Days with the Dorans

You know what is awesome? Having a snow day and having it be a LEGIT snow day! No needing to zoom or teach over a computer (of course we all seemed to do some school work). I hope these special days continue because there is so much excitement and joy surrounding them! The snow came down solid for hours. We went out in 2 people shifts every two hours to shovel! Ali was my buddy! As you can see, there was a LOT of snow!!! AND BONUS... We have no school tomorrow too!  YEAH!!!

 It's a little bit crazy that last weekend we were doing yard work and raking leaves and now we'd shoveling out from a mess. We had our first snowfall of the season and it was a doozy! The ride home was awful and they actually let the high schools and middle schools out early so the elementary schools could get out on time.  It just didn't seem to stop and went long into the night which I thought was a good sign (as in MAYBE we'd get a snow day). When we started to see cars sliding down our hill the chances looked better! We all got our snow day (including Jeff). The Littles got outside but the Bigs stayed in and slept. All of the after school activities were cancelled which included a concert for the Bigs. That's what happens sometimes when you live in a crazy weather area. It does sometimes feel like we see four seasons in one day. I do love it when it comes on a day I feel like I could use a little break. Thank you Mother Nature for the almost ten ...

We've had a record number of snow days- Sometimes it was due to snow, sometimes it was due to EXTREME cold temps and sometimes it was due to ice. I hate that winters don't seem to be like they used to. Our outdoor time was often limited with the cold temps and I don't know the last time we had a good old-fashioned snowman going! I couldn't even really get on the Bigs' cases for not heading out. I am glad the Littles got a little sun. This mama snapped a few pics from the warmth of our house! Poor Marty doesn't even like picking up his paws in this nonsense!

Sunday we got some good snow and the roads were a bit dicey (Al and I had to venture out to get milk in the midst of it). The boys were having fun making this wall when we got home. It was quite cute. They had a whole assembly thing going. Z would take Sean on the sled, he'd fill up a brick and they'd bring it back to Joe and head out again. They had a blast. Dad destroyed it later though when we got more snow and he had to snow-blow. He actually did it during the Super Bowl half time show (my favorite part- loved Justin Timberlake). He got a call just prior to going out that school was cancelled the next day due to the roads. We were so bummed (but ESPECIALLY Ali). She wasn't bummed for too long because we got our call shortly after. I really enjoyed eating our dill-pickle soup for the SOUPer bowl and watching the game (more than I have in the past). The commercials were good too. The Tide commercials and the Dirty Dancing commercial were my favorites though ...

Monday I felt great. By the evening my throat started to hurt... at midnight I woke up and made sub plans for Tuesday (took me about 2 hours). This was the first time in 20 years I haven't dragged myself into school to make sure things were set perfect for the sub. I just didn't have the energy and knew my team could help find things. The Dr. said I was negative for strep but the more time that went by, the worse I felt... Because being out is so hard, I went to school the next day on Nyquil and prayers. A friend had an IEP sub that she sent my way after her meeting and said, "GO HOME!" which I gladly did. It had started to snow though so everyone was going home early (so that elementary could get out on time). I had a class at Oakland Schools the next day AND parent/teacher conferences (which I was NOT looking forward to since I felt sooooo miserable!) I knew school cancellation was a long shot with conferences but... it snowed... and snowed... and snowed...

 There isn't much better in this world than a SNOW DAY!!! I think the kids like it too! This storm hit at the perfect time to mess up the roads where we actually got the call the night before! All the schools were closed so we headed over to Nana and Papa's to go sledding and Danny brought his kids too. Such fun memories of my youth watching the kids play. The lake isn't frozen yet but we sure had fun in that yard! The canine cousins were also in heaven!! These two dogs LOVE each other and run around like crazy. I think they MAY have liked the snow day even more than us teachers (and that says A LOT!!!). I think they were pretty tuckered out after their day of fun!  Hopefully this is just the first of more snow days. It came, hit hard and then sadly left us. As Jeff reminded me... don't worry. It can snow here into April!

It has been such an odd winter! We've had snow but not a GOOD snow and we finally got a good enough amount of the white stuff (to shut down school in February) of course.  I was happy because we already don't get paid for X amount of snow days (whether we have them or not) so bring on the snow! The kids had fun too! Including Marty!! He was as excited as the human babies though after a while I brought him in since they wanted to make a "house" and Marty wasn't much help. I got each of them these "brick" makers that worked pretty well (I was out there playing too). Al of course brought out some things to "decorate" the house too! It was so fun to finally have some weather where the kids could get outside and just PLAY!! I love the snow but if we don't have that, I just want spring to come!

I love snow days, but I ESPECIALLY loved these snow days!!  We got a storm (I think it was 16 inches) the day of the Superbowl and school was called early (which was wonderful)!  Jeff watched the game, I watched the commercials and halftime show and the kids played outside! You can see how high the snow is on the chairs on the deck!  We shoveled before the game (and Jeff shoveled at halftime) but when I walked a couple doors down after the game to get Ali, who was at Sarah's two houses down, you couldn't even tell the driveways had been shoveled and the road looked like no one had driven on it at all (which was odd since our street is a pretty main road in our subdivision).  It was cold but of course the kids took full advantage of the snow.  It was too cold for packing (aka snowmen) really but they went sledding down our hill (they actually go off the top deck down to the yard). Sean had left his boots at school so he borrowed an old (pink) pai...