Another Snow Day?

This is a Snow Day in Central Maryland.

Seriously.
See that black pavement totally devoid of snow and ice?
Wicked dangerous.  
At least the public school district thinks so. 
Instead of lamenting about how the kids should be in school and how little of what I wanted to get done was completed, we are hanging out.


So far, the day is going well.
The quote of the day happened this morning.  After a HUGE crash in the boy's bedroom, I ran upstairs to see what was going on.  I was stopped and reduced to tears laughing when Nate came running out of his room, trying to block my entrance, while the kids were frantically working to pick stuff up they had catapulted off the top bunk.  According to Nate, I didn't need to advance any farther - "It's okay, Mom.  I didn't die!  You can stay right there."
Uh-huh.

I have a cold and grateful to be in better shape than last night so Jim could go to work.
There is strength in numbers and my friend donated her two daughters to me for the morning and we hopped on task.  I probably should have taken the boys for haircuts, but what good is a snow day if you don't bake?
So bake we did.
The Cake Walk at North Frederick will be well supplied this year.
I am happy to have learned the strategy of covering cakes in colored coconut instead of just frosting.  After the cakes completed, while my head was turned, Benjamin climbed on the counter and fell into the butterfly.  We added a little extra coconut and it (almost) eliminates Benjamin's mid-wing handprint. 
There is enough artificial coloring in these cakes to fuel a whole legion of ADD kids...but since we can't have it anymore, we had to find some way to use it.

We were talking the other day about all the incredible events happening around here this spring.  There will be a VE-Day Flyover with the planes available for inspection in Manassas the week before.
When we were telling the kids about the flyover, all four of them were jumping up and down cheering and yelling, "Will there be a Corsair?", "What about a B24 Liberator?" "There's going to be P38s there!  Awesome!!!"  They are so psyched.
 Ford's Theater is  hosting some amazing events to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's assassination.  They have a write up of the events in Smithsonian Magazine.  Apparently two subscriptions are not an adequate number for this household as BOTH our copies have been usurped by the kids.  Oh, the challenges of raising little Nerdlets!!    :-)

There is some great stuff going on at Appomattox Courthouse.  I know we will get a lot out of these adventures and hope the kids will have fun and learn something.  They're sure to get ammunition to complain as adults that their parents dragged them *everywhere* where they were kids We're planning on taking as much of it in as we possibly can.  After all, for the 200th anniversary Jim will be 92 and I'll be 87.
The time to do things is now!
As much as I can feel stifled by being an at-home mother, I am grateful for the opportunities it gives us to adventure.  There is no way we could do half of what we do or have the down-time we have with both of us working outside the home.   We are thankful for that. 
Hopefully when we retire we can live in a van and just travel the country to see what we can see.  Until then we'll stick with day trips.  :)

The three older kids are busily playing legos while Ben is catching up on some sleep, so I'll keep writing as long as I can.
Caroline is still working on her Science Fair project.  She has to write about the effects of radiation on the body and do a little write up on the Chernobyl and Fukushima Disasters, but she's almost there.  It's always a relief when the projects are done.

Sam's Social Studies Fair was supposed to be today, but was cancelled because of the snow.
He's so used to working on it in his spare time, he suggested he do some work for it today.  He looked quite relieved when I reminded him that it was finished and he turned it in yesterday.  Guess that means he enjoyed himself.  
He said another child did a project on WWII aircraft for the Social Studies Fair.  Only 12 kids entered - what are the odds of that?  But was pleased that the other project did not include the B26.  Sam relayed that his interview went well, he taught the interviewer all about the plane and that "I didn't even call it 'The Baltimore Whore", Mom!  I remembered you said it was a bad word."
Guess I need to edit more of what he sees on History Channel documentaries.

Benjamin just toddled down the stairs.  He looks scarily refreshed.  We may be in for it.  

Here's to more snow days like this!
:)

2 Hour Delays.

Kind of glad we had a 2 hour delay for school this morning.
The sidewalks were sheets of ice and it got the kids an extra hour or so of sleep.
They never sleep well with Daddy away, so they needed it.
The bummer was that Sam's field trip to the theater to see "Fly Guy" was cancelled and is unable to be rescheduled.  I really hope he didn't cry when he found out.  He was looking forward to it and wore a bow tie to school so he could look sharp. 

