OHHHH the snow will come out TOMORROW..

bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there'll be snow. When I'm stuck with two girls in a house all day. I just stick out my chin and say: TODAY TODAY will be so much fun. I'll play the part of teeacher and say:

SNOW DAY!

That's right. a prediction last night came true. D and I took the girls out to see a local production of Annie on Sunday. (Cynara if you're reading this I want you to know that all of NCMA's productions combined trumped this). The cast could have been better, the mics were not well done and the casting was too large and incongruous. Otherwise I was grateful to get out of the house and enjoy an otherwise decent production. The snow was coming down fast and furious yesterday, the big truck we were driving was even having a hard time. D predicted a snow day and snow day indeed did we have. 

                                 

I got a text pretty early this morning that school was delayed two hours. About twenty minutes later I got a text that we couldn't even get Queen Bessie out this morning. There was no point in risking the roads even if I could have gotten the Rav out. So we were snowed in. 

Given that the girls were neither sick nor on vacation the parents and I both felt it appropriate for the girls to work on some homework while we were homeward bound. Who wants to start the morning that way though? So I whipped up some homemade whole wheat chocolate chip pancakes. I think I used the same skillet for all three meals today....yes yes I did. 

I told the girls that if we were gonna be stuck inside today that I was not going to listen to whining, buzzing, whirring, chirping, squawking, beeping, christmassonging, foot tapping,squeaking, general annoyingness for the next ten hours. That got them focused. I got to play the role of teacher today, it was kinda fun dusting those skills off. I found some great worksheets online for the kiddos. They kept focused and when I could tell that they were getting antsy I had them get up and do laps around the kitchen counter. We even squeezed in some yoga and aerobics before lunch. 

After a warm lunch and some more work we had a lovely hour of Skyping with wonderful people back home. The girls got to have a music lesson from my not so little brother, they were curious about his "gross" smoothies, he taught them mallet grips and serenaded them with marimba music. Then they chatted with my friend Crystal and saw her "eat" her cats ear. Cats segued us to my kitty Mango, so we called my Mom. All three of them wanted to know which was Bean and which was Bear, un-prompted. The girls were their chatty selves and got a kick out of saying hi to my family and friends. 

It was nearing two p.m and we were all still in our jammers, so I changed them into snow gear and sent them outside. You honestly can't have a snow day and not go enjoy it. I watched them from the window wade in their chin height snow. They had to blaze trails to get to their swing set. I wouldn't let them wander farther than that for fear of the snow being too deep. 

Whilst they were out playing and the dog was tormenting them I stayed indoors and cooked up a chicken pot pie. Yes, this veg head is capable of cooking up meat.  Snowy days like this back home had my kids pleading for me to make them chicken pot pie. I then donned my snow gear and trudged outdoors. OH MAN. What a gorgeous and beautiful day it was. Just the right weather and snow up to my chest is some places. 

We attempted a walk out on the beach but just getting down the stairs was hard and I was getting stuck in snow higher than I felt comfortable in. So we headed back up and went on a nature walk instead. The girls wanted to check out the chicken coop, so off we went. I made a preliminary scan for any moose lurking in the pen and what seemed clear we headed in. 

Yeah...well the next thing I knew I spun around and was literally nose to nose with a moose. I think I screamed like a little girl, Bear knew what was going on and ran faster that I could blink. Bean was clueless so I scooped her up fast and bolted. My heart was racing. I was honestly just glad to have both girls in my arms and to be alive. I can laugh about it now, but oh man, at the time it was awful.

The day seemed to whiz by. Before I knew it the parents were pulling into the drive way and everyone was back home. D and I sat together and watched the sunset and chatted about our day. The snow man came and plowed the driveway which got me out of getting up at 6 a.m. to carpool everyone tomorrow. Phew. It was a long, busy, but truly unforgettable day. 

Oh...Alaska...