We have had three days of no school now.  And it’s been snowing again today.  But the temperatures are warming up (even though we’re already on a two-hour delay for school), so we made it out to the main roads, and went to dinner for Auntie’s birthday!!!

The kids SO needed to get out of the house.  And I did, too.  Fortunately, the Webmaster had been able to get to work every day so far, so at least we weren’t having to deal with a “work from home” situation.

I offered to take a picture of Auntie and the kids on the “birthday bench” outside Red Robin, but it was a little snowy.  So they just stood in front of it instead.

Happy birthday, Auntie!!!  We love you so very much!

After last year’s snowmaggedon experience, the Webmaster and I made the effort to actually make sure that we had snow gear that fit each kid this time.  And then we stored it all in one place, in the shed, because we are SMART.

So when I brought out the giant duffel bag of snow clothes, it had all the snow pants and snow gloves in ONE PLACE.  Yes, I was quite pleased with our foresight.

More importantly, so were the kids.

Now, there are still a few things we need to do for next year.  Rerun, Thumper, and Ane are all wearing rain boots, not snow boots.  Fortunately, it works well enough, but I could look for snow boots to go on clearance in the spring.  Tad is wearing a extremely versatile boot, that has a nice thick liner and is perfectly insulated for snow, though it is flexible enough for rain as well.  Ane wore them briefly and they fit her, so I may just get Tad new boots in the next size up and let Ane keep those.

Also, Thumper had insulated mittens, not gloves.  He was confused about how his hand was supposed to fit in them, and kept taking them off.  So, I probably need to get some child-sized snow gloves instead.

But everyone donned their warmest coat (with a sweatshirt underneath for an extra layer), and had snow pants THAT FIT THEM over sweatpants.  And as a result, much fun was had for a long time outside, and no one came inside soaking wet.

Plus, Ane got quite the workout.

Well, this scene looks familiar.

School was put on a two-hour delay on Sunday night because of how much snow had fallen already, and the fact that it was getting into the 20’s through the night.  It was COLD.

So it was no shock to us that there was no school today.  So we’re starting this snow day with pancakes, and The Empire Strikes Back.

Rerun is finally getting the pancakes he’s been dreaming of ALL YEAR, plus a snow day to boot!

Now, I just need to dig up all that snow gear…

There is snow in the forecast for next week.

*sudden flashback to being buried in the house with no school for a good chunk of February last year*

Will it be quite this dramatic?

Highly unlikely, but….. I went to Costco yesterday, just to make sure that we had the basics for the next week.  Better safe than sorry?

Unfortunately, everyone else had the same idea, so I did have quite a walk across the parking lot…