The first snow?

With rumors of pending snow all week I wasn't horribly surprised to wake up and see some today, although a pretty feeble attempt. Growing up in Pullman we were used to major dumps that actually stuck and stayed around creating a real winter. Drifts were the only thing that even threatened a normal school day. As long as there was no drifting, you were expected to be at school - ON TIME. It wasn't until I moved to the Tri-Cities during the infamous Winter of '92 that I heard of a 2-hour delay. BRILLIANT!

So after rushing through their pancakes and wasting most of what I made, the girls donned their winter gear and headed out to play in the snow. No need for snow pants today so I didn't mention and they didn't ask.

Of course, there wasn't much more than a cute little dusting but the thrill of that and the big flakes was enough to occupy them for 20 minutes or so.

I am one of those rare Tri-Citians who look forward to several inches of sticking snow. It is beautiful, peaceful and seasonal - winter. I might even be a "snow snob". So, while I really just consider what we got today as "white rain", my kids loved it and I can delight in that for now :)

Dance Teams

After sitting in the frigid wind and watching Kennewick beat up on Southridge today, the girls and I stayed to watch the dance team before we headed home at the half. Logan paid watched intently, wondered why there were only 8 girls on the team, and took mental notes. She had remarked several times about the football teams' colors: the orange team and the white team. While I dismissed the remarks and questions at the time, it turned out to be one more thing for the enormous file cabinet in her head. After dinner tonight the girls put on dress up clothes. Ellis was in blue and Logan in black: the blue team and the black team. Logan put the Eeyore blanket on the floor as a divider for the teams and told Ellis to stay on her side to dance. Big shocker... Ellis wouldn't stay on her side. This enfuriated Logan because Ellis wasn't following the rules. She refused to dance and said they would never be able to do ballet again and this day was ruined. This video captures some of her emotional outpouring although you can't hear her very well. See high quality video here: Dance Teams

Yucky Spit

11:37p - "Moooommmyyyyyy?!" (mom enters room) "I feel like I'm gonna throw up."

Normally, this would be cause for panic and a mad dash to the bathroom. However, being the planner that I am, I keep a barf bucket underneath each girl's bed for situations such as this.

I calmly reached under her bed - nothing. I quickly reach across under Logan's bed. Nothing but a duffle bag. They had removed the buckets to use them for stuffed animal vehicles and they were both across the house in the play room. In my new-found panic, I grab the duffle bag just as Ellis begins the first cough. Returning to sanity, I drop the duffle bag and grab my 3-year-old, holding her out like a poopy baby, and SPRINT to the nearest bathroom.

Normally, this would create a trail of Stinkiness of the Worst Kind but somehow God was gracious and kept said stinkiness pent up until we reached the toilet.

The problem was (don't call CPS) she was excused from the dinner table after eating one crescent roll because she wouldnt eat her soup and kept playing with it. I was confident that she wouldn't enter starvation mode over night so I made a point about gratitude for our abundance by allowing her to be hungry.

Well, now fast forward 6 hours and she has nothing to eliminate from her stomach. What ensued for the next two hours was nothing short of an abdominal workout for my sweet Eips. At one point she asked if this would "stop before she died". I assured her that it would but that all of the sick had to get out first.

After 45 minutes in the bathroom with purges at 5-10 minute intervals, I realized this wasn't even close to being over. We migrated to the living room where I set up a "sick bed" on the floor and put in our favorite sick movie, "Elmo in Grouchland." After an hour of 5-10 minute episodes, they subsided to a whopping 15-20 minute spacings for the second Hour of Power. Eventually, after about 2 1/2 hours, she fell asleep... for 20 minutes and then it started again.

Somewhere around 2:30, she fell asleep again but this time it was for a true rest. I joined her on the floor manning the bucket - just in case. When her eyes opened at 3:30 I suggested we move to my bed (which I had already lined with quilts). She informed me that she "needed to get tired again so she could close her eyes". While we waited for that to happen, the Star of the Evening made one more appearance and then E dozed off to sleep around 4:00a.

"Finally," I thought, "I can get some rest." And I did. Then the clock struck 4:30a and Ellis started her infamous "moan". She is, quite possibly, the loudest child sleeper on the planet. She takes in a deep breath and then lets it out in an audible, loud, moooooooaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnn. Over and over and over and over. I think she may have taken a moaning break for about 20 minutes between 4:30 and 6:45, when she woke up for good.

Needless to say, we are both tired. Logan, however, slept like a baby. She didn't have a clue any of this had gone on and was questioning me this morning about why I 'grabbed Ellis out of bed last night'. I should also mention that the ONLY yucky spit I had to clean up from the entire escapade was a tiny remnant on her fitted sheet from the initial cough. Other than that, she made it into the proper receptacle every single time!

I am praying that Logan and I can escape the wrath of this G.I. virus. It is dramatic, relentless and unkind. I am just sooooo thankful that it is happening on the 3-day weekend and not in the middle of the week or when I have new students starting the next day. Although we had big plans for this weekend and the girls are highly disappointed that it is all postponed, I am grateful that it's just a tummy virus and this, too, shall pass. .......... Oh, and the buckets are back under the bed :)