Sunshine & Sludge

Joe says it has been too quiet around here this week and that I need to write something. (He has just recently started reading the blog so I am always caught off guard when he talks to me about it. I think mostly he reads it because he discovered I say nice things about him once in a while.) I guess I better remedy the quiet...

It is in fact ABOVE freezing today! 39 degrees of amazingness. Before today the last time we saw temperatures in the 30s was two weeks ago (more precisely 16 days ago, but who's counting?! Me. That's who!) Yesterday it was in the high twenties and sunny so the girls and I went for a morning walk. We just couldn't stay cooped up any longer! It was our first walk in months. The girls wanted to walk BUT the sidewalks were a bit treacherous so it was a walk for me and a stroller ride for them. Initially I thought I would unload them once we got to the path by the lake. We quickly discovered the path still has TWO feet of snow on it and is completely closed. 

Whomp. Whomp. Whomp. 

Plan B was quickly formulated. We headed to a street in our neighborhood that has virtually no traffic on it and I let the girls go free...

"Wook it mommy! Wook it! It's soooo pretty." -Charlotte referring to the garbage can covered in bumper stickers. 

Hannah was especially pleased to be outside as she begs multiple times a day to go out. And by "beg" I mean dress her self in her winter gear (jacket, mittens, hat and boots) and stand at the front window whining until I either a) give in and walk up and down the driveway with her while freezing or b) undress her...crushing her dreams in the process and watch her throw a crying tantrum instead. 

The girls stopped their walk to race up and down a neighbor's empty driveway. For a fleeting second I thought I should probably nix this activity but the alternative was going home and making lunch...so I let them play. (We do know these neighbors...a little).  Racing turned into stomping on a big chunk of sludge (i.e. the blackish-grayish snow-ice chunks that fall off the wheel wells of vehicles). Again I thought to myself that I should stop this activity. But they were having so much fun working together turning the sludge into a big black puddle. A puddle Hannah promptly fell into and covered herself from head to toe in melted sludge! Poor girl even got some in her mouth. Yuck. This mama should have followed her gut and stopped that activity. Oops. 

Lesson learned the hard way (for both of us)!

Another lesson I learned this past week: when picking up your child from a play date at a friend's house and there is an awkward silence between you and the friend's parent (whom you do not know well) do NOT ask your child how he liked the play date. Just DON'T do it. Even if said child was ridiculously excited about the play date beforehand. Even if the child was so excited he hardly slept the night before. Do not ask! Because that silence will go from awkward to PAINFULLY awkward as your child gives a five minute diatribe about how boooored he was at the play date while very slowly putting on his boots and then his gloves one.finger.at.a.time and then his hat and finally his jacket which you will not allow him to zip up as you can not possibly stand there face-to-face with the parent who graciously opened their home to your ungrateful child for one more painful second! Do NOT ask that question. Instead mention the weather. A much safer topic of conversation. 

If only I had done that! 

And now to reward Joe if managed to read this entire post. A few nice things about him. Today he was done early so he picked up Isaiah from school which meant I was able to nap longer with Charlotte. Yay! AND he picked up a movie for us from the library for a post kids' bedtime pseudo-date. Yay!! AND he took Hannah out and built a snowman with her this afternoon. Yay Daddy!!! He's the best!