Snow Day!

Last week our area of the country had a serious snowstorm. Snow began falling Thursday afternoon and continued into the night and Friday morning. It was a bit too much even for snow-savvy Chicagoans, so most area schools ended up cancelling (or at least delaying) classes. Oh, the joy that was felt throughout Chicagoland as children of all ages climbed back into bed and wrapped quilts and blankets around them!

Homeschoolers that we are, snow is something of a non-issue for us, but the snow this day was particularly fluffy and substantial and the temperature just right for playing outside, so we took advantage of the opportunity to get some hands-on learning (studying principles of friction, incline, aerodynamics and meteorology, donchyaknow) and headed for a hill at a nearby park. Here's the principal of our school showing the youngest student how it's done:

Phew, made it!
Time for snow angels (uh, I mean art class)!

Don't you just want to pinch those cheeks?

Now it's big sister's turn (I had the hardest time getting a photo of her because I guess due to her skinniness she shot by me faster than anyone)!

Good ride!
Don't forget big brother!

And now for something a little different! (And yes, those are tennis shoes on his feet instead of boots. Long story . . . cheapskate that I am, I couldn't bring myself to buy boots for my older two children because they are growing so fast I feared they wouldn't use the boots enough to merit the expenditure. Some years here we don't get as much snow as others. So on this day Big Brother ended up wearing Dad's boots and Bis Sis wore mine. I squeezed into an old pair of Big Brother's that he has outgrown. But that still left Dad without boots. Well, as they say, "where there's a will there's a way" and as they also say, "necessity is the mother of invention." Two pairs of socks + a few yards of saran wrap = dry feet. Voila!)

Show-offs!

And yes, even I managed to discover my inner child (I know, the sunglasses look really dorky, but let me remind you I'm a redhead--thus highly sensitive to the sun--and the glare from all that white is intense!)
It was fun to ditch the books & chores for a morning and enjoy some fresh air, exercise and family time. Thanks to Mr. Round Unvarnish'd Tale for proposing the idea! After our outing it was time for a stop at the coffeeshop for java for Mom & Dad and treats for the younger set. A grand day all around . . . and I think we may be looking at another one of these tomorrow as the forecast is calling for a fresh 6 inches!