Blizzard Monday

We made it to church yesterday.  The roads weren't too bad in our neighborhood so I was surprised at how bad they were in some of the other towns around us.  School was cancelled today for most of the area.  After lunch I decided to drive around and take some photos.  It was so beautiful!  There were very few cars on the road, so when I needed to take a picture, I just stopped in the middle of the road.

After my little photo drive, I came home to see the kids sledding again. 

Zoey was standing on the plowed sidewalk in front of our house.

Molly sits in the hole she is digging that eventually became a tunnel over to the fort that Chloe was building.

This fort!  Jillian came out the second day and helped dig.

Kate's boot fell off and Jordan came to the rescue to put it back on.

 Zoey gives me the thumbs up to let me know that all is well.

 

SaraGrace learns to ride her sled standing up

To answer some questions:

We never lost power.

We do cancel home school when we have a snow day.  Call me immature, but I am no better at staying focused when there is a big blizzard than any of my kids.  I LOVE blizzards (as long as we keep our power!) and I want a snow day as bad as they do.  We did make an exception to that today because it was raining--yuck--so not very snow day-ish.

Some people have generators but most do not.  Yes, the power seems to go out somewhere in New England every time we have a bad storm. 

Happy Chinese New Year!

Xin Nian Kuai Le!

Kate, Zoey and SaraGrace would like to wish you a Happy Chinese New Year!

Storm Nemo Aftermath

First the great news...we still have power!!!
We were all praying so hard that we wouldn't lose it.  I kept waking up all through the night and hearing my sound machine--so I knew we still had power.
So.Very.Thankful.

I did get to see a bit of snow lightening last night--although didn't hear the thunder that some heard.  Pretty cool.
The wind was howling all night long--amazing.  We had documented 76 MPH winds.  I could hear the trees creaking and I held my breath as the power flickered now and then, but never went out.  Thank you, God!

We woke up to a winter wonderland this morning.  It was so beautiful and AMAZING.  I'm told we officially got 22 inches. 

Since we have power....all that is left is F.U.N!!!
Except for Jeff and Taylor--they had to dig us out.
The kids played and I took photos.

So without further ado....here are the images from this morning.

They are all rested up now and pulling their snow stuff out of the dryer for round two.  I think I'll follow and join the fun.
I love a good blizzard!
I just have tiny bit of sadness that New England is so efficient at clearing it.  When I was a kid, if we had gotten en epic storm like this, we would have been snowed in for 4 days.
It looks like our roads are pretty clear already.  We have a driving ban until 4PM and after that, I am guessing there will be a lot of people out trying to see the piles of snow.
Wah.
We should have been able to milk this for at least 3 days! HA!

First Few Hours of Nemo

Posting twice in one day...almost a record.  ha.

While the kids waited for enough snow to play in, they busied themselves making forts, shooting Nerf guns and generally wreaking havoc all over the house.  

The snow started coming down pretty heavy in the afternoon and the kids wanted to go out to play.  It was already close to getting dark but out they went.

I followed and took some pictures from the shelter of the garage.  The snow is coming down so thick that the camera can't focus correctly. 

Building a snowman

Storm Nemo

We are battening down the hatches for the Nor' Easter on steroids that is baring down on us.  It is snowing now and we are as prepared as we can be.

Our area of New England is expected to get 2-3 feet of snow with hurricane force winds.   That translates into widespread power outages.

Noooo....say it ain't so.
No power means no toilets, no heat, and worst of all....no hair dryer.
HA!  A girl has her priorities...
Just.Shoot.Me.Now.

Don't get me wrong...I LOVE a good blizzard.  It's fun to be inside watching the snow come down and being snowed in.  It's fun to do puzzles, drink hot chocolate and sit by the fire.

So as long as we can keep our power, we will be snug as bugs in a rug.
If you don't get fun pictures from me tomorrow on this blog, you will know that the worst has happened and we are without power.

Praying that people stay safe, the homeless have a place to go, and that those impacted by Hurricane Sandy aren't hit again (although the weather man seems to think they will be).

Right now the kids are running amok with Nerf guns...yelling like hyenas as they race through the house.  The snow isn't deep enough yet to be worth getting all dressed for it, so they are biding their time.
I will be sending them out when my ears can't take it anymore...

If we really do get two feet of snow, I can hardly wait to see our dog attempt to go outside to do her business.  She isn't 3 feet tall herself.  haha
Photo op!

Let the adventure begin!

Saturday School

Homeschool - Week 2

We had several good days and one awful, horrible, no good, very bad day. 

Today--Saturday--three kids came and asked if they could get started on school.  I gleefully told them that it was Saturday.  They said, 'We don't care.  Can we still do school?"

Um....

I guess so.  If you want to do some work sheets by yourselves.
'Cause this Mama is NOT doing school today.

A few minutes later, I was telling Jeff that several of the kids requested to do school on Saturday, and Kate piped up,
"Not me!  I'm gonna be a slug today."

And there you have it.  I have some over-achievers and some not-so-eager achievers.
I'll let you guess which ones make mommy have awful, horrible, no good, very bad days.
Ha.

It has become apparent that a few of my ADHD/ADD kids are going to be a bit of a challenge.  And that is okay.  I just need to adjust to them and figure out how to keep all of us from having those no good, very bad days. 
Well...that...and a bit of daily chocolate bribery. 
I'm not above that.

Here are some pictures of the Saturday school team.

And a few from earlier in the week...

I have been asked what video curriculum we are using.  We are actually using two different ones.  The four oldest kids are using Abeka and the four youngest are using BJU.   The reason for that is that the younger kids were already doing BJU at their school and came home with several of the workbooks.  BJU was running a special on their streaming videos and allowing them to be ordered ala carte, so we decided to stick with the little kids curriculum and use BJU for the rest of the year.  Abeka is less expensive, so we may be doing all Abeka for everyone next year.