You know how it goes; the phone rings at 5am followed by a text and an email. All three relentlessly waking you up to inform you of the dreaded snow day. It didn’t used to be like this. You reminisce for a moment. As a kid, the snow day was the most coveted day of the year. Today, however, you are the mom in the scenario. Shake off the lazy day memory and get yourself out of bed!
Times have changed sister. Brew a cup of coffee and whip open your laptop. Every other mom in the midwest has had this day planned since the middle of autumn. With hyper-focus, and a little caffeine, it isn’t too late to make this the Pinterest-Perfect Snow Day. First, you must scour the internet for an amazing activity you can pull together using only the items in your junk drawer.
Out of the corner of your sleep deprived eye, you see a flash. It can’t be your kids, or can it? You jump up from the kitchen table and head out the back door just in time to catch your little ones running down the driveway, in 5 degree weather, tearing their shirts off. You usher them inside before hypothermia sets in. If you’re like me you have a few more of the little darlings inside.
As you complete the lecture on staying warm and well dressed you call the other children in for breakfast. Don’t panic, there’s still time to make Pinterest worthy snow-man shaped pancakes. Just kidding, no there isn’t. Those sweet babies just poured two boxes of cereal and an entire gallon of milk into a mixing bowl. Take a breath and hand them each a spoon. You can blog this experience later as a lesson on how you’ve taught your kids to share.
Get back on Pinterest while they finish their nutritious, carefully prepared meal of cocoa crunchies/mini bites. Go back to your computer to begin a search of educational toys and age appropriate interactive play.
Please feel free to mirror the above photograph of carefully procured, developmentally appropriate toys. Don’t forget the rubber ducky, used toothbrush and lip-balm. Remind the children again not to put that toothbrush in their mouth. Make a mental note to throw it away when they aren’t looking.
While the children are pursuing higher learning, go back to your Pinterest account. Search for detailed directions on making an origami crane. This will double as an art project and a cross-cultural experience. You may decide that your children are not quite up to this task. If that is the case, make the project for them and take a picture of it to post on Instagram. In the mean time, you hear an unsettling quiet. You search the house in fear. Turns out, they have created their own craft project. Add duct tape to the shopping list.
With most of your “artists” accounted for, you search for the last little guy. It’s too late to build him a clubhouse worthy of social media. He’s already done it. He’s cleared all of his clothes out of his closet and is sitting inside with a toy truck. He is also back in his pajamas. Pat yourself on the back because he isn’t in the front yard, half-naked.
Just walk away. You should consider this clubhouse thing a wrap. You’ve been pretty successful today. It’s important to end this day with a lovely bath. Draw a bath, checking the proper temperature frequently. Go back to Pinterest to research homemade, hypoallergenic bath bubbles. Never mind. He filled the tub with dish soap.
Post the recipe for homemade bubbles to your Facebook account. There’s no need to let anyone know yours are Palmolive.
Now you’re feeling like quite the multitasker. Use this time to get a little organization under your belt. While your little one soaks, pick one clutter spot. Your long ignored jewelry box beckons. Spread the jewelry out over your neatly made bed. Make a pile of lone earrings. Flylady would be proud. Give yourself a high-five. Now allow your sons to try on all of your jewelry. Plan to not tell your husband.
The kids are worn out and so are you. Tuck them into bed and congratulate yourself. That was a Pinterest-Perfect Snow Day. What’s that you hear? The phone is ringing…then the text message…oh no, the dreaded email. Tomorrow’s another snow day. Grab a glass of wine. There’s no way you’re going to repeat this perfection. 😉
How do snow days go for your family? Good? Not-so-good? Share with us in the comment section or on our Facebook page!
