Jumping the Shark

This winter has jumped the shark.  It has just gotten so incredibly unbelievably ridiculous, beyond anything I ever imagined.  And the thing is that even when the snow finally stops falling (if that ever happens, which is starting to seem unlikely), we won't be done with it because there will then be months of problems caused by melting snow.  I've lost track of the actual number of storms and inches but the pattern has been one storm each week of 12-30 inches and another day of somewhere between a coating and 3 inches.  Every. Single. Week.  So far, however, we have been incredibly fortunate.  We know so many people who have water literally running in their house from ice dams.  We have ice dams but so far no leaking (and I am knocking on wood as I type that).  My bigger concern right now is the accumulation of snow on the roof and what happens when it rains and the snow absorbs the water (and weight).  Needless to say, this weather is not helping my anxiety.

You would think all the snow days would have given me lots of free time to blog but between the kids being home (and therefore pushing work to evening hours) and all the hours we spend dealing with snow, there just hasn't been time.  I envisioned clearing the driveway but I didn't envision pulling snow off the roof with a roof rake  or having to go into the yard and pull down the snowbanks along the edges of the driveway in order to make the mounds short enough that the snowblower could blow over them.  And all of this takes more time than you'd expect because to move anywhere requires wading through snow up to my waist in what used to be our yard. I had devised an ingenious plan to use a piece of plywood as a platform to allow me to stand on top of the snow, which did work well and made me taller, but carrying plywood through 3 feet of snow and positioning it was strenuous!

From 2015 February

One thing we have done a lot of with all the snow days is working with Nicholas on various lessons.  It is amazing how much they can learn in a few days.  I think a year of homeschooling and he'd be in 5th grade.  I would have completely lost my mind, but that is a different story.  He learned basic fractions and how to add with carrying, learned to tell time on the 5s, learned the letters of the keys on the piano and how to find the right notes as long as the letters were written inside of the music, memorized about a million facts about animals (thank you Wild Kratts), and worked on measurements.

We also have had a bunch of dance parties, made paper airplanes, watched more tv than I should admit, talked on Skype, and have driven each other crazy.  But I am so so glad for the basement and the little bit of a change of scenery it offers.  We can go outside some but some days it has been too cold and Elizabeth can't do long spells anyway since she can't walk out there (the snow is literally taller than she is!).

Lizzie mimics her brother more and more with each passing day.  They really started interacting more around Christmas and all these snow days has just intensified it. 

From 2015 February

She just wants to do anything he is doing.  

From 2015 February

(There is a video in the album of her trying to fly a paper airplane because brother was.)  Yesterday Nicholas had a friend from school over and Lizzie followed along beside them.  She can't say it yet but her actions were saying, "Me too!  I want to play too!"