Snow Day and Sleds

Sweet, Sweet Snow Day!
Well, we got to use those sleds! : )
The kids woke up EaRlY (always earlier on a Snow Day, don'tcha know?), and they began with food (and filled their day with food, and ended with food).  I guess snow gives you an appetite?

Anyway, they got all dressed up in their layers (oh yeah..I've got clothes sitting in the washer!), and headed out.

They tromped around the yard, and decided to start with a snowman...but the snow wouldn't pack since it was only 19 degrees!

Mary Claire sat in the snow, despite warnings that the snow would melt on her pants and make her C-O-L-D.

The boys tried so hard to make the snow stick.  It was too cold!

Maybe we could just pile it up?

Good Golly-why are these still inside?

Yep, Ches told the kids if they took them out and they got all snowy and wet, they couldn't bring them back in the house.  So.. they had so much fun playing train tracks with them this morning, they left them inside.  Umm..doesn't that defeat the purpose? (and ruin the fun, and spoil all the time we spent working on them?)  They should SLED!

And so they did.

No, my kids aren't playing with ladders!

Staying Warm!

Warming up by the fire, waiting on their hot cocoa..they saw me taking their picture!

...and then he finally saw me!

So, we warmed up, ate an early lunch, since they were all starving by eleven, and Then.  Mary Claire felt a loose wire.  Umm..what kind of loose?  I checked her out, and discovered she had popped a bracket off when she crashed her sled into a tub in the yard (Ches' idea of a sled from last week..).  I now notice her feeling around the bracket in the last picture.  She'd been crying when she came in about the hole the bracket made in her top lip, but I didn't even notice the bracket since it was held so tightly by the rubber band!

I tried to remember Dr. Storms' phone number, and missed a couple times... Finally I looked it up, and when he answered, he said he'd just walked in!  (So glad I messed up a little!)  He said he'd be there for an hour, so we rushed around, and we all went.  We were so thankful he was there!  The office was closed, and it's closed Fridays, and he was going to be in Little Rock on Monday and Tuesday (and only he can put brackets on!).  He got it all off, replaced a bracket, then fixed the stiff wire where she'd lost teeth over the past couple of weeks, and the new ones were trying to come in.  It was kinda blocking them.  He had to cut them off since they wouldn't bend.
Then, we went to Wal-Mart (I mean..since we were out!) and got a new drill (remember my smoking one?) for Ches to drill out Clay's Pinewood Derby Car to add weights.  Your car has to weigh in, and can weigh 5 ounces.  You want it to weigh the max so it'll come down the chute faster!
Anyway, that place was a ghost town!  No one was there, and all the employees were talking really loudly to each other.  It was amazing all the backhoes/front end loaders and shoveling equipment we saw today.  (Note to self: grocery shop after the snow comes.)  It was so commonplace, people became immune.  (except me..I took pictures!)

Even Clay had to get a second look at that big front end loader driving right past us!

This one was funny-the employees were shoveling snow into the front scoop!

This one just pulled right into McDonald's...and parked. Guess he was taking a break for lunch?

And then we headed home, played around, and went back out! : )  It was sunny, the roads were much clearer (although school has already been canceled for tomorrow), so why not?  Ches was really feeling some cabin fever (it'd been three hours!).
We went to Lowe's to get a new drill bit, then to Chick-Fil-A for the kids to run around and an early dinner.  They ran, and we watched the big, beautiful, orange sun set.  I was so thankful it finally came out!
But when the sun went down, I got nervous.  We hurried and got on the road home.  We did the usual bath/snack/story time.  And then, we continued the book we've been reading: Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo.  It's a wonderful book, set in Florida, but Southern.  It is written so beautifully, and you can just see the characters and feel their feelings.  It makes my voice swoop and swallow in southern drawl.  So lovely.  So lovely in fact, that Mary Claire and I recorded some chapters tonight for her to re-listen to.  I was trying to figure out if I could record them on her DSi card, like music.  Well, I figured it out tonight!  Do you (and your kids?) want to listen to Winn-Dixie too?
Here's the first chapter:

I have to tell you, I don't know if it'll work.  We didn't actually video.  We only used the little voice recorder!  It is the sweetest book.  (We are actually on chapter 21 now.)  In the second chapter, the Preacher decides he'll take in the Less Fortunate.  So good!  I will tell you it has the word stupid and in the sixteenth chapter, it has the word hell.  They are telling that the Civil War was hell, and it was.  Just a warning, in case that bothers you.  Anyway, if you want to listen along, I'll add the chapters slowly! : )  (but you can't laugh at my drawl!  Promise?)