner coming (finally!!), a doctor appointment for Ann Marie, my birthday, and of course Kevin's surgery today (Ryan is with him at the hospital right now, actually). I think what I'm starting to find is that there are always things that disrupt your schedule and while it's good to have a plan it's also important to mentally prepare to be flexible instead of getting grumpy when plans change.

I got a lot of pictures of the snow, but I haven't gotten a chance to go through them yet, so those are coming soon.

Snow Day #2

On the 12th we started getting our second snow storm of the year. In the morning I went to class as usual, met with my advisor after class, and then did some work on some of my samples. I went to check and see when the next bus was coming and found out that classes for the rest of the day had been cancelled. Then as I walked out of the building I saw a professor walking into the building alongside a student and he said, "Esta nevando, ¿no?" Then I looked up and, sure enough, tiny flakes were starting to come down. By the time I had gotten to my bus stop it was falling much faster and in fluffy puffs of snow. There was a group of girls on the bus who were talking about whether to go home or proceed with plans to work on some school projects. By the time we had gotten to my bus stop the snow was sticking and one of the girls said, "I'm just going to go home. The snow's already sticking and I have to go all the way to Cary." What went through my head was, "You're not going to make it to Cary." Honestly they probably should have cancelled classes about an hour earlier than they did.

The rest of the day my news feed on Facebook was full of pictures and status updates from friends who had gotten stuck in the snow and had to walk home, friends who barely made it home and had seen lots of abandoned cars, and friends whose husbands had taken five hours to drive three miles home. The roads were really slippery and there were tons of accidents and abandoned cars. As much as I'd like to take some credit for us already being safe at home, a lot of it has to do with living so close to campus. I'm certainly glad I wasn't stuck somewhere facing the possibility of walking home with two kids.

Classes were cancelled on the 13th and 14th as well and the university told everyone except emergency personnel not to report for work. Usually they tell teachers and such to continue to hold office hours, so this was quite the snow. Overnight the snow melted slightly and refroze, so the bottom layers of snow were still powdery while the top layers of snow had turned icy. Ryan took Kevin outside to play in the snow for a while, and when you stepped on the snow it was hard on top and then your foot would break through to the soft layers underneath. There was also a lot of ice frozen on all the plants.

Apparently Kevin found this toy guitar at the playground and spent the entire time walking around strumming the guitar and slipping sometimes because of the icy snow, but he still wouldn't let go of the guitar so he could keep his footing better. It made some cute pictures, though.

Yes, these are flowers with ice frozen on them.

After the kids were down for naps, Ryan went back out to get some more pictures and then walked to his office to get some homework to grade. The snow was very good for making snowballs. He threw some at our bedroom window, but I opened it and told him I couldn't sneak out because my dad would probably find out and I would get in trouble.

Some people got creative on campus and made some sea creatures out of snow.

In the evening the snow had melted quite a bit on the roads and we decided to venture out and get some milk before the roads got frozen overnight. It was amazing to see all the abandoned cars still on the road. Some were stopped in the middle of the lane where they had gotten stuck. Most of them probably stayed there another day or two since all the slush on the roads froze again overnight and the roads were probably pretty treacherous. I wished I had a nice big snow shovel, because looking at some of the cars it seemed like a few scrapes from a snow shovel would be enough to be able to get the car out.

Snow Day #1

On January 29 we got a snow day! It doesn't snow here very often, so when it does it's a big deal. School was cancelled and everything (which was awesome since I had a quiz that day that I wasn't ready for).

Ryan got the kids all bundled up and took them outside, and I joined them a little later with the camera. Kevin and Heidi had a good time in the snow. It wasn't great snow for snowballs and snowmen, but we did try.

Fox prints in the snow

Heidi was done with the snow a lot earlier than Kevin, but when I offered to take her inside she didn't want to go in without Daddy, so we stayed out a little longer and then Ryan took her inside.

