All 8 of Us: SNOW DAY-Finally!!!

We were all surprised to see a winter wonderland when we woke up this morning. I love hearing the little ones squeal,"Yeah...it's snowing...can we go outside?!?" Of course this was at 7am...I assured them that after our morning routine they would be able to go romp in the backyard. An added bonus was that Daddy stayed home (worked from his laptop) since his commute is already over an hour each way, the news reports of multiple accidents were sobering, and the prediction was for a change to icy conditions later in the day. While I was preparing breakfast I heard the back door open and was shocked to see Odesco blissfully running around in the yard with boots (no socks), unzipped coat (at least he had a coat on!) and bare legs( his sweatpants were hiked up over his knees since he had just greased himself.) I convinced him to come inside (hearing there was available food enticed him!) and all 4 kiddos were back out soon after their last bit of breakfast was swallowed! I joined them for a little while and we attempted to make a snowman...the snow was not packing well and we settled on a 'snow blob' instead. The big boys helped dig out a few neighbors and received an unexpected reward in the process(money!) Daddy, who always finds opportunities to teach the kiddos to work with diligence, gave the 4 littles specific jobs to do as they are all trying to earn money for our church 'mission fund'. Also, L has his eye on a set of colored drawing pencils from the Timberdoodle catalog. (Since this catalog arrived 2 days ago, he has on numerous occasions very 'subtly' placed it next to me as he dreamily mentions his desire for better pencils.... funny thing is I saw them first and thought they'd be a great birthday gift for him in May....now to help him see the benefits of delayed gratification :)!!
Later in the day when a misty rain started to fall, the snow became quite 'packable' and all 6 kiddos went to work building snow forts in preparation for a snowball fight: 2 big boys vs. all 4 littles. I'm not sure who won but it was a blessing to see them all doing something fun together.
We ended the evening watching the Chronicles of Narnia dvd (this was after Daddy, L, Odesco and P trudged on foot to the library to rent a video only to learn it had closed early due to the weather). Midway through it, Odesco came to me and said,"Mommy we're having a family night!!" All I could see in the dimly lit room were his pearly white teeth as he grinned at me...I'm so grateful for these moments as often an 'attitude of gratitude' is not what always prevails in any of our hearts.
Enjoy the pictures!!
Love,
MamaB

Yeah...the first snow day of the season!

A valiant attempt at a snowman...we affectionately renamed him the 'snow blob'!!

A closeup of our 'snow blob'...the kids were just excited to finally get to use the 'snowman in a box' kit I bought on clearance last year!!

Little man L was given the job of clearing off the ramp to the shed...and he did a fine job! C thought it was cute how his little brother sighed and dramatically wiped his brow after working so hard :)

Odesco was given the job of taking wood from the woodpile to the back door for daddy to use in the wood burning stove...this little guy can work...here he is ingeniously moving that wood in the wagon with a rope around his waist. He moved 35 pieces of wood and earned a nickel a piece...shhh don't tell L who earned $1!!