Today is the kids’ No Snow day. Meaning, they stay home from school because they haven’t needed to use a snow day and this was a built-in ‘extra.’ It’s Texas logic I cannot possibly explain more than that. I know. It does NOT make sense, Northerners.
Fittingly, for a No Snow day, it was close to 70 degrees.
This was our No Snow day:
Go outside and marvel at the large amount of Canada Goose poo on the driveway. By ‘marvel’ I mean: hop, and yell “don’t step in that, don’t step in that, don’t – oh nevermind, go wipe your shoes off in the grass.”
Eat doughnuts at the doughnut place we like. I don’t eat them, but I do like to sniff them. I get something else that’s just as bad for me, involving eggs, cheese, and croissant. The highlight here was when all the boys decided to break off parts of their doughnuts and exchange with each other since they’d all ordered something different. Spontaneous generosity and sharing. I almost fainted.
Then, the gym. Highlight here was Caden-6yr not getting hurt to an extreme degree, as he usually does. And when I was done and picked them up from the kid area, one of the boys said, “WHOAH, Mom. You don’t even smell like a guhl anymore.” And thank you, son, for that. Clearly my work here is done, and could you please use your quieter, inside voice for those special observations?
If I were a natural homeschooler sort, or even just more conscientious about parenting – I would have taken this particular No Snow day to teach the kids about Martin Luther King, Jr. As yet, I haven’t. But the day is young.
This does not EVEN count, but I did educate the kids (against their will) about the importance of appreciating all things Roy Orbison. They were hungry. I was getting their lunches on plates, so they were a captive audience. There was singing and dancing and mostly good-natured threats of withholding food if they didn’t participate.
Next on the list is fixing all the kids’ bikes. This means buying tires for at least two of them and figuring out how to put them on. I’ve never done this… but how hard can it be? I have a book I can consult, if necessary. Last year Mike got me bike stuff. A LOT of bike stuff, but then I never went and actually got a bike to go WITH all the bike-ish stuff he so nicely gave me. Among the bike-ish stuff is a paperback with the unfortunate title, “A Woman’s Guide to Cycling.”
It sits on a shelf in the bathroom and it makes me laugh.
I love you.
7:54 pm
Texas doesn’t hace MLK day off as a government holiday? We do here, but I didn’t realize it, I worked through the day, and yelled at Miranda to do her homework (she was observing the holiday so did not do any homework). I do homeschool and when she asked why we celebrate MLK today of all days I told her to google it and then write me a paragraph on why. she rolled her eyes but is doing so now… Celebrating holidays off from work isn’t as fun when you work for yourself and homeschool, it’s quieter just to work!
Jennifer Sullivan recently posted..Not quite busy enough
9:41 pm
A Woman’s guide to biking? Why didn’t they just call it, “we’re looking down our nose at you and patronizing you with this frilly little book that we colored pink so women would think it’s a great book even though we’re trying to write it in a way that won’t let you know that we think you’re dumb.”
Throw it right at Mike’s nuts. That’ll make you REALLY laugh.
.endtransmission. recently posted..I Will Follow
10:24 pm
Jennifer,
For some reason, no…. not a holiday. We did get to the MLK conversation, but not until dessert.
.endtransmission.,
yeah, that was kinda my reaction to the book’s concept initially as well. but I figured I was being too sensitive. And the title was in a league of its own. Mike’s out of town and probably not willing to volunteer for target practice, but i can’t say I’ve ever… wait. Nope. Never intentionally thrown anything in quite that manner… at him, anyway.
10:55 pm
I think a little more research is required into how the little boys define what ‘guhls’ smell like…
11:15 pm
LaLa,
that might be asking for trouble. tonight over dinner, seth said, ‘when you smile yike dat, your nose weenkles up all weird. it is not pitty.’
the really weird thing is i can’t even place which kid it was who said it. had to be caden or seth, since ethan is usually more reserved with stuff like that. caden and seth will just say it how it is, though. pitty or not.
Kelsey recently posted..It’s a No Snow day Or- a Monday Masquerading as a Saturday
7:19 am
In Oklahoma we have the same “No Snow Day”. Here it is definitely an attempt not to offend anyone. If they called it “MLK Day” we are far enough south that there are some who would be offended that kids get out for that holiday, but not for say “Presidents Day”. If they didn’t get out of school at all, there would be people holding their kids out of school anyway, because it must be a racist decision. This way nobody gets offended – nobody gets hurt.
11:17 am
Becky…. that IS offensive though?! I had no idea that to observe MLK day would be politicized still… yikes.
9:13 pm
I don’t know how, but somehow I completely forgot about you and lost my ritual of checking your blog each day for new posts. I saw the comment you left for me…I don’t know how long ago, and suddenly had one of those awakening moments in which, I wondered how I could have been living in a cave for so long. And this was a great post to return to. So funny and clever, you are (haha, Yoda).
9:17 pm
Oh, I thought it was odd too, that you guys don’t get MLK day. We get it here in Tennessee (piggy backed on an entire week of being out for snow, when school officials are starting to freak out because they’re running out of snow days to use).
But maybe, if kids went to school on MLK, they would have to at least learn about him and that’s probably good, if there are that many people who oppose it as a holiday.
Michele recently posted..BIOGRAPHY
9:13 am
MLK is a holiday in Texas–Dallas schools were out for it. No mail. Banks closed.
As a teacher, I loved the not-snow days. I looked forward to them. a day off with no guilt!
12:42 pm
Good to see you Michele!
Jan, HEY! That is really odd, since out here in the western end of the state all the public schools were in session. i hope you and W. enjoyed your day off!
HolyMama! recently posted..This Post is 100 Gluten-Free Goodness