Kevin stayed out much longer. He was having a fabulous time. We found this cute little snowman that someone had made and Kevin picked it up and carried it around.

At one point he wanted to play but didn't want to let go of the snowman, so I told him to put it down in the snow and I would keep an eye on it for him. Unfortunately I got a little distracted talking about kindergarten to a friend and before I realized it some mean kid had grabbed the little snowman, carried it off, and stomped on it. I was hoping Kevin would forget about it, but later he noticed the stomped up snow and immediately recognized the little snowman. We were not successful in rebuilding him, but fortunately Kevin wasn't too upset about it. (He has his challenges, but fortunately when it comes to stuff like this he rarely gets dramatic.)

I bought "fat free half and half" the other day. I'm not kidding, even though it sounds like an oxymoron. I looked it up and apparently they add other stuff to it to make it thicker even though it's actually skim milk. The only reason I bought it was because I had a coupon that made it very cheap.

It's hot. It doesn't seem fair. It seems like just about everywhere you have long winters, long summers, and then at the most two weeks of spring and two weeks of fall. And I don't even get to enjoy those weeks because they happen during school. I love being outside, but I hate coming home so sweaty and smelly that I can barely move.

I'm pretty sure I've become an oven. A couple of days ago I was feeling quite hot, and I asked Ryan if he thought it was hot and he said, "I'm freezing." He's added an extra blanket to his side of the bed (besides the extra one folded in half that was already there--he has that one all the time).

I had to laugh when I was reading through Baby Girl's car seat manual and it talked about using the cup holders. The instructions say to only use paper or styrofoam cups, because hard cups can cause injuries if they go flying and hit someone in a crash. Now, I never give Kevin food or drinks in the car because I'm pretty sure he can go without food for the fifteen minutes it takes to get to the grocery store, so it doesn't really matter to me. But I don't think there are many parents who would let their child have a paper or styrofoam cup in the car--that's just asking for a huge mess. So if you can't use a sippy cup because it's too hard and could hit someone, and you can't use paper or styrofoam because they're messy, why bother having cupholders on a car seat? (Apparently Kevin agreed because he found the removable cupholder and threw it behind the piano--I haven't bothered to fish it out.)

I think Breyer's is getting the right idea with their Mint Fudge Brownie ice cream, although the brownie pieces could use some work. But it's better than most brands of mint ice cream that have bits of black plastic that are supposed to be chocolate chips.

A couple of days ago at my appointment with a midwife, she was feeling for the position of the baby and said, "Here's her face." When I expressed my surprise that she could tell it was her face, she said, "Yep, I accidentally bonked her nose." Pretty cool.

Inclement Weather

North Carolinians are funny. Yesterday it snowed a little bit--in Idaho, nobody would have even wondered if school would be closed with that little snow, but here they closed the schools and some other places. This morning, I woke up early to go volunteer at Rashkis Elementary School, and the classrooms were empty--school was still closed. Later, I called UNC hospitals to ask about some bills they sent me, and this was the message I heard: "Due to inclement weather, our office will be closed until 10:00 a.m." The thing is, the roads are almost completely clear and dry. That's inclement weather. About a month or so, we got four inches, and that was an emergency. I guess when you don't get very much snow and people don't know how to drive in it, you have to be a little more careful. For some pictures of the snow yesterday, go here: http://quantumleap42.blogspot.com/ Now most of the snow is gone.

On another note, I think I'm going to stop eating cereal and eat oatmeal for breakfast instead. I can get about three times as much oatmeal for the same price I would pay for a box of cereal, and oatmeal is more nutritious and makes me feel full longer than a bowl of cereal. Plus, I like oatmeal.

Here's a picture of my tummy today--I took it myself facing the mirror because I was too embarrassed to ask someone to do it, and then I cropped out the camera. I am at about five months, but unless you know I'm pregnant (or if you're me and have noticed your pants getting tighter since December), you still can't really tell.