Snow Days Survival

I usually love snow days and vacation days.  I enjoy having the kids home so we can play as a family.  The kids enjoy special these times together as much as I do,  However, it has now been a week of snow days.  A week of cabin fever.  A week of too cold to spend much time outside, and I'm worn out!  We've cooked a lot.  We've ate a lot!  We have read, watched movies, played computer and board games for HOURS.  Some of us have played in the snow.  Some of us have done sewing, lesson plans, grading, sorting and cleaning.  HOWEVER, we are all ready for it to melt now.  Even David, who we believe prayed and ordered up these recent snow storms, is ready to go back to school. 

So as I face yet another snow day tomorrow and the possibility of 1 to 5 more inches of snow, I am making plans quickly to make it fun, stress free and hopefully one of our last snow days this school year!  Today I got to reduce my cabin fever by going to teach a college class, but I'm afraid the kid's cabin fever is worse than ever!  Grandma and grand-dad came to visit today too and Grand-dad took Corrine to the library (one of the first days that they have been open).  Unfortunately, her outing seems to have made her cabin fever reach a critical need for more outings! 

This abundance of snow days has even our biggest snow day fans wanting it to melt.  David was quizzing me for new ideas of activities to do because he was bored, and I suggested he play in the snow.  Much to my surprise, he whined, "Not that again."  As I look at the forecast tonight, I must say I whined, "Not that again." This is officially TOO much of a good thing!

Eat Our Way Out!

We have a lot of snow!  In our area of Missouri, we usually get freezing rain and rarely over 4 inches of snow.   When this storm's accumulation passed 14 inches...well, that almost made this a storm of the decade!  (The ice storm that took away the power for over a week and destroyed our trees a few years ago remains as the #1 storm of the decade.)

So (or should I say "Snow") now we have a problem...removal!  Even though we live in town, the city is cleaning only the main roads.  A few neighbors fought their way out today, but several tried and went back home.  This problem had me thinking and I thought I had arrived at the perfect solution.....eat it!  Yes, seriously, my kids ate 3 days worth of food today SO if we make snow ice cream, then I figure my crew could reach the main road in 48 hours!

"Snow" I experimented with several snowy recipes today.  Paula Deem offered up one that I was sure would be tasty, but too high calorie and too expensive....she uses sweetened condensed milk, but then again she makes good money and does not have as many (non-paying) mouths to feed as we do.  The recipe below is from a friend's friend.  (Thank you to Kathryn Gold's friend!)

"Snow"  here is the "BEST" Snow Ice Cream Recipe:
‎1 gallon of snow
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
just shy of a 1/2 cup sugar (1/2 cup was a bit sweet)
dash salt

Mix all ingredients except snow.  Dump over the snow & stir.



Some of our crew eating their weight in snow!



"Snow" my kids loved it, as I expected they ate bowl after bowl of it, especially Hannah, Vanessa, David and the twins.  However, WOW!  They got major hyper....crazy hyper...."snow" hyper that I took a nap and left their Dad in charge! 

 

"Snow" I'm back to thinking....until I find the answer, I think I'll cook some sugar free foods and enjoy having the kids & hubby all at home watching movies, arguing over board game rules and fighting over computer time.  People tell me that someday when the kids are grown, I'll miss these times.  Well, people are probably right because then it will just be Mr. Workman and I at home watching movies, arguing over board game rules and fighting over computer time.