January and February 2019: Snowmaggedon

Until February we were having an incredible winter. There'd been no snow, and we even had a day in January that was nearly 60 degrees. Here's an adorable video of the kids splashing in a big puddle with their new rain boots.

During January Ty took another session of swim lessons and we got a bookcase for our little book lover.

Here's Tyler playing with his new zoob wheels he got for Christmas.

Allison was thrilled to finally get to go to the park again. We had to sacrifice a clean blanket to wipe it down, but we made it work.

The 59 degree sunny day fell on the same Saturday that we visited the Children's Museum for Jumping Jacks and Super Snacks. Allison did their obstacle course before going outside to enjoy the sun. At the end of the course she was supposed to do pushups, so I did a few to show her what was expected. She immediately climbed on me, but I can't even do 2 pushups with her on my back, so daddy jumped in and took one for the team.

 Tyler stayed inside with daddy doing the obstacle course and working on a craft.

I took Allison back to the museum a couple weeks later before taking her to the eye doctor 4 minutes away. He was the only provider I could find that would see a patient as young as 3. He said she's far sighted and has astigmatism, but because she's so young she compensates for it with the strength of her lens and eye muscles. That's why we had no idea there was a problem until she had a vision screening at her pediatrician's office. She needs glasses, though, so her eyes don't become weak from all the hard work they're doing. He kept saying "she's hiding from me" and "she's SO strong!" meaning he can't accurately diagnose her vision because her lens and eye muscles are compensating for it so much.

Here's my girl doing some of her favorite things - playing on her Kindle, playing with dinosaurs, and climbing on the playground.

Me: Allison put your dinosaur down
She drops it on my foot
Me: Ouch!
Allison: Mama got hurt from my dinosaur
Me: Yes. Say Sorry
Allison: Sorry dinosaur In this cute video daddy is washing Allison's hair in the bath tub. I can't seem to do it without her getting upset that the soap (even the gentle stuff) is getting in her eyes. Daddy's got the magic touch.

A bug came down at Tyler's school making about 10% of the student body sick. Ty got it too but it was pretty short lived.

One of Ty's homework assignments was to make a meal with a parent and then draw the ingredients. He helped daddy make waffles, including some "drip pancakes" for Tyler. Afterwards Tyler drew and spelled "woffle miks," "sbissis," "chokleit chips," and "melk" (waffle mix, spices, chocolate chips, and milk).

I had my hair done on one of Oscar's days off and decided to go brunette for a change. Ty didn't mind the color but absolutely hated the curls and lashed out at me. I had to explain that it was okay for him to not like it but that he did not get to scream at me or try to hurt me.

At the end of the month Allie got a new twin sized bed. Cousin Hana handed down the mattress and daddy made the frame.

In the middle picture Allison was walking out of the YMCA when she saw this banner and said "it's a Tyler and a grandpa and they're having a popcorn."

Cute kiddos helping daddy push the heavy grocery cart on Saturday February 2nd and playing in the nursery room on Sunday February 3rd. The snow first started as church was letting out.

 

It snowed all day and night and the next morning we had snow day #1. Everett averages 4 inches of snow a year, most of which doesn't stick. We got around 10 in less than a day and the temperatures plummeted below freezing, so it stuck.

It was gorgeous but hard to play with since it wouldn't compact. I took the kids out in it, but all we could do is throw it in the air and kick it around. 

I'd seen the forecast and predicted a snow day, so I planned a preschool lesson on the letter E.

I hadn't planned for a second day though. We don't have the infrastructure here for dealing with this amount of snow, so it was impossible to get out of the house and go anywhere. Oscar still went to work since it's close by and he figured he could walk the rest of the way if the car got stuck, but the rest of us stayed in from 3pm Sunday to 11am Thursday when school finally opened up but had a late start. I did my best to keep the kids occupied without constant screen time. They still had plenty of screen time, but they did lots of other activities too. Here we are trying out the new games Tyler got for Christmas, building a big train track, and jumping around to preschool movement songs.

During Allison's nap Tyler worked on his "build-it-yourself" xylophone. We followed the instructions but the nails weren't very secure on one side. Oscar had to tighten it with screws.

Ty went back to school with a late start on Thursday the 8th then was released early on Friday the 9th when a bunch more snow hit.

We were stuck inside all weekend and more, but it was much better with daddy around. He and Tyler used a storage container to compact the snow and make bricks. They started making a fort but eventually it morphed into stairs.

Enormous icicles started creeping down just outside Allison's window. It eventually made it to around 3 feet.

Here's cute Allison doing pullups with daddy and saying "Look at me!" I'm flying like Tiny the Pteranodon!" I'm Tiny!" She's obsessed with the show Dinosaur Train where Tiny is one of the main characters.

There was a lot of baking, Tyler learning how to use a mouse and play games on a desktop computer, and mostly the kids vying for my attention.

