Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Oh The Weather Outside is Frightful...

Despite the terribly low temperatures, the large snowfall we had on Sunday has been just beautiful! We are thankful not to have lost electricity for more than a few hours and so, for the most part, we can enjoy these rare days of being "stuck at home" -- something that I long for at this stage of life.


I designated yesterday as "thank-you note writing day". My plan this year was to list out all the thank you notes and put various activities in a jar to be pulled out after everyone completed a note. That way we got the thank you notes done in one day without too much complaining and we had fun along the way!


Our activities included: baking the cookie dough that was in the fridge, taking down the dining room Christmas tree, un-decorating the bedrooms, reading together, making a winter craft, eating a candy cane, and watching a snow leopard documentary.


We found an adorable penguin craft to make.


The days have been marked almost as much by pots of tea as by hours on the clock. But, I must save most of those pictures for the Tea Trolley later in the week. :)

This morning we woke to colder temperatures -- the house read 56 on the thermostat inside. Poor furnace. It managed to climb to 60 by the afternoon but I expect it won't go much higher for another day or two. But the snow looks marvelous on the houses and yards on the street. It reminds me of life in Vermont when I was a young child. This was the daily norm for much of the winter!


We do have one space heater and here is Polly warming her hands this morning.


Today was my last day "to myself" before school starts up again. I worked on menu planning and other various matters. The kids had to play on their own.


A little lunch was carried up to my reading nook.....


And the "time on their own" proved to be a good thing because the younger boys got busy making armor and dressing Laura and her doll up too.


One of the nice things about snow days is that there is more time to cook. It makes me so happy to feed the family a really well-rounded meal and that, of course, takes time! But, when you are stuck at home there is less time pressure and more time to spend on this!


Well, my electric blanket is already warming and I think the kids and I will take a few minutes to read together before we cozy up for another cold night!!!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

i spent my first 10 years living back east...mostly not including one year in Key West, all due to my dad's military time. I admire you and your family for joyfully 'putting' up with all that snow. I will stay here in CA. I do pray that your power does stay on.
blessings, jill

willow said...

I was wondering how you were getting on knowing that extremes of temperature aren't easy for you. Glad to read that you are safely tucked up in the warm. Enjoy your enforced isolation!

Everydaythings said...

Heather youre having low temps, and forecast for us this weekend is 43C I dont know what I'm going to do - just try to stay inside, and read probably! isnt it strange how we are at opposite ends of the seasons!

Pom Pom said...

You are amazing, Heather! What fun your well-mothered children have!
The dinner looks delicious. I love it when I have time to cook, too.
Stay warm!

Heather Anne said...

Brrr! And I was complaining when our ancient furnace couldn't cough out enough warmth to get us past 69F! Well, the children look happy and well contented - lots of warm layers are being worn both inside and outside here too! We've been mostly stuck indoors because of cancellations. Getting lots of school done, a little sorting and some crafting! Way too much 'screen time' for the children, but they are loving it!

Stephanie said...

I think you guys got more snow on Sun than we did here in Cleveland, but we still had the super low temps. It was -8 when I drove to work Tue morning! I had to go to work so 18m Emma went to the sitter's and it was business as usual for us. DH doesn't like to travel for work, but it was a good week to spend in Houston. I'm glad our furnace was able to keep up, although it was running almost all the time to maintain 67 deg.