Snow Day???

So, here's a good one. Jared came in this morning before he was leaving and said that pretty much all the schools were canceled except Eben's. He figured they might try to get a morning in so they don't have to make it up later. As the morning went on, I flipped to the news channel, but it was always so far away from "n" that I just decided to check online on the school website. I remembered that one day it was closed there was an announcement posted. Nothing there. I checked just before I sent Eben out too. Still nothing. He goes out about 8:20 to wait for the bus. Just after 9:00 I hear the door to the kitchen open and in walks Eben. He says, "Mom, there's no school." He was covered in snow and looked on the verge of crying. I told him I was so sorry that he was out there so long, that it wasn't listed on the website. By then, he was crying. I felt so horrible. Nothing like a mom who sends their kid outside on a snow day and has to have the neighbors send the poor kid inside after 40 MINUTES! Yeah, I felt like a real jerk. He got some hot chocolate to warm up with and wanted to snuggle a little. I still feel bad thinking back on it. Even as I put him to bed tonight he told me how cold his feet were this morning and how he didn't like standing outside for so long when there wasn't school. Not helpful for my feelings of guilt. (sigh) Oh boy...

So, it was a snow day. We did crafts, played My Little Ponies, had a special "snow day" snack, and the kids even got to come down during quiet time and exercise with me. (They were really excited about that! I was too; only b/c this was the second time I've exercised in months!!) We had a good day, and I came away with a new mantra. Playing with your kids makes life much better! It seems really simple, but the fact is I so often want them to play on their own, and when they don't want to, or keep bugging me to play with them, I just become frustrated. But today, I played and I had fun. And the time flew by. I hope I can remind myself of that more often. I'm going to really try to consciously enjoy these little blessings I have! In a flash I will long for these days - the carefree laughter, the screams of delight, the inquisitive questions, and infinite imaginations. Now is the time to treasure these moments :)

On another note, we are expecting some more snow tonight. Yipee... We really don't have any place for it. At this point we have to move the snow in order to have a place to move the snow to. So ridiculous! Most likely there will be another snow day tomorrow, so I've got another good opportunity to enjoy those kids! ;) I've included a couple more snow pics. I was thinking I took a picture of Jared by the snow piles at the end of our driveway, but I guess I just got it on video....after the video of him jumping off the roof. The kids loved that!! The last picture is one of Eben in a suit coat that my Dad wore. Not sure why it looks all squiggly. (Notice another tooth missing from the bottom?! That makes 5 total and two more loose on top!) We got the coat from my Mom quite awhile ago and never put it on. Obviously, its much too short in the arms, but I wanted a picture of in nonetheless. It will be passed on to Will, who will hopefully be able to wear it now :)

Happy February :)

Oh yeah, Jared got news today that along with closing yet another site (in Sandwich, England), that they will be doing layoffs again this year. No date for sure, but we're guessing it will be in the next couple months. Supposedly 10-15% of R & D will be gone. Now we wait... Fortunately for us, we know Who is in charge and we're not worried :) More updates on that whenever we get them.