Snow Day. Again.

Apparently our school district, along with many many others, will be in school until the middle of July this year. We've had so many snow/cold days off from school, I'm sprouting some serious gray hairs. I know some moms glow when there is a snow day for their kids. They ooze happiness, having their nest full an extra day. In theory, I am one of those moms. I do enjoy my children. But in reality, I'm running out of things to keep my kiddos busy, it's too cold to go outside, and if I have to play one more 4-year-old game or listen to my boys fight over one more wii controller, I'm going to lose my mind. 

Scooby, on the way to see the psychiatrist

We had last Monday off for MLK day. We had 3 chiropractor  appointments, 2 pediatrician appointments, one psychiatrist appointment (to which my sweet little girl decided to wear her Scooby Doo costume...classic), and one dance class. Oof. It was a very long day. We discovered that Jonah and Ben have sinus and ear infections, which explains some not-so-fantastic moods and behavior. (As an aside, I think the pediatrician needs to start paying me, because I brought the boys in, told the doc what I thought they had, and sure enough, I was right. Think how much money I could be making!! The doctors don't even need to do anything except use their funky little flashlights to shine in dark crevices, and tickle the boys' tummies. I did their job for them!) They're on the road to recovery from that, but then this past weekend Aidan came down with something that he kindly passed to Jonah. Again, they're on the mend and will (THANK THE SWEET LORD IN HEAVEN) be able to go back to school when it reopens tomorrow. Today we only have four therapies and one doctor's appointment. Easy peasy. We've had 3 tea parties, made cookies, played playdough, played house about 32 times, played a lot of video games, and yesterday was the Official Bath and Haircut Day. All children and animals got clean- shocking, I know, and Aidan and Ollie the dog got haircuts. All spiffed up for spring. Spring will come eventually, right?

This morning I was loudly, persistantly asked to come to the kitchen to make my children breakfast. Usually they fend for themselves, grazing on the delicious items I have provided in the pantry. There is a gluten-free shelf, which Jonah chooses to ignore even though the foods are mostly for him, and a regular-food shelf. So I was a little irritated to be called to the kitchen when I was in the middle of trying to actually take a shower to get ready for our day. I told Ben I'd be down in a few minutes. To which he responded " Then I'm making my OWN grilled cheese!!" Uh, what now? The kids are learning to cook, which I am all for, since it's a great skill to have. But we still need supervision for all things that tend to be on fire. ADHD brains sometimes don't work carefully when there is exciting temptation to start fires or try burning different materials. Trust me, I know this for a fact. I told Ben he'd better not start the stove by himself! As he ran toward the kitchen.

So I came downstairs to see what my kiddos were into. Showers are overrated anyway. Ben had started a domino effect of demands for "grilled cheese for breakfast!" And Ben requested tomato soup. This is one thing I'm flexible about. As long as it's pretty healthy, I don't care if the kids eat lunch food for breakfast. We eat breakfast food for dinner sometimes, so what's the difference? (It drives Daddy crazy when the kids want mac and cheese for breakfast. It makes me giggle inside. He gets all puffed up with indignance that a human is eating pasta -or a turkey sandwich, or a jelly sandwich, or a Lunchable- for breakfast. It's pretty cute.) I made a round of grilled cheese for everyone, along with tomato soup. By that point it was almost 8am. The day was almost half over! (I wish) 

Ollie's a good snuggler when you're a sicky

 
My heart tells me that I should cherish these days of togetherness. It's a special time to play together, relax together, have fun together. But my brain and body are a little bit pooped from having so much togetherness. There is something to be said for going to school every weekday. Bless the moms who feel sad when their kids return to school after snow days. I feel nostalgic for the days together, but I don't feel sad. Our snow days are a little like mine fields- someone could explode at any minute and I'll have to diffuse the situation as fast as possible. You never know when an explosion will happen, where, or how long it will take to get everyone calmed down. It's a lot of stress. When the explosions do happen, I do my best to maneuver all the kids involved on to other things, other places, other activities. When we have a lot of time together, stuck in the house because it's too cold to go out, everyone is a little on edge. So our school routine will be welcomed by us all tomorrow.

One little gem of loveliness: the kids were all fighting because Ben and Jonah were supposed to have counseling this morning. All of the kids wanted time with the therapist. I texted her- heads up! They're all fighting over you! I told the kids they had to do whatever the therapist said, so if she said only Ben and Jonah could play, then that's what would happen. With no arguing. To which Ella rolled her eyes in a way only a 4-going-on-13-year-old can do. The therapist laughed when the kids all clambered to her in the waiting room. She said she could see them all at once and have a big family chat. Without me! Before we got to therapy, Ben asked if he thought if our therapist could handle all four of them without me. I laughed. He's so funny and sincere and sweet. I told Ben I'm sure our amazing therapist can handle them all. And she did. With grace and beauty, of course. And I got to sit in the waiting room by myself for 45 minutes. A little piece of heaven.

Tonight as I lay watching TV in our bed, with 3/4 of our kiddos sprawled around and on top of me, I thought about how I do cherish this. I cherish the sweet, warm, calm, snuggly times so much. They go by fast. One day you're rocking your little baby twins to sleep, one in each arm, and the next you're snuggling with a whole bunch of little people who are almost as big as you! I'm not sad when my kids go back to school after a very long weekend, but I am sad when these close family moments end.

Family Tea Party