After this weekend, a little respite is a good thing.  We got a foot or so of snow on Saturday.  That isn't much by New England standards, but enough here to shut everything down for 24 hours.
After working on Science Fair stuff and delaying getting everyone dressed to shovel as long as possible, it was so nice to open the front door and see the neighborhood shoveling our driveway.
This is a good Tribe to be a part of.
Many of us have husbands that travel regularly.  Banding together is necessary for survival - especially when weather hits.  Since a neighbor is being deployed March 1st, that pretty much guarantees there will be a blizzard here immediately after he leaves. 
This much we've figured out. 
After joining the traveling band of shovelers and getting all within a 5 house radius hoed out, the kids got to play until it was too dark to find them, even with my running flashers attached to the Youngers.
That night they slept best of all.

Snow Day.

Well, we got about 3 more inches of snow from this past snow storm than we did the Blizzard of 2015.
But, at 12 degrees, it's just too cold to go out to play.
So it's inside for us today. 

We've played pet store and airplanes, put away laundry, cleaned rooms, ate, played legos, worked on the Social Studies Fair project, played more legos, napped and now we're learning about dinosaurs.  Tonight is the Fat Tuesday Pancake Supper at church, too.  I'm glad we got a day off!  

Yesterday we had President's Day off.  We went to the Udvar-Hazy Museum on Sunday so Sam could take some pictures of his beloved F6F Hellcat and B26 Marauder.  The boys saved up their money and bought themselves toy P38 Lightening planes. They were so darn proud of themselves.  They played with these planes like they were their babies.  And within 18 hours, BOTH were broken. 
GRRRRRR. 
If the boys had been abusing the planes, it would have been understandable.  However, they were not.  In fact, I would argue they were playing with them MUCH more gently that most children would.  And they STILL broke.  On Monday morning I called the museum gift shop to see what they could do for us. 
This was their solution:  They would only accept an exchange for the same plane if we showed up with the broken planes and the receipts that day.  We would have to pay $15 to park, but IF we were able to get the return taken care of in 30 minutes or less, the money we paid for parking would be refunded.
It's an hour and a half each way to get there and back.  The gas alone cost more than the silly planes.
With the boys being really upset about their broken treasures, the stupid limitations they put on the return and the sneaking suspicion that the gift shop staff really didn't expect me to show up, I sensed a challenge.  Not being smart enough to let it go, we girded up for adventure. 
I shoved everyone in the car with the necessary materials and drove to Dulles.  The kids were great.  Seriously.  They behaved beautifully.  We parked the car, with the timers on our watches going, raced into the museum, got through security and marched all five of us into the gift shop.  They were aghast that we actually showed up.  They gave the boys no problem about the exchange and we were able to get to the bathroom and get back to the parking office on time for our fee to be refunded.  But still.  That was a lot of hoops to jump through.
Turns out my energy expenditure may have been misplaced.  The boys have been playing so well with their airplanes and just a few minutes ago, the landing gear on Nate's broke off.  Nate cried hysterically. 
I was able to convince him that his pilot was highly skilled because he could land the plane with only rear gear.  He bought it hook, line and sinker - but I'm dreading when the planes break and I can't come up with a story. 
It's disappointing.  We don't expect crap stuff from the Smithsonian. 
Live and learn. 

February has been a tough month.  I've learned a lot about streamlining and managing when Jim travels.  It's not easy - but we're making it through, with a little help from friends.  The winter is welcome down-time.  Before we know it, there will be soccer and t-ball and dance to contend with.  I'm enjoying the relative calm. 
Who am I kidding?
Calm?
Here? 
Ha! 

We've made some changes in our diet and have seen some positive behavior changes - especially in Sam.  We're doing our best to eliminate all artificial colors and flavors.  After reading research about the impact of those additives on the behavior of some kids with ADD, we figured it would be worth a shot to try for a while.  We saw it as a win-win scenario, leading us to healthier eating, even if we didn't see significant change.  The good news is that, after 6 weeks, we've seen some positive changes in Sam's ability to pay attention.  He's freaking out less and seems to be having an easier time in school.  Sam says school is still boring and he doesn't like it, but it's easier to behave and listen.  The changes for Sam have been significant enough that he's self regulating and monitoring his diet very well.  It's by no means a cure all, but there is improvement.  The colors and flavors are everywhere.  I'd be lying if I said we didn't miss M&Ms, Skittles and Rice Crispies - but in this case the drawbacks are outweighing the benefits. 
We'll try to keep this up as long as we see it's worth it. 
So far it has been. 

