Happy New Year 2011 !!

Welcome to 2011!

So far, ours has been chock FULL of snow! The children's winter break began a week early. They had , in total, a month's time out of school.

Several days before Christmas, Husband had surgery on his shoulder. It was a bit rough for a week or two. The children were extremely helpful, and very cooperative. I think it also helped that we were snowed in for a good portion of this time!

A quiet Christmas for the Nuthouse~ Daughter woke at an earth-shattering 3:30am. I promise you, we were all napping by noon, while watching more snow fall.

New Years was a bit more. Husband felt better, the roads had finally cleared again.. We allowed the children to watch the New York ball drop.
Son wanted to know why it went SO slow, if it was "dropped". The mechanics were explained.
Son also wanted to know WHY in the world we celebrated the new year, and why it was done by watching a big ball of lights on a building. That one was a bit harder. "its just what we do." Its part of the celebration of a new year.

We also had some friends visit for a few days, its always great to see them ! They had planned a trip to see the snow, as we had gotten over 4 inches just before Christmas. Of course, when they arrived ,the snow was gone, and the temperatures were back to the 50's. (you know what happened the day they left , right?)

Finally, after the hustle and bustle of preparing for the holidays, Husband's surgery , the holidays themselves, and visits, this Mama was looking forward to the kids returning to school!

I saw their return to school, to schedules and consistency,as the beginning of MY break!

The night before the first day, son tells me he needs a toothpick. there's something stuck in his teeth, driving him crazy.
lemme see it.
Turns out, it was a tooth. His adult tooth grew in behind his baby tooth. The baby tooth was hardly loose!

So both kids got dropped off at school Tuesday morning, but one was picked up two hours later for a field trip to the dentist.
This was the first time son's mouth had been numbed. . . he didn't like it much. he kept saying his face was falling, and was worried he looked funny.( really, its hard to believe your face isn't really sagging the way it feels when they numb you like that!)
He made it through in one piece, thrilled to have his first tooth out. It is SO tiny, it dropped when they pulled it, and myself, the dentist, and the nurse were on the floor, feeling through the rug for it !
When we got home, and he had regained some of the sensation in his face, he asked me if his "cheek had grown back" ! ! It was hard to explain with a straight face that he hadn't swelled, his cheek hadn't fallen off, he looked just like he always did, minus a tooth in his smile.

Wednesday both children again went to school, stayed all day. Mama was happy. She got many many items checked off of the evil to-do list.
It was short lived.
By noon, it was snowing again. (much to my friend's delight, as they had concluded their travels, and were on the way home.)
We were tortured by a rain / snow mix all night.
Naturally in the morning, though there wasn't much snow to speak of, the roads were too icy, and schools closed for Thursday... (today)

The children didn't take this well. they had two days back with friends and routines. what a teaser to be shut out again so soon!
They were also frustrated, because by noon, the sun was out ,and the roads had cleared.

Daughter was very upset when she was informed that tomorrow, and probably Monday and Tuesday would bring more closings.
"but LOOK mama!! the snow's gone and the sun is out!!"
yes, but tonight its going to snow again. wear your jammies inside out !! (this supposedly encourages the snow. something the teachers told them)
Daughter did not agree with the Jammy theory today.
"NO!! if we wear Jammies inside out there REALLY won't be school! "
well, silly, look at it this way, its GOING to snow. schools will probably close anyway. won't you like to have enough to PLAY IN ?
"no. i wanna go to school."

only kid I know that defies a snow day for this reason.

certainly has been an interesting start here at the Nuthouse.