Frozen

We are frozen! As of today we are officially on our 7th snow day for this school year.  I cannot remember a time when we have had 7 snow days.  I would have LOVED to have snow days when I was in school.  If we got one we were super lucky!  SEVEN and it's only January 8th!  Unbelievable! I am a HUGE lover of snow days that are unexpected and in the middle of the week craziness.  This time around it has been different. Zachary was off of school from Friday December 20th until January 5th.  He was supposed to go back from Christmas Break on Monday January 6. However we were hit hard with blizzard like conditions. In fact all of our church activities on Sunday January 5th were cancelled.

It was kinda fun doing church in our pjs with our coffee. We started watching one of our friends local churches online live. Then the internet connection was acting up so we went to our favorite Mark.Driscoll for one of his sermons on Malachi.  It was great!  The only issue was it took us about an hour & a half to watch a 45 minute sermon because the boys "needed" several things so we have a lot of interruptions. So thankful for extended childcare at our church!

 On Monday, I honestly felt like I was going to lose it. Part of it was hormones. Part of it was complete frustration. We were running out of food, running out of patience, and I was running out of ideas to keep my loves occupied.  We were officially on day 18 of no routine. Our family runs on a routine and schedule.  My boys are used to going to the store, running errands, going to places, and being outside.  Zachary thrives on riding his bike in the cul-de-sac or playing basketball in the drive way.  This time the weather temps were -12 with a windchill of -25 so I would not let him outside.  He was like a caged animal.  We had tears, yelling, sibling rivalry, and a few moments when I had to put myself in time out. Being 100% real I love my boys but I really needed about an hour to myself.  I honestly could not think of the last time I was alone.  Will has started to love showers so he has been showering with me so even that 15 minutes I had someone by my side.  Thankfully at nap time on Monday I told Z I needed some space so we spent about an hour in separate rooms. It totally revived me!

We made the annual "snow day" tent!

 We made targets to shot the crossbow at.

 We did a lot of laundry!

 Zach had the idea to read Charlottes Web in costume. He dressed at Ferns brother. I wore a straw hat to be the farmer. Will was a….LION!  He saw it in his closet and that was that. Hilarious!

 We had a lot of moments like this…remember I am keeping it real.  The boys truly enjoy each other but you could tell that they needed their space too.

  And we had a lot of this…Lots of messes! This one was my fault as I turned to see what was going on behind me and spilt Will's formula in his zippy cup before I shook it.  Total mess down the side of the oven.

 Later on Tuesday when I thought my bag of tricks was empty I remembered the bins of play dough.

 The boys created their own dinner spaces. Which was a hit!

 Then Will started to run a fever because his left ear tube came out but was stuck in his ear canal.  He became a cuddly little bear. Oh I hated he did not feel well but I loved his warm cuddles. Surprisingly after the 5 snow day we all got into a daily routine and it was very chill and relaxed!

 On top of the bitter cold temps and Will's ear tube issue on snow day #5 Kevin informed me that his shower was freezing. Sure enough our hot water heater was out.  We were #16 on the list for the plumber which meant they couldn't come on Tuesday. Really I was so thankful it wasn't the power or our heat.  We could go without warm water.  The plumber finally made it to our house on Wednesday afternoon but we discovered our hot water heater from 2004 was recalled and we needed parts from the company overnighted.  After 2+ days of no hot water we were running out of dishes and clean sippy cups, AND we needed more than a cold sponge bath. I packed up our pjs, a few of our dirty dishes, and went to Kevin's office.  We had dinner out and then came back to the office to wash dishes, shower, and play with daddy's drums.  Honestly it was a great change of pace and became a blessing in disguise.  The boys loved it.

 
Kevin has his drum set from high school at his office upstairs.  I think he loved rockin' out with the boys while I showered.  Then he gave Zach a few lessons.

 Ahhhhh! A warm shower!

 Today marks snow day #7. We were supposed to have MOPS.  Zach was supposed to have school.  But instead we are home.  I am thankful!  Thankful that I was able to get a shower yesterday, stock up on groceries, and thankful that they are supposed to come back today to fix our hot water heater today. Added bonus I can update the blog while the boys are watching morning cartoons.