Winter Wonderland

Backyard golf course view.

Early Saturday morning, I threw a jacket over my PJs, pulled on my rain boots, and set off into the pristine stillness. It rarely snows here in Georgia. It never snows this early in the season. And who knows if we'll see snow again. So I was intent on capturing my favorite version of a snow day - that early morning calm. Violet came with me, but I made her promise not to talk, ha! We must have gotten at least 3-4 inches of snow and it continued to drift down as we trekked up to the golf course and around to the front of the house. 

The rest of the day was filled with crossing stuff off the holiday to-do list, like wrapping books for all my first graders and doing a little spray painting and hot gluing to finish up the gifts the students are giving their families. We also had time for homemade pizza (Matt is becoming a master at making dough in our new stand mixer) and family movie night (Elf! One of the best!). The snow started melting once the sun came up, although there is still plenty on the ground. What a perfect weekend to enjoy our winter wonderland!

Our backyard.

Frosty!

All is Calm. All is White.

We love our new dark gray house color, even more so in the snow!

Snow (Half) Day!

You know how the weather guys are always making a big deal about "potential" snow here in the South, and then it never amount to anything? They will claim a weather situation is on the way, the news hypes it up, everyone rushes out to buy their usual bread and milk, school closings start scrolling on the television, and then it all amounts to nothing and everyone on social media starts making fun of us for overreacting once again?

Well, when the murmurings of potential snow started cropping up earlier this week, no one really paid attention to it. Even the official email to school staff on Thursday was "you might want to consider being potentially prepared for possibly moving into our weather plan" but was followed with a "we're definitely not cancelling school though so don't get excited about anything" (paraphrasing entirely my own). However, not one to hedge my bets, I did suggest to the students that they put a spoon under their pillow and wear their PJs backwards. You know, just in case.

Friday morning, I checked outside and sure enough, it was just rain. Recess rolls around and still, just rain. Not ten minutes later, my phone blows up - look outside! Snow! I immediately called for silence in the room and then whispered to my little friends, "Get your jackets, it's snowing!" 

Bumped into Violet on the playground, enjoying the snow!

We got the official email from the county, saying "yes, there's snow but nothing is sticking and the roads aren't freezing so we're in this for the long haul and good luck trying to accomplish anything vital with your kiddos today." The kids enjoyed a snowy ten minutes before we headed to the cafeteria. My students have just all made it to the table and a new message comes blaring over the radio... The powers that be have changed their minds and we're having an Early Release. Whoo hoo!

Although there was a slight problem. Legally we have to feed all our students lunch. And during a regular early release schedule, everyone will already have their lunches picked up by 11. Now it was almost 11 and lunch was just starting! The cafeteria had basically one hour to feed over 1100 students. God bless those women. Then teachers started scrambling to call parents, figuring out transportation for all the kids scheduled for afterschool activities. God bless our admin. I must have had eight people stop by my room, making sure I had heard back from everyone, making sure we were good to go.

Since the day was a wash, I threw in the towel and went for broke, passing out the elf hats I'd bought for all my students to get us in the holiday spirit, as if they needed any help! We wrote letters to Santa, asking questions about life at the North Pole. We packed up and loaded buses in the quickest dismissal I've ever seen, then proceeded to hunker down and wait until buses reported back so we could leave as well.

Loading up and heading home in the snow!

Someone was excited for her snow day!

By the time we left the school, snow was starting to stick.

Talk about perfect timing. Friday is the perfect time to have snow - we had the rest of the day to enjoy it without a) having to deal with online learning and b) having to worry about going in the next day. Instead the girls got to run around outside, start building a snow wall (whatever that is!) and I got an extra three hours in my day. And let me tell you what a gift that is! In those three hours, I managed to get all my papers graded and school work done, I got to enjoy coffee with my husband, I felt relaxed enough to enjoy decorating the gingerbread house with the girls, I made a batch of cookies to share, I even started wrapping presents! We had dinner with the neighbors in a snowy repeat of our very first neighbor dinner together, now almost eight years ago. And the snow just kept falling! I've never seen snowflakes so huge and wet. And due to the fact that no one had really hyped this weather event, no one had really expected it to actually come through, made it feel all the more magical.

My snow bunnies!

Nice job, ladies!

Oops, January is over

Snow day!

