How to Have a Snow Day in Tennessee

(I’m participating in Wordful Wednesday with Parenting for Dummies)

A few months ago I was being teased by the guys loading my moving truck because I told them not to forget to pack the sleds. I was moving to the south, to Tennessee, what was I going to need with sleds. This week I was glad that I brought them along.

I really only packed them because I am a candidate for Hoarders I thought it would break the girls’ hearts to have to leave anything behind. Little did I know…

Monday we received 5 inches of snow. Seriously!

We got up in the morning, little cloudy, nothing big. Sent the girls to school and about 20 minutes later there were the biggest, fluffiest snowflakes falling from the sky. It was beautiful. By 9 a.m. I had received call #1 from the school, “Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah…kids will be dismissed at noon.” I received call #2 from the school at 10 a.m., “Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah…kids will be dismissed at 11 a.m.”

By the time the kids arrived home there was about 3 or 4 inches of snow on the ground, the trees and the satellite dish. Snow and satellite dishes don’t mix well and Baby was not pleased to find that the television was not working. I was not pleased to hear the whining when PBS kids disappeared. So, I hit the basement and dug out the snow gear (so glad I didn’t drop that box off at Goodwill on our way out of PA!).

Snow pants, heavy coats, snow boots, hats, gloves, scarves and sleds…check, check, check, check, check and check! Oh, and camera for Mama!

There are a number of children in our neighborhood, but I am constantly amazed that mine are the only ones who are typically out playing in the snow. Then again, mine are the only ones that I’ve seen around here that own a full set of snow gear. Although I did see one boy during our last snow day wearing a coon skin hat! (Wish I had my camera for that one!)

Anywho, so how does the Accidental family spend a snow day in Tennessee?

By building a snowman!

And a snow fort (or at least a partial snow wall)

And another snow man!

And sledding (no hill available, but, we still made it around the yard at least once…GO! Mama, GO!).

And eating snow (Yes, we’ve had that chat about “yellow snow”).

And more snow…

And more snow…

If Baby had her druthers, snow would be a food group.

Snow Angels were also par for the course on this snow day! (Move over, Mama needs to flop down too after running that stupid sled around the yard twenty times!)

Oh, and snow ball fight! (Which when being fought between my children involves a lot of, “MAMA, SHE HIT ME!” I hated breaking the news to them that the whole point is to hit your opponent. On the other hand, “Hey, Mama wants to play!”

In case you were wondering, Baby won this round. Big was not amused even though she started it!

Queenie just wasn’t all that impressed.

By 3 p.m. we had received our call announcing a school closure for the next day. So we spent the day at the library

…getting books to read. And, no, that picture is not in the library, but in my kitchen while we were making cookies!

I also braved the grocery store with the kiddos in tow. I’m not exactly sure why it is that grocery shopping by myself can be rather relaxing, but when I throw the kids into the mix I end up with a migraine? They aren’t the begger kids, you know, “Mama, can we get ___?” Rather, Baby feels the need to sit in the cart and at 6 it just isn’t possible to fit both her AND the groceries in the cart so instead she wants to help me push. And Big feels the need to antagonize her sister in the attempts to make her sister scream or cry. (The word INSTIGATOR comes to mind). Normally I grocery shop while the kids are at school, but today Mother Hubboard had nothing on my cupboards and with another snow system heading in tomorrow I figured I should at least have something for the family to eat, besides cat food. So shopping we went and I came home absolutely exhausted!

Frankly, I’m out of fun stuff to do and they’ve already announced another school closure for tomorrow because we’re supposed to get another 2 or 3 inches of snow. If the weather’s not too bad we might head to the local indoor pool, otherwise, I may end up letting the Ranger entertain the troops while I take a nap! I like that idea…nap…has a nice ring to it! So glad the Ranger has the next couple of days off too! Happy Wednesday, everyone!