Snow, snow, snow

Winter is dragging on. February is always like this. Facebook is good for reminding me of that, prompting me with photos from the past 11 years where I am praying for 2 hour delays when I was teaching, and then later praying for no snow days, because that meant a houseful of kids for the whole day...my own kids, and then the neighbors and then the kids of whatever other desperate mom who called me in a panic that morning. Limit 8, I would say to myself. Ok, maybe 10 would be ok. No more than that. 

M used to bring home all the brown bananas from his break room. I always had like 20 pounds of brown bananas in the freezer. I made banana bread if I was expecting a crowd. Sneak in some flax seeds for the good omegas. I sprinkled sugar on top instead of mixing it into the batter. Popcorn was my other go-to snack. Easy on the budget, fills up the belly. 

Anyway, February has always been dreary and gray and cold and often snow covered, but it's different this year without Ms. Molly and the library, or Phipps or the museums or working at the Blue Goose to break it up.

Today we combatted the winter blahs by having a play date with our pandemic pod buddies. They loved playing in the backyard snow fort and were out there for a long time. We made a dutch baby and apples friend in butter for the snack. Their youngest child just turned 2 and he is warming up to us, letting me take care of him while his mom steps out for a little bit, without tears! 

As for school, it was a very hands off/unschooly day. 

Laurel did her live chat for the Arrow Book Club. They all did tons of Just Dance songs and the Nintendo LABO games where you put on a backpack and physically punch your way through the game. Max has been refusing to do anything for himself but we had a little breakthrough, maybe since we had another 5 year old with us today? Anyway, he dressed himself in his snow clothes independently, even the boots. 

Marko has been obsessed with Grimm's Fairy Tales lately, which are so scary! The kids had a conversation about the scariest details in Grimm's vs. the People Could Fly. One thing we are doing well is reading a lot of different myths, legends, folktales and fables from around the world. We have a huge collection of books, and there are more on Libby from the library, or Epic, which is a subscription children's ebook service we use. I think this lays a really great foundation for future study of history, world religions and cultures, and even current events. How people view the world often has to do with a subconscious knowledge from tales they've been told. 

I got yet another headache, which I think is actually the same headache rearing its head every day, so M took over after work and watched Clone Wars with the kids and ordered a pizza. Hopefully I can rid myself of this headache this weekend once and for all. I need to cut back on caffeine generally, and also watch my salt/electrolytes. I also have some a very tight psoas muscle which flares up from time to time. I thought I was having a gall bladder attack or my appendix had burst before, but it's really a muscle spasm. So painful and scary if you don't know what your body is doing. Oddly, this sometimes causes a headache, as well.