So when I said my word of the year was going to be "intentional" that clearly didn't apply to keeping this place updated regularly, since I've posted all of one time in January and we're already into February. Oh well. Fail. Thing is, I don't actually feel that guilty about it. I guess I'm just not feeling the writing juice these days. But since I had to hope on the laptop to finish something for school before the work week kicks off again, I figured I'd mosey on over to this little space and show you what happened earlier this month.

We had a snow day.

Hahahahaha! The picture above looks fairly legit, but if I zoom out, you quickly see the "snow" is rather paltry. All the promise of the Blizzard of 2017 quickly turned into a rain-freeze scenario that left a crunchy layer of ice over the grass, rather than the fluffy whiteout the entire state was hoping for. Oh well. It was a day to stay home and snuggle in our pajamas.

Just kidding. It's not really snow.

Of course, we don't actually get snow days anymore. Anytime our county closes due to weather, we have an online learning day. We teachers post lessons, the kids have assignments, I even have to hold "office hours" where parents can get in touch with me. We've had an online learning day or two every year since we adopted this new policy, and it gets smoother every time. I had a grand total of one parent email me.

Gus helps out with online learning day.

Other January highlights include... Our country getting a new president and the general sense of unease that has pervaded ever since, me getting to the point of probably needing to get off social media for a while and deciding I should probably only get my news from the BBC from now on, and the sense of disbelief and just about every headline I read these days.

Oh, and I turned 36. And Violet had her first grade school concert, featuring songs about the ocean. That little noodle (top row, third from left) was so cute during rehearsals, but then completely clammed up in front of a cafeteria's worth of parents watching. Sweet thing.

First Grade Concert!

Now we're just waiting for the Superbowl to start, ready to cheer on our Atlanta Falcons! 

That Time it "Snowed"

It accumulated. Sort of.

One day, we'll look back of this period and say, "Remember the time we were out of school for six days because it snowed?" And then we'll laugh and laugh. One day.

But today. Today is not that day. Today is the day we wanted to lock our children out of the house due to insufferable whining. Today is the day we want to throw our laptops across the room because we're frustrated by all this "online learning" we're being forced to post, moderate, check, recheck, and respond to. Today is the day we would pay huge amounts of money if a) the forecast had been correct and there was six inches of fluffy white to justify another snow day or b) we could have just gone to school.

Yep, today is the day I decided I would prefer just to have had school all along, as opposed to the fiasco the last two weeks have been. And note, I'm not blaming anyone. Not the weather forecasters, who do the best they can with the information they are given. Not our superintendent, who is actually a decent, humorous guy who is trying to make the best call in a county that seems to sit in two entirely different weather zones.

I might be blaming the groundhog. Stupid groundhog and your predictions of early spring! I'm definitely blaming it on the rain (sing it with me now!). Did everyone overreact a little bit? In hindsight, perhaps. But again, who can predict?

At least it was pretty!

In the last two weeks, our students have gone to school two days. Last Friday and this Monday. We're crossing our collective fingers we can go back to school tomorrow. I'm luckier than most, because my kids are still young enough to daycare, and said daycare has been open a majority of these days. Which is a good thing, because I've had school to do.

After we used up our two scheduled weather days, our county moved into "Online Learning" days. Teachers post assignments, students log on to get assignments, crash website, try again, submit assignments. We have to log on, check work, grade it, ask students to resubmit if it's incorrect, field questions/comments/complaints from parents, and keep track of who has done what so we can turn in a roster of students who completed each day's work and are therefore considered "present" in attendance for the missed day.

Complicated? Yes. But it beats having make-up days into June! And anyone who doesn't like it can move to Gwinnett County, where they never cancel school. Seriously, Jesus himself could come back on a cloud of fire and they would still have a regular school day.

If you don't look too closely, it's starting to seem legit!

Unimpressed.

Anyway, we've survived the best we can. Last week wasn't so bad - the girls spent most of the days in daycare and I ran around and had lunch with friends, did some shopping, read three books, took it easy. This week has been a little different, with school to do, patience wearing thin, stir-craziness setting in. Now that we're faced with the loss of two instructional weeks, panic sets in a little.

Ah well, this too shall pass. In the meantime, we'll continue making mini treats in the Easy Bake Oven while we wait for spring. It's supposed to hit 70 next week!

Busting out the Easy Bake Oven!

Frozen

As I type this, school has just been cancelled for the fourth day in a row, up here in the 'burbs of Atlanta. We are iced in. Today we were lucky enough to enjoy some actual snowflakes for about 15 minutes, but for the most part, it's the ice that has done us in.

