Koen's First Snow Day

I remember the days when Snow Days were practically more exciting than holidays...an unexpected day off from school! So much fun! Since I grew up in NH, the recollection of snow days also equates to intense amounts of snow, ice or both - days full of precipitation. Well, here in Pittsburgh, it doesn't take too much to delay or cancel school, so I think we are in for a lot more of these extra holidays. As a mom now, who really enjoys the change of pace when Koen goes off to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, my initial reaction to the news of a Snow Day made my heart sink. But as I started to recall my positive memories about our snow days as kids, I wanted today to be a special day for us at home too. So, even before getting Koen up from bed, I prepared a plan for a day of Christmasy fun.

We had breakfast, then played until Tavin's naptime. Koen of course wanted to play "nursery school" since we couldn't go. We pretty much ran through the whole routine. At one point, I was going through e-mails on my phone and he said, "Hey Mommy, can you look at me and stop with your phone? I'm talking right now." Oops! I finally requested that we put an end to it and sing the "goodbye" song. He conceded thankfully. Here's a picture of Tavin putting up with Koen's side show of a song amidst the nursery school routine.

While Tavin napped, Koen got a haircut. This means that Koen got to have a snack and watch a Christmas DVD. I love cutting his hair. I'm not the best at it, but for a 3 year old that has bed head all the time anyways, the haircutting is the least of his worries!

After a bubble bath to get the hair trimmings off of Koen, we headed to the kitchen to make whole wheat sugar cookies (that's right, Amie, I'm making it happen!). We are hosting a playgroup Christmas party tomorrow and the kids will decorate the cutouts with frosting.

When Tavin woke up from his nap I got the boys decked out in their snow gear and we walked down to the store at the end of the street for a few things. I have a baby sled, so we put Tavin in that on the way. It was his first sled ride! Koen insisted on pulling him almost the entire way. He did a great job holding it steady, although it definitely took us awhile to get to our destination.

On the way home, Koen wanted to ride even though he is quite large for the little sled. At first I carried Tavin and the small grocery bag. Then I made Koen take the bag in his lap. Then I figured, why not carry the bag and pull both the boys? Koen was totally into it and did a great job holding Tavin tight and Tavin (as usual) went right along with it. Adorable!

After our outing we had lunch, then Koen and I rolled out the dough and started the cookie cut-out process. I was relieved to find out that they did roll out OK and that cutting them worked well too. I've had some bad experiences with whole wheat cookie dough in the past. Koen really enjoyed the task and did a pretty good job listening to instructions. I think we will finish the rest later together he did so well.

That's about all I have planned for our first official Snow Day. It's been fun! And I hope that school isn't cancelled again on Thursday!