Benjamin is becoming an articulate little bugger.  Eight and 9 word sentences are common.  He knows his airplanes, dinosaurs, trains and Legos.  He also knows he gets a wide berth because he is the baby and he uses that to his advantage. 
He is in his own bed now and will attempt to migrate into our bed a few times each night.  He knows Mama is much less likely to get up and put his butt back in his bed - so he heads straight for me at night.  ;)
Nate is all signed up for another year of Pre-K next year.  He is doing well and loves school, but we just don't feel the need to push him into it - especially with his birthday being right at the cut-off.  I'm excited to have him around for another year.  :)  He is getting better with his sight words and is happy to be learning to read.  Once it's warm enough that we can be outdoors comfortably, we're all looking forward to resuming our adventures.  We learned about some hot springs in WV that we want to check out and have some studying to do before the VE Day Flyover.  It will be more than enough to keep us busy.  Being bored never seems to be a problem here.  Thank goodness. 
Caroline is enjoying her dance classes and tapping her way through the house much of the time.  It can be exasperating to remind her that the Dairy Aisle in Wegmans is not the place for interpretive dance performances, but we're glad to see her like it so much.  We saw a color guard show last week and she was enthralled.  to the point where she is contriving to transfer high schools to get to the only Frederick County school with a winter guard program.  She is reading Greek Mythology and studying up on her saints for Little Flowers.  The girl reads more than any human I've ever met.  It's amazing.  She's a cool kid.
Heck - they all are.  

Ben-Ben being Ben-Ben.

Nate is becoming more adept at helping in the kitchen.  He is able to chop celery for pasta stew. 

Boxes are a prized possession in this house.  They serve for defense, as pet houses and in head wear. 

Just a normal dinner here in paradise. 

Flak Bait's wing.  The Invasion Stripes are visible, even after 70 years. 

The front part of the fuselage.  Sam can tell you about all the painting and what it means.

Sam and his beloved Flak-Bait.

Not to be left out, Nate had to get in on the action, too.  To stop WWIII, I had to get between them. 

In front of the F6F Hellcat.  His second favorite plane. 

The Paper Airplane Contest.  One of these "kids' is not like the other one...

Sam's turn!

CJ's turn.

What Benjamin lacked in distance flown, he made up for in flair. 

Nate missed by a lot.

Caroline survived until the final round.  She was the only girl that made it that far. 

The Fantastic Four watching "Walking with Dinosaurs".  They get so into it.

February Sucks.

February is typically a bad blogging month. 
There is nothing going on here to put us at more than our "regularly"-whelmed level.  We are healthy and trudging along.
Goodness knows the weather is better here than it is win Worcester - so we've got nothing to complain about  there.  
We are also hoping that Grammy learns to work her new titanium accessories and is feeling better very, very soon.  

We Survived.

We survived Jim's week in Switzerland.
Pops came down Thurs-Fri so I could register Nate for school next year without having to take an army with me.  We are grateful for his help.
The kids had a ball watching B26 Marauders and Taylor Swift videos with him.  Seeing Benjamin dance to "Shake it Off" is hysterical.

So, after last week and this week - I'm taking a half hour to just sit and rest, feeling I have earned it.  
 I *still* have people ask me when they find I stay home with my kids, "Wow - what do you do all day?  I would be so bored." 
If they only knew.
It ain't glamorous and it most certainly isn't always fun - but it works for this family right now. 

The Science and Social Studies Fairs are almost upon us.  Both Sam and Caroline have been working hard on their projects.  All Sam needs to do is transpose his findings to the computer, print them out and get everything up on his poster board.  He is enjoying his learning and the more he learns, the more questions he is asking.  He also wants to know more about airplanes than we could ever explain.  It's so good to see him getting into this because school continues to be an ongoing trial for him.
 Caroline has a bit more to do because, while she knows everything about Marie Curie, it has taken her a while to figure out what radioactivity is.  Heck - I still struggle with the whole isotope chucking off neutrons thing...
Never a dull moment here.