Snow Day

Last Wednesday I finally got around to yanking all the summer flowers out of the front flower bed and getting my pansies in the ground.  The weather report was sounding ominous, so I figured I would take a shot at getting them planted before it all turned bad, and I even bought a little frost blanket to cover them with in hopes of a fighting chance at survival.  Pansies were my Grandma Honey's favorite flower.  She always said they had "sweet little faces", so I thought of her as I planted these.

Well.

The weather man was right on the money.  It was exactly 79 degrees while I planted on Wednesday, and by Thursday night we had several inches of snow and freezing rain.  It dropped 50 degrees in two days!  My little outdoor bear went from this....

to this.....

Ha!!!

Schools were closed Friday, and the kids spent several hours outside "sledding" down the neighbor's yard.  It was a fun little break that ended up lasting into Saturday....then Sunday....then today.  Many churches cancelled services yesterday, and schools were out again today.  Since there was no kindergarten for Emma I told her we would homeschool like the big kids!

We read Katy and the Big Snow and did several activities related to the book.  We learned about snowflakes and community workers and measuring by feet.  We practiced counting by 5's, since Katy had 55 horsepower.

Then we made BIG snow!!  I could seriously hang these all over my house.  Isn't this gorgeous?? We found a tutorial on Pinterest and they are surprisingly simple to make.  Emma did almost the entire thing by herself.

Unfortunately, I was short a stick of butter, so we didn't get our snowball cookies made.  As usual, I had more things planned than I had time to execute them, so we will have to enjoy a few more snow related activities after school this week.

Late in the afternoon the doorbell rang and it was the delivery man with a special box.  Oma Joan lives near a a candy outlet, and she sent the kids TONS of special holiday candy.  I had to laugh, because after being snowed in for FIVE DAYS straight, having a huge box of chocolate land on my doorstep was like a little miracle!  I think I yelled as loud as the kids did!  :-)  Of course we're out of nearly everything, but WHO CARES because now we've got plenty of chocolates!  

Tomorrow is a VERY BIG DAY around here.  Today was Emma's very last day of being five.  Five was a great year, and I'm sad to see it go.  I can hardly believe how quickly time is flying with her.  But I'm also excited to wake up tomorrow and see what treasures God has in store for SIX.  

The Buzzard is heading to the donut shop early in the morning to pick up sprinkle donuts, which I will deliver to kindergarten with a case of RAIN water.  :-)

Then I need to come home and get crackin'!  I have a cake to bake, a present to wrap, and a banner to hang.  It's going to be a GREAT day.  Here's my still-five-almost-six year old enjoying the snow!!!!