snow day

Snow days for me are a bit different for me than most other stay at home moms. Am I even allowed to call myself that anymore since I have daycare kids? anyway, when there's a snow day here, it means the baby stays home with her mommy, but the big girls are here. which makes for a CRAZY day.

So by the time we got to the afternoon yesterday, we were itchin to get outside. The daycare kids didnt' bring thier snow "gear" so we had to improvise with triple layered socks for mittens, old tennis shoes for Laya's boots, slicky pants tucked into socks, mismatched gloves, and rain boots with washcloths for stuffing for Kaylee's boots.

I'm guessing it took about 40 minutes to get all six kids bundled up and ready to go.

When we were finally outside, I grabbed my camera and grabbed a few shots. And right about that time, Jayden starts SCREAMING that he has to go potty. So I very sternly but calmly say "you may NOT go potty in your pants. you may NOT. DO NOT go pee yet. Please wait. Jayden, do NOT go potty yet." meanwhile he's freakin out that he's gonna pee. He can't see anything anyway because of his coat being in the way, so we plow through the piles of laundry on the laundry room floor til we reach the random toilet along the back wall. I've always hated that toilet. except for today. :)

anyway, I"m not sure how the pee made it into the toilet and not the pants, because he was GOING when I pulled all the layers down. but we honestly managed to miss the clothes and the floor. MIRACLE.

except...then...I hike his layers of pants back up and he lost his balance, and landed with his right hand right in the toilet water. So then I had to go get Laya from outside, since I didn't want the big girls "in charge" of her for more than like one minute. So she throws a fit to come inside, but Jayden needed a new glove, and who knows how long that might take.

so finally we all get back outside, head to the back of the house, and play for about 8-10 more minutes before most of them were ready to come in for hot cocoa.

so back we go, into the warmth, which is where they all start to cry. They got a little whiny outside, but inside, it was full blown crying from the cold. part of the thawing process I guess.

So after who-knows-how-many minutes of getting everyone UNDRESSED and dried off, I sat down and thought to myself "wow....that was a lot of work." but at least it got us further into the afternoon, huh?

And here are the results (my fave of each of my kids) of our 10 minutes of play. (Lillian actually stayed out FOREVER with the neighbor kids, and Josiah stayed out quite long too. But the daycare kids and Brielle had had enough.) for more pictures, check out my fb account. :)