I decided to go to the YMCA on Monday the 11th, which I regretted doing shortly after leaving. The Y child care had been closed most of the previous snow days, but on Monday they said it would be open. Since they were willing to have their staff come in, I assumed this meant the roads were much better. I took an extra long route on the main roads in the hope that they were more likely to have been plowed. Plows were out at that time, but they were going the opposite direction of me or they were behind me. The first half of my drive was like a sheet of ice. I eventually slid and sloshed my way to the Boeing Highway where it was okay from there. It was an awful drive, but I desperately needed that break from the cabin fever. It felt wonderful to do a workout and take a shower knowing the kids were having fun in the adventure zone. My way back wasn't too bad since the plows had been busy, though I did get worried I'd get stuck at the Y since the parking lot was horrible and the small road leading out to the Speedway was on a small, unplowed hill. The childcare was open again Tuesday morning, but since we'd had even more snow Monday afternoon I didn't dare risk those roads again. Those 2 hours at the Y were my only break from 5 straight days of cabin fever, and that's not even counting the 3 and 1/2 days stuck at home the previous week.

During Allison's nap I had fun picking up Tyler, swaddling him, and pretending he was still my baby. I'd put him on the changing table and go "ew! A stinky blowout!" and he'd laugh uproariously. When Oscar got back Tyler wanted to swaddle him, and then Allison wanted to be swaddled too. I love this pic of Oscar feeding her a bottle.

The forecast was clearly predicting that the weather would start to warm up Monday evening, but it didn't happen until Tuesday afternoon, and we got a whole bunch more snow instead. It did warm up enough to make the snow compact, though, so Tyler and daddy had a lot of fun building the biggest snow man they could early Tuesday morning, using the help of the stairs they'd already made.

 Cute selfies and pics with daddy and the snow thing. The taller it got, the less it looked like a person. Allison didn't want to touch the snow with her hands, but she enjoyed being out in it and climbing the stairs for much longer than I expected her to.

I enjoyed being out taking pictures and watching the kids have fun with daddy, but I spent the rest of the day watching the weather and yelling "ENOUGH SNOW ALREADY!"

 The icicle outside Allison's window grew so much I couldn't fit it all in one frame. It was hard to believe the end was in sight, but I had faith in the forecast.

I'd planned another preschool lesson about the letter F. The kids really liked playing leapfrog over their stuffed animals.

It did finally start warming up around 2pm, but now our snow was turning into slush, so school was cancelled again on Wednesday. By then I was out of my mind from the cabin fever and the feeling that it was never going to end. I even broke down in tears at one point after Oscar got home.

 Fortunately the main roads were considerably better on Wednesday. Slush moves easier than ice and compact snow, so the streets that had been plowed were completely clear. I got some relief being able to get out of the house in the morning and afternoon. I actually took the kids to the Bothell YMCA and Chick Fil A, even though it's 11 miles away, because I knew I'd have nothing but a freeway, a highway, and another main road to get there, all of which were fine. They didn't open until 10am, so the kids did some songs and table work in the morning. I was delighted when Tyler's first question after breakfast was "are we going to do songs or puzzles now?" instead of "when can I play my Kindle?" I really put a LOT of effort into giving them non screen time activities while we were stuck indoors.

The non plowed side roads, sidewalks, and parking lots were still awful, so school was cancelled again on Thursday (though the Everett and Edmonds school districts opened up). In another place with better infrastructure for handling snow, this would not have been considered serious weather. For us it's "Snowmaggedon" and "Slushmaggedon." We needed milk, so Oscar went to the nearby Albertsons after work and bought their very last gallon on Wednesday evening.

Thursday was Valentines Day, which I would have normally been working all day. They called to ask if I could take one route going north, but I told them it was still really bad here. The main roads were great, but delivering to apartment complexes and unplowed neighborhoods and walking on the sidewalks would have been horrible.

In the morning we laid out some heart cookies that Oscar had made for the kids and some books I'd purchased for them weeks earlier before the snow hit.

After the kids were up and going I took them over to Arena Sports in Mill Creek to play in the bouncy houses. They looked super cute dressed up in their Valentine outfits and tumbling into one another on the slides. It was great to see them burn some energy after all that time stuck at the house.

I loved playing with and watching the kids bounce around. Here's Tyler shooting hoops and Allison determined to bounce on every colored circle.

Allison was terrified of the pirate ship inflatable. Fortunately there was a small kids' area with inflatable animals for her, though I had a hard time stopping her from climbing on the outside of it saying she was "riding the dinosaur."

And that evening we went to the YMCA before enjoying a tasty dinner at Lombardo's pizzeria. The kids did a great job eating their salad, I mean "eating leaves like a lambeosaurus!" Allison drank Sprite for the first time and said "I like this spicy juice water!" When we got home Tyler built a floor puzzle for grandma before heading up to bed.

On Friday (today) Tyler was finally able to go back to school for 3 hours. They decided to have a late start day on a Friday which already ends early. It was short, but at least he got to have a Valentine party and exchange valentines with his class. And I took full advantage of his time at school to write this blog!