snow day

hot dog, hot dog, hot diggity dog!

we have been waiting for today for a looooong time.

like - three years

we got the call at 5 am - snow day - school's cancelled!

WHAT??!?!?

we kind of forgot that snow days exist!

i mean...we always get our hopes up.

but it was three years ago that we got one of these and it's like i tell my students at school - we're minnesotans - we're tough

still...when you get a day like this, right out of the middle of nowhere...a day to throw the schedule out the door and do whatever we please - well, yes, dish me up a snow day, please!

it makes it all the sweeter that BOTH J and I get to be home on days like these - we get the call, smile at each other, roll over and go back to sleep until the littles start their chirping

ahhhh.....what a gift

started the day with cups of coffee and plenty o' stories

then daddy went out to shovel while momma did some cleaning and the petunias called grandpa and ate fruit snacks under the table

some sisterly bonding over the ipad

and then out to enjoy the fluffiness that come when you combine march and minnesota

hallelujah!

we ran around outside until our toes were froze, then headed to a little friend's house (who also happens to have a momma and poppa in the teaching profession...score!)

after our play date, tulip got in on her very first "pizza ranch snow day lunch"

when J and i first moved here, a bunch of our teacher friends got together for lunch at the local pizza ranch one snow day.

we decided then and there that this should be a tradition.

and so it has become

every snow day, we call and text, organizing our pizza ranch rendezvous 

well, three years ago we were a lot smaller bunch

today, we filled up almost half the restaurant with little gremlins

i'm sure the pizza ranch staff were relived when we left :)

we drove home and laughed at the dozens of kids sledding down mountains made from snow plows, just giddy to be given the gift of a day off.

got home just in time for naps....ahhh....nothing better than an unexpected nap in the middle of the week

the snow kept falling...just a beautiful, light tinkle of fluff 

all.day.long.

then J's uncle showed up and the party really started

it's his birthday tomorrow and we had been planning on having him come for supper and cake

he made it in his big truck

and the girls soaked up every minute of his presence in our home

we found some icicles, which are like candy to my children

tulip almost went into trantrum mode when she discovered that eating the coveted icicle is nearly impossible without the necessary opposable thumbs

then daddy came in, riding his white horse, and saved the day by removing the mittens

this is the stuff heroes are made of

after that frosty treat, we headed in for fancy supper, ice cream cake and singing

Peach delighted in giving uncle steve the required fifty three birthday spankings and they enjoyed a few episodes of Tom and Jerry before Uncle Steve had to head home

as if that wasn't enough excitement for one day, Peach wiggled her way into shaving with J

fascinated by daddy's shaving escapades, she managed to convince him to get her  all lathered up and then scraped it off with a popsicle stick

although i'm not looking forward to the craziness of catching up that will be required of me tomorrow, i know that today was a jewel

and i'm definitely ready for spring...but it's march and this stuff can't last much longer

so let the birds start chirping again - sunshine, we are ready for you!  

(but here's hoping we don't have to wait another three years for a day this awesome)