A (Snow) Day in the Life...

Welcome to the Midwest, where we've had a snowflake or two fall in the last 24 hours.  I don't actually have any pictures of the outdoors today, but every single person I talked to today compared our current weather to being in a snowglobe.  It wasn't just snowing, it was blowing.  A lot.  And snowing a lot too.  And it's not done yet.

So I wasn't surprised when my day was kicked off by a call from our school district saying that Lamb could stay in her jammies today.  (OK, so that's not exactly what they said, but that was the gist of it.)  The only thing that surprised me was the fact that the call came at 5:45 AM.  A snow day!  Yay!  Who knew that I would be as excited about it as my child?

Lest you think, though, that I used this day as an excuse to be lazy, that I just sat around in my dirty, smelly sweats... that is just not true!  I got up bright and early (OK, 8:00), took a shower, and put on CLEAN sweats.

The kids and I made "snow day pancakes", an idea that I shamelessly stole from a friend (Thanks, Megan!  They really do taste better on a snow day.), and then I dressed them all up in their Christmas outfits to take pictures for our Christmas card.  Yes, I curled Lamb's hair, dressed them all up, put on clean shoes & socks, the whole deal... and never left the house with them.  But I think the results were worth it...

Ha ha!  I jest, of course.  That is NOT our Christmas card photo.  Here it is:

Oh, I got you again!!  I am just on fire tonight, folks.  Seriously, though, here are my lovely little ones...

And no, I don't have any pictures of Roo by himself in his Christmas finery, because he was DONE by the time I took the few pics that I did... so I put him down for a nap, and when I got him up, I forgot about getting more pics and just changed him into something that I didn't mind getting baby food/poop/puke on.  So I'll have to get some pics of him when they wear their Christmas clothes to church.

Anyway, in order to actually get the munchkins to cooperate with the picture taking (and by "munchkins" I mean "munchkin", and by "munchkin" I mean "Monkey"), I had to bribe them with TV time.  So after the pictures we (and by "we" I mean "they") threw their PJs back on (because I never got out of mine), and we watched some of those old Christmas classics--you know, the one wear Dora and Swiper have to go back in time so he can learn the true meaning of Christmas, and the Team Umi Zoomi where they fix Santa's toy machine... Oy.

And then it was time for some more Christmas fun.  Last year we made a gingerbread house, and honestly... it was a disaster.  The icing had to dry between each step, so it took FOREVER, and it didn't hold up too well and I'm not very good at that kind of thing anyway... It wasn't pretty.  Literally or figuratively.  So this year I got a gingerbread train kit, and thought we'd give it a try.  Well, today was the day!

The kit came with this handy tray to build it on.  It actually helped a lot, although it doesn't look the best sitting on the plastic tray...

"No, Mommy!  I can do it myself!"

We've got the structure up--now it's time to decorate!

All under the watchful eye of our supervisor!

Two proud builders with their finished product!

Santa didn't come with the kit, but we thought he made a nice addition.

The M&Ms didn't come with it, either, but what's a train without cargo???

My "plan" is to cover the rest of the plastic tray with frosting that I have in the fridge so it looks like snow-covered ground instead of a white plastic tray that says "E-Z BUILD" on it... but we'll see if that happens.  Already, though, it is a 1000% (and yes, I mean one THOUSAND, it's not just a typo) improvement over the house from last year.

And that was pretty much our day.  Throw in some on-your-own time for the big kids while I folded laundry, a second round of pancakes for dinner (yep, we were on a health food kick today!), baths, and some Little House in the Big Woods, and you've got yourself one fine snow day.

Did I mention that it's still coming down?  I wonder what we'll do tomorrow...

PS - If you haven't entered to win the iPod Touch yet, the giveaway has been extended until Thursday because she's getting so much new publicity!  YAY!  Olga now has over $6,000 in her account--what a fabulous difference we are making for this little girl.  Please donate AND pray that the right family will find her.