Snow Days

"And Mom and Dad can hardly wait for school to start again.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas"

I think this line must have been written by a Mom who had a week of "snow days" after the long Christmas Break.

Or the Dad who called home on his lunch break to see how things were going at home.

Schedule Changes
Sullivan County Schools will be closed on Thursday, January 7, 2010.

The safety of our students and employees is the most important factor in making these decisions.

This is from the Sullivan County Department of Education web-site. I think the mental and emotional state of the mothers needs to rank higher as a consideration when deciding to close the schools!

It has actually been fun having them home all week. I have extra help with the little kids and we just read, watch movies, craft, bake and sew.

Survival Part 2

Lots of heavy wet snow!
David takes the kids on the 3-wheeler
Trees down in the neighbors yard

Friends cars parked in our yard--they had to walk up the hill to get home.

A while back we had a great storm. The biggest storm in 10 years! VERY heavy, wet snow covered the ground, roads, and trees. The kids loved playing outside and had several snowball fights. We were outside playing in the yard when the neighbors tree broke and snapped the power line...that was pretty scary and we could hear trees craking and snapping all throughout the neighborhood. One of their big tree limbs later fell on their house and punched a hole through the roof and into their bathroom. David put temporary shingles over the hole until the insurance gets it fixed. We lost power--many neighborhoods were without power and water for a few days. It was a good test of preparedness--we did OK, but learned a few things:

#1 I have to know how to do everything and where it all is!

(Since David was stuck on the freeway for 3+ hours--after a friend came his rescue--they were still a long time getting home).

#2 We have lots of stuff packed away for "emergencies" but it is not very accessible or very easy to use.

#3 The kids had a pretty good attitude--I need to work on mine a little!

#4 We had several friends and neighbors that needed help (water, heater/kerosene, wood, warm snow clothes) so it is good to have extra stuff on hand.

Overall, it was great to have snow--it was beautiful and we had some great adventures. I took the kids and some friends sledding at the park and then at the golf course. They had a great time and were exhausted after a few hours. Peter was going non-stop. We could only find one of his snow boots so he wore one cowboy boot. When I helped him get undressed the boot was filled with snow. He must of been having fun because his foot was frozen!