Snow Day

SNOW DAY: The two best words you hear when you work in a school (maybe except the words contract settled or summer break). Hoping for a day off, we were all wishing each other a nice weekend and "see ya Monday" when I left Saratoga School on Thursday. I even left all of my therapy gear at Saratoga, knowing that if school were cancelled I would have to stop there and pick it all up first thing on Monday even though I'm in Coal City all day. I didn't want to jinx it by being prepared.

Last night I dutifully went off to the YMCA at 6:30 to teach yoga, despite being uncertain that anyone would brave the weather to attend my class. I had 2 dedicated yogis to teach and when I returned at around 8:00 I was disappointed that the snow had tapered off. Swanny ran the snowblower shortly after I came home so that he would have a jump on clearing it in case we were blessed with more of the white stuff. When we turned in around 10:30 Swanny noted, "Unless it does something serious tonight, I think you'll have school tomorrow." Thanks for the positive thoughts, honey.

Then the call I was looking for came at around 5:15 this morning. I never manage to get myself on the phone tree, which you would think I would learn to do at this point. Swanny mocks me for having to comb the internet, tune into radio stations we don't actually get and occasionally call a news station to find out if I'm getting reprieved of a day of work. Well, in light of the predicted accumulation, I made sure a trusted co-worker had my number and I was glad to hear her voice early this morning wishing me a good day off.

Peanut gave me an enthusiastic, "Mommy, I'm glad you're still in your pajamas," when I greeted her at her door. I shared the good news: day off for us both! After a nice breakfast, some cartoons and helping Swanny finish clearing the driveway, the inevitable question came: "Mommy, can we go outside and play in the snow??" Of course my reply was "Yes!!" What is the point of a snow day if you don't enjoy the snow?!

First, she decided to have fun jumping in the the snow just off of the drive way as I chatted with our neighbors, who were off from Ottawa High School and Golden Rule Lumber today.

Then Peanut informed me that she was going to get her sled out. I helped her as her sled was hanging high up on the garage wall. It took some convincing to get her to agree that the blue sled that Grandpa bought her for Christmas last year was what we wanted instead of the purple Baby-boggin that is waiting for her baby brother to take a ride on next winter.

We headed down the drive way and made our way up and down our block several times. It was a nice workout for a pregnant lady whose main exercise anymore seems to come from picking up the house. Peanut requested a ride while she stood on the sled, surfboard-style, but I unfortunately had to say "no" to that one.

We then headed back into the yard to romp with the doggies and play in the mounds of snow. Peanut went straight for her swingset where she methodically brushed off the swings, glider and slide.

She gave each piece of equipment a test in the snow, finding that snowpants and a swing really don't mix well. She fell off not once, not twice, but three times before abandoning the swing for her slide.



In the meantime, Leia managed to unearth a tennis ball under the mounds of snow in the yard and participated in her favorite pastime, soccer-with-a-tennis-ball.


After the swingset fun, Peanut tried her hand at a snow angel, which actually looked pretty good!

Finally, with mittens soaking wet and cheeks rosy-red, Peanut decided it was time to come inside. We enjoyed hot beverages (hot chocolate with marshmallows for her, coffee with cream for me) and played the rest of the day away. Gotta love those snow days, especialy when, as I will be taking maternity leave mid-May, I won't be making this day up at the end of the school year....makes it even sweeter.