We found ourselves with some extra time at the house this week due to blizzard ripping through the nation. Normally, I would dread such an event because being stuck in the house with my kids for more then 20 minutes, I tend to just get frustrated by the very essence of their beings. However, recently, things have changed with them. They still fight and get on each others nerves, but they 1.) play together nicely from time to time, 2.) play by themselves at the same time an are happy and 3.) still enjoy playing games and reading with me and Joe. So, I took it upon myself to do what I could to not be a miserable witch to my family in this time of 'togetherness'.
So, what have we accomplished. First and most importantly, my kids actually want to go outside and spend time in the snow!!! Alot of time, hours at one time. I thought I would never see the day. And while my house is taken over by snow gear drying out, I will take it. First, they were just happy to hang out and try to 'help' us dig our cars out. That worked for a bit, until they saw a huge pile of snow and thought 'Tunnel!'. So first they started to dig a tunnel in our record breaking 29.2 inches of snow! It took them a while. And they worked on their own. We shoveled our drive way 4 times in order to be ahead of all the snow. And while it was not fun at the time, it made the final dig out a lot more enjoyable when we were done, cars cleaned off and everything, noon! So they built a tunnel. Once we were done digging, we started helping. It was all fun and games until the next day, when it got snowed in a bit and one of the kids got stuck and freaked out a smidge. That was the end of the tunnel. Since we had a small mountain of snow, our next thought was, lets see if we can sled ride down it. And it worked, like a charm! They had a nice trail through our front yard iced over pretty quick. The next day we added a slalom path. I might try to find a real hill to sled down this week, but they are happy along with that and forts and snow balls, we will see how long it lasts.
Another thing we had to accomplish was pinewood derby cars. This is our first year for both boys in cub scouts, so we had to figure out how to do it all. So this was the time to do it. The kids thought up their own designs, we helped with each step of the process, but it was their project. Next weekend is the derby, and I am looking forward to seeing how their cars perform. Along with making pinewood derby cars, each kid was able to earn at least 1 new belt loop (patch) as well. They have alot of fun activities that you can do with your family to knock one out, so we did it. Derek did some science experiments, Jared did magic. It was a fun day.
The rest of our time has been filled with Lego's, youtube videos, board games, and food fun of sketti-dogs! I hope everyone is surviving, we still have 2 days at least, until school goes back in session, which means we would go on Friday this week.
So, what have we accomplished. First and most importantly, my kids actually want to go outside and spend time in the snow!!! Alot of time, hours at one time. I thought I would never see the day. And while my house is taken over by snow gear drying out, I will take it. First, they were just happy to hang out and try to 'help' us dig our cars out. That worked for a bit, until they saw a huge pile of snow and thought 'Tunnel!'. So first they started to dig a tunnel in our record breaking 29.2 inches of snow! It took them a while. And they worked on their own. We shoveled our drive way 4 times in order to be ahead of all the snow. And while it was not fun at the time, it made the final dig out a lot more enjoyable when we were done, cars cleaned off and everything, noon! So they built a tunnel. Once we were done digging, we started helping. It was all fun and games until the next day, when it got snowed in a bit and one of the kids got stuck and freaked out a smidge. That was the end of the tunnel. Since we had a small mountain of snow, our next thought was, lets see if we can sled ride down it. And it worked, like a charm! They had a nice trail through our front yard iced over pretty quick. The next day we added a slalom path. I might try to find a real hill to sled down this week, but they are happy along with that and forts and snow balls, we will see how long it lasts.
Another thing we had to accomplish was pinewood derby cars. This is our first year for both boys in cub scouts, so we had to figure out how to do it all. So this was the time to do it. The kids thought up their own designs, we helped with each step of the process, but it was their project. Next weekend is the derby, and I am looking forward to seeing how their cars perform. Along with making pinewood derby cars, each kid was able to earn at least 1 new belt loop (patch) as well. They have alot of fun activities that you can do with your family to knock one out, so we did it. Derek did some science experiments, Jared did magic. It was a fun day.
The rest of our time has been filled with Lego's, youtube videos, board games, and food fun of sketti-dogs! I hope everyone is surviving, we still have 2 days at least, until school goes back in session, which means we would go on Friday this week.
