Snowpalooza/ Groundhog Day

Just the other day I was complaining about how busy we are, how we don't have enough time to just hang out and play with our kids.  Life is full of all sorts of running around and organized activities, and I was becoming downright fed up with it all.  But today we had a "Get Out of Jail Free" day.  Today was a SNOW DAY!!!  Our local news dubbed the storm, which dropped about a foot of snow on us, "Snowpalooza."  Bless 'em, those weather guys were so doggone excited.  We were pretty excited at our house too since a snow day means... a little extra rest, lots of good, take-your-time and sing-while-you do-it cooking (Today's fab meal was real Italian spaghetti Bolognese with plenty of red wine and garlic.), crafty fun for the kiddies, and playing in the snow.

It also happened to be Groundhog Day.  I know that Punxsutawney Phil in Pennsylvania didn't see his shadow and predicted an early spring, but we here in Michigan aren't holding our breath.  Emma, Sophia and I had the most fun making our own Michigan Groundhog cupcakes...

We sat at the kitchen table for at least an hour and just cupcaked.  (That's a new verb, y'all.)  It was so pleasant, and we all realized how much we have been missing family down time.  Even Sophia sighed and said, "I love this.  I wish we had more time with our family."

Sophie's little guy, "Michigan Mitch"

Hey Sweetheart, want to do this again tomorrow?

We do love our snow days.  I have never really been a snow hater, and if it takes 12 inches of it to give me a perfect day off at home with my family, I say, "Bring it on!!"  Sophie discovered that she could stand in the snow, which was above her knees, and free fall backward landing softly in her waterproof snow gear.  Then she spent the next hour doing just that over and over again.

Emma did a little snow swimming...

And now it looks like we get to do it all over again as school as been called off for tomorrow as well!!  Perhaps we will choose some different activities that Lili can be more involved with.  She was DESPERATE to help out with those cupcakes.

"Please get in my belly, you little chocolate rodent!"

HAPPY HAPPY SNOWPALOOZA/ BLIZZASTER/ GROUNDHOG PROPHESYING DAY 2011!!

"Snow provokes responses that reach right back to childhood. " ~Andy Goldsworthy

Reading Magic

What has happened to our supposed "barbeque summer"?? I think every year Britons excitedly proclaim that this summer will be different; this summer the weather will be hot and sunny in Great Britain. If we say it enough, we believe it, and then it must happen, right?

Well, things were looking good for a few weeks, and now, as we approach the summer holidays, it all seems to be falling apart on us. Just when I had bought all sorts of cute maternity sundresses and skirts, the temperamental, cloudy atmosphere returns. Yesterday when I went to collect the children from school, the sun was shining when I got out of the car, so I left my coat and umbrella behind. By the time I walked up to the schoolyard, however, the rain was tipping down. Typical.

There are only two more days of school, and we are planning a getaway to West Wales this weekend. The weather forecast suggests there is a 70% chance of rain every day we are away. This, of course, makes this mama want to cuss, but maybe we'll get lucky. If not, maybe we'll cut the trip short and try again another time. You all know what Mark Twain said about the weather.

On to the topic suggested by my seemingly irrelevant title... The Carsons had an adventure on Sunday afternoon. We all piled into the VW Touran, and headed over to our new Cardiff Costco where we spent hours browsing the American -style wholesale warehouse. Of course we needed that industrial-sized box of frozen mozzarella sticks that we purchased...every pregnant lady does. Sixteen tins of baked beans? Bring it on! We also found a few American items that we didn't know we were missing: things like... Hershey's chocolate syrup (2 ginormous bottles), the biggest bag of Rocky Mountain Marshmallows I've ever laid eyes on, and a box containing about a hundred bags of Orville Redenbacher's microwave popcorn. I am thinking that all three of the previously mentioned ingredients could probably be combined to create something that would make Paula Deen's toes curl.

Needless to say, we spent a bit of money and came home with a car full of industrial-sized joy. One of our seemingly insignificant purchases was an anthology of stories that I picked up for Emma. The book was entitled Illustrated Stories for the Holidays. I thought it would be a good one since her summer holidays start on Friday. Little did I know, this book would inspire a full-on obsession with reading on Emma's part. She began to devour it on the way home and has had her nose buried in it almost constantly ever since. Every night this week, George or I have had to go into Emma's room multiple times and tell her to turn off the light, put the book away and go to sleep! "But Mom," she says, "I just love this book! I love the words! I love the way it feels! I love the way it smells, and I just want to find out what happens at the end!!" I am so happy that Emma has caught a case of "Reading Magic" at the tender age of 7. (Now she understands what was going on with me when that last Harry Potter book came out, and I locked myself in the bedroom for the day.)

On a similar note, our local Borders is sadly closing this summer and everything in the store is 50% off. I went over there yesterday morning and just about went into labour (no, not really), I was so excited about all of my finds. I came home with lots of those, good-smelling, joy-bringing, page-turners for the whole family...even a few new board books for our new, little future-book-lover.

"Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book." ~Author Unknown