Snow Day. . .Uhh. . .

minus the snow.

Like the rest of the country, school was also canceled here in Houston because of snow. Except we didn't have any. Not even one teensy little flake. (Much to the disappointment of the children.) It WAS cold though. Colder than Alaska according to the news reports. And we can definitely vouch for that since our heater entirely stopped working the morning before the supposed "snow storm" and we spent one entire day huddled around the oven and one unbearably cold night before we could get it repaired. I wish I would have taken a picture of Nate going to bed in the coldest room in the house - our bedroom - in his snow hat, gloves, coat, and sub-zero sleeping bag. He's an eagle scout though, so he can handle that. I, on the other hand, slept (hardly!) bundled up with the kids upstairs where it was mostly warmer.

The kids quickly got over the disappointment of our snow-less snow day as soon as they were outside biking, skateboarding, and doing all the things that can't be done in snow. And as the day warmed up, the hats and coats came off and we had ourselves a very fun, no-reason-at-all day off!

Besides loading up on hot chocolate and pumpkin muffins, here's how we spent the day:

BRIGHAM:
Riding his bike like a pro. Speeding around like a maniac (running the other kids off the road) with the little tricycle. Digging up frozen ant hills. And his number one passion: baseball.
I love this airborne throw.

CLAYTON:
Trying out his new skateboard. He would die if he heard me just say that. "It's not a skateboard. It's a Ripstik!" Sorry. Clayton explains that a Ripstik is different from a skateboard because (more like a snowboard) you don't ever have to push off the ground. You just shimmy back and forth to steer and pick up speed. And for some reason watching this always-always makes me smile.
The little girls on our street (you'll see them in the video) have recently started giggling and flirting with Clayton who is of course completely oblivious.
Here's a quick clip of Clayton crashing and taking it like a man and another one of Briggs running him off the road. (and me scolding). Enjoy.



ELIZA:
Riding in her "beep beep" (her little pink push-car). Chatting with the other one-year-old on our street. And toddling after every stray ball.
She looks like an old lady shuffling around in her too-big coat.

ISAAC:
Zipping in and out of driveways on his scooter. Racing Clayton (even when Clayton's not racing). Chasing the girls and Brigham with tree branches. Drawing life-size chalk rocket ships with assigned seating for everyone (including me). And organizing full-scale light saber battles.
Brigham also did his fair share of stick-fighting.
(and cheap shots. ahem)

And lastly a few pictures of Eliza (indoors) looking and acting more and more grown-up every day. Sigh.

Happy Snow Day to everyone else with real snow.
(please send some our way. The kids would be most grateful.)