I loved being a teacher. I really did. But I have to tell you that I don’t think anyone likes snow days more than teachers. I know, I know, teaching is a vocation, a calling, God’s will, blah, blah, blah, and I’m all about all of that. But to hear “snow” and “day” when you’re a teacher is like thinking that all the presents were open and oh my goodness here’s an extra shiny one and it’s all for you! Open it! Open it! Open it!
It’s still exciting to see your kid’s school closed due to inclement weather (though it’s a tad tainted since around these here parts we close schools at the drop of a flake), and I try to keep that special feeling going throughout the day. We made snowflake men:
Those are barbells the snowflake men are holding. Actually, they’re snowflake women. They’re weight-lifting snowflake women. I promise. You think those clay things are something else and I swear to you they are not. Do you know the This American Life story about the weight-lifting snowman? It’s one of my favorite stories and for my birthday Jesse got me a t-shirt of the weight-lifting snowman. That’s the inspiration for the girls’ artwork. It is not this post.
Moving on.
We made 100 lists.
These are “100 colors” and “100 (actually 102) yummy sweet and sugary things to eat.” I had to add “sweet and sugary” because at first it was just yummy things and I said french fries and Harper told me, no, I could not talk about salty things. That’s when Hadley took the pen and made sure the list only had sweet and sugary things on it. I’d also like to point out that these lists were not my idea. I may have told them “try for one hundred” when they were shooting for say, twenty items. But that’s only because it was a snow day and one hundred takes a lot longer then twenty. I’m just sayin’.
There was hot cocoa with whip cream after sledding.
These are hot cocoa cubes that Hadley and Harper made after reading about them in the American Girl magazine. You’re looking at salted cameral, chocolate peppermint, and chocolate with marshmallows and yes, we’ve been bitten by the American Girl bug. All you who judge, I’m coming over to your parents’ houses and looking for your Cabbage Patch Dolls that you begged them to buy.
We even started a quilt.
Note I wrote “started.” We so did not finish it. With my skills it’s going to take a country minute to get ‘er done.
I can’t remember one thing I did on my snow days when I was teaching, but I can remember each moment I found out I would be having one. They are gleeful moments, full of magic and excitement. Who cares what you’re going to do with the day? You have it. It is yours. I hope that’s how my girls think about them, too.
You’re right. They’re certainly not a day off for moms. But we make the most of them too.
I like the lists of 100.
Our list today was for a different purpose. During breakfast we wrote a list of things to do. We cut up the list so we could take turns drawing one item from the list and then all do the task.
I’m stealing that idea, Anita! 🙂
You should. We made it through our list by lunch time, but it did organize the morning nicely. My favorite activities were read library books and write a letter.
Next time we’re making paper snowflakes. Or paper snowflake people!
Summers are for teachers, too!
This is very true.
i’m a little slow to respond. not my fault–i was on vacation. anyway, i’m bummed that you know that this american life because as i started reading your post i thought, “holy crap, i have to find that this american life for her.” i’m not sure i’ve ever laughed so hard in my entire life. i like the list idea. naomi would totally get into that. you’re such a fun mom, callie. i’m going to get my kids on the next plane to MD.