We finally got our snow!!!
The kids and I have been keeping an eye out for it for weeks, months even. When everyone else got a huge storm at Halloween and all we got was stuck inside because none of the trains were running, we were furious. Ever since then the question has been "Where's our snow?" And I asked them all the time. Every day that it was cold but not worth it I would interrogate R about where she was hiding our snow.
And then it came.
Not a lot, and not good enough to make a snowman or the igloo I have been dreaming of for two years now (why is winter so lame anymore?!) but still enough to have fun. Enough to make it worth layering three shirts and two pairs of pants and four pairs of socks on myself and each child and heading outside.
Yesterday morning T came out with us and we put the baby in a girl's snowsuit and giant mittens and dragged him out too. He wanted to be out there but he spent the entire time yelling "OPEN!" because he wanted his mittens off.
It was so bitter cold that after a few snow angels and a snow pile we had to go inside. The kids handled it pretty well with the promise of hot chocolate. I had to pull T's boots off because her belly suddenly popped out this week and she can't bend and pull at the same time. It's one or the other.
While I was pulling and she was holding onto the chair to avoid being dragged out of it and we were both laughing she said, "Wait til E finds out I shoveled everything! You're gonna be in trouble!" She shoveled everything before anyone else got outside, not that I would have done it anyway. But it was a light and fluffy snow so she hadn't actually exerted herself. And if E was so concerned, he should have gotten out of bed.
But it was his birthday, so he didn't until nearly noon.
We spent the day drinking hot chocolate and coffee and eating fruit and homemade things like home fries and eggs and stuffed crust pizza and soup. It was Carb Day in this house and J had a muffin and rice for lunch. Poor Willie Nelson got so sick of his only table scraps being bread and Cheerios that he avoided us all for the rest of the day.
He had really made out on Friday when we hosted Shabbat and E's sister kept sneaking him food. She has such a soft spot for him and kept asking me what she could give him. As a result he followed her around then entire night, eating carrots (his favorite) and tortilla chips. When she tried to give him chocolate cake I had to lay down the law.
But that cake was amazing. Just so you know.
By Saturday evening the kids were tuckered. They hardly slept Friday night, since our company didn't leave until 11. E and T went out for dinner and I tossed all the tots into bed early. As I was tucking J in he asked me why I didn't sleep with him anymore and I said it was because he's been eating so well and now he's a big boy. He smiled so big and said, "Kimmy, I love you" and then rolled right over and went to sleep.
This morning was more of the same, but since it's my Sabbath I didn't even clean up the kitchen. E and T had to run out for an open house this morning so I fed the kids and we headed back outside.
In his little girl's suit and his long hair Monkey looks just like a girl. The girl version of Randy, from A Christmas Story, to be exact. He can move his arms, but just barely and he can't pick anything up with his big, clumsy mittens. He just walks behind everyone else, falling repeatedly and getting all covered in snow. Yesterday he face-planted and when he stood up he looked like he might kill someone. Today he was a little more careful to keep his head up when falling, but still, when I pulled out the camera and told him to say cheese he shot daggers at me with his eyes, gritted his teeth and grumbled, "Cheese" just once before turning his back on me.
I almost died laughing.
R got a sand shovel and cleared a few places in the vicinity of Willie's favorite dumping ground. We let him come out and he did his business, not in the designated area and then ran back inside. Willie hates the snow. He hates the cold and he hates when we tell him to go on the grass, like we usually do, but now he can't find it.
He also hates how EVERY time we let him out we forget about him.
But he's learning to knock on the door and wait like everyone else.
Yesterday after E finally got out of bed he and T took J and went for a scenic drive.
I was hanging out with R while the baby napped when Willie needed to go out. I actually didn't forget him that time and was all proud of myself because I wouldn't have to get up twice, when the doorbell rang.
I flew to it, cursing whoever was at it and hissing at the dog to shut up before the noise woke the baby. At the door stood a Latino man, blowing cigarette smoke into my face and the house and asking me if he could shovel our property.
I told him no as nicely as I could manage through my irritation, which wasn't his fault since my "don't ring the bell" sign hasn't been posted for a few months now. Willie calmed himself back down and went to sleep in some far corner of the house again, which is where is his now as I write.
I am hanging out with J in the basement while R is at a dance class and the baby is asleep. After our foray into the snow this morning we came in to discover we are out of milk for real hot chocolate. I made them some instant and disguised lunch as a snack, sneaking leftovers onto the table while they talked and played and consumed.
When everyone was satisfactorily full we had a massive dance party while R got dressed for dance. She was under the impression that she was attending a party, since she adamantly refuses to join any kind of class, ever, at all. We were playing a hug trick on her, to get in tights and a skirt, to get her in shoes good for dancing. But it worked and she went and I haven't had any phone calls from her aunt who picked her up that she is freaking out about the truth of her destination.
That punk is probably enjoying herself.
And I am enjoying myself, snuggled into three sweatshirts in this chilly basement while J drives every toy car he owns around on the rug and we await the arrival of his friend for a play date.
I think I'll have another cup of hot chocolate coffee.
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