A Day of Winter in New England

Well, we ended up with about eight inches of snow. It would have been a lot more if we hadn't gotten an inch or two of sleet at the front end of the storm. I love a snow day. There is something so surprising and exciting about it. It's like a favorite visitor that comes from out of town by surprise. Your whole routine is thrown out the window and suddenly there are all kinds of fun things to do. This surprise visit was a little bittersweet though. We had just gotten rid of our blanket of snow that had covered our grass, gardens, sidewalks, playgrounds (Benjamin's school won't allow the kids to play on the playground until the snow is gone!) all winter long. For us here in Southeastern New England, this is rare. Usually our snow sticks around for a few days and then melts into a slushy mess, then goes away. I know, we should probably count ourselves fortunate. I digress . . .

The boys played outside on three separate occasions. Suiting up in snow pants, hats, mittens, scarves, and heading out. They made a lame attempt at shoveling. Tried to sled around the house. Played in the woods. Later in the day, some neighborhood kids came over to play. The kids has a great time flying down the slide on our swing set over and over and over again. Just good clean fun. 

Here and there throughout the day I made Kale Soup, Granola and a new recipe for healthy granola bars that of course I altered slightly (I'll share that with you later). At one point, I suited up, went outside and started to shovel our driveway. We have never purchased a snowblower or paid to have our driveway plowed. We don't have an especially long driveway, but it's long enough. Usually (since we've been married) this is Victor's job. But, he was not coming home until late (dinner meeting) so I decided I'd give him the gift of my hard labor. It was heavy snow because of the sleet we recieved at the start of the storm, so by the time I reached the road I had a lot of respect for my husband! No exercise or "toning" needed today Sole Sisters! 

We wrapped up the day with some Little House in the Prarie. 

Earlier in the day there was a classic lesson in parenting for me. Whew. It was rough. Benjamin had gone into the garage, pulled out a sled and accidentally made all of the skis fall onto the ground that had been leaning up against the wall. Then, he left it all there - in a heap for the "maid" to clean up. (Just a guess.) When I peeked my head outside to talk to the boys and noticed the large mess I called Benjamin in to the garage and told him to clean up the mess. Benjamin proceeded to have a meltdown. He didn't understand why he had to pick up the mess. I went through the basic explaination. Gee, who did you think was going to clean up the mess? Did he have a personal maid that came along and cleaned up after him? If Mommy accidentally knocked all of the skis down, I'd clean up after myself. Just because it was an accident doesn't mean you are off the hook. He melted down and had a tantrum. Yes indeed. At the age of 9+. "I can't do it!" "I need help!" Tears, the flapping of arms, the whole bit. Understand that the boy skis. He knows how to handle skis and how to stack them (like when you're going in for lunch). He just didn't want to do it. I held my ground and finally (after going out for a third time to tell him to get going on the clean-up) explained that as a consequence of not listening to his Mommy, he would have to spend the remainder of his day in his room. Then I left and went back inside. It's in these moments where you question if you're being unreasonable, too strict . . . if you should just cave and help the poor dude out. But, I decided to stick with it. And you know what, in very short order I saw Benjamin romping around in the back woods (lamenting a little bit). I checked the garage, and he'd done a fabulous job. After a little while, when I saw him back in the front yard again, I told him that he'd done a terrific job. But, damn, he sure did give me a run for my money. Sheesh. Parenting is not easy, even if you feel like you're doing the right thing -- it's tough. 

The rest of our day was as smooth as silk.