Joke all you want about snow in the South, but no one messes with ice. We were fortunate not to lose power, as so many I know did. Four days of no school, even for this happy teacher, seems to be bordering on ridiculous at this point. But our superintendent took a tour of the area and apparently conditions differ drastically from the north and south parts of the county.

So I'm enjoying an unexpected long vacation from work. Daycare has only closed one of those days, so it's actually been quite a nice break! I've continued putting back the disaster that is my house after getting new floors, I've finished some last minute details for Violet's Movie Night birthday party this Friday, I've read two (2!!) books...

This was supposed to be Teacher Appreciation Week at the school. Needless to say, I'm enjoying it!

I can't stop taking pictures of the trees... they are so sparkly and glittery!

Snowed In and Out

It was back to work for me today. A teacher workday, and a delayed opening, but if I'm this exhausted after a day without kids, I don't know how I'm ever going to work another full week again! It was lovely having so much time at home with my family again. Here are some of the memories we made:

When I finally convinced Violet to go outside (she doesn't like how wet the snow is), she discovered she actually loved it, especially when I told her she was allowed to taste the snow. She insisted on taking a bite out of every snowball she made.

Living on a golf course makes for a beautiful backyard.

Our Frosty.

Snowman photobomb!

What a scene to wake up to!

Cereal, the Circus, and More Snow

So I'm sitting here, still in my pjs at 1 p.m. on a Tuesday. That's right, it's another snow day! I'll take it. With every weekend already booked up, it's nice to have a break in the middle of the week. Annie is napping upstairs, I've been watching the Olympics non-stop, Violet is keeping herself busy making "love bugs" with her fingertips and a stamp pad. It's all very cozy.

Snow fall outside the nursery window.

Since my last update, Annie has really gotten the hang of this eating thing. In fact, I'm pretty sure she prefers her cereal to the bottle now. I can't seem to feed her fast enough! She's tried pears, apples, sweet potatoes and squash, and seems equally happy with all of them. Neighborhood dinners are much more fun now that she can participate. Amy swears that the reason Annie would get so fussy at the table is because she was feeling left out - and I think she was right! The Bug gets cereal at school (her teachers were impressed at how good she is at eating already!) and again at dinnertime. She's cutting down on how many ounces she'll drink now, but she's making up for it with food (and seems just as happy and healthy as ever).

Nom nom nom.

Physical therapy continues. Neck stretching is in maintenance mode and now we're focusing on arm strength and movement. So PT is now fun, with lots of playing with toys and reaching for things and me jumping around like an idiot getting Annie to turn her head this way and that.

This past weekend we went to the circus with the neighbors. We went last year as well, and now that Violet knew what to expect, she was even more into it. I love the circus. Annie was fabulous. She hung out with me in the moby wrap or on my lap. Then at one point, we realized both our girls were asleep! It was an exhausting, cotton-candy filled extravaganza.

At the circus!

Random picture Violet took of Annie on our way to church.

Gus "helping" me grade papers this morning.

There's no word yet on how long our snow-cation will last this time, although the snow is being replaced by rain, which they say will turn to ice tonight. So that's promising. Here's hoping we don't lose power. Going to Publix yesterday afternoon was an adventure - I kept buying things I didn't need, just because it seemed so important to stock up. There were no bananas, bread, cinnamon rolls, salad, barely milk... it's crazy. Georgia seems so determined not to get caught unawares again that we've completely overreacted. The news keeps using words like: event of historical proportions, crippling ice, catastrophic, significant... I actually checked the batteries in our flashlights this morning, just in case! I'll keep you posted on what ends up happening.

Snow Scenes

Ready to tackle the slopes!

The snowy 'hood.

Annie's first snow. She loves it!

As does Violet!

  And just for fun, here's a look back at Violet's first snow!

Fun with Daddy.

Loving our snow day...

Snow Day!

Snow day!

Notice anything strange about this picture? Yep, it's snowing! As soon as I got to school this morning they called an early release, and school just got cancelled for tomorrow. Violet is so excited it's snowing. "You said it doesn't snow it Georgia! Mom, you were wrong!" Getting called out already. I suspect it won't be the last time she tells me I'm wrong about something!

Gus in the snow.

Our idiot cat tried to make a break for it today. He regretted it rather quickly. Annie-bug got to experience her first snow as well, but since the poor thing has a runny nose already, we didn't stay out too long.

Here's to staying warm and cozy!

Christmas Cheer

Violet on her way to Polar Express day at school in her Christmas PJs.

My happy girls with Santa!