Snow Day: Part 2

We're going on nearly two weeks of 'quarantine' at the Gatchel house.  From Christmas until the 2nd of January, mine were confined to the house as we all fought with bronchitis, the sniffles, fevers, etc.  It was fun for the most part as Grant was home too, we had tons of new toys to play with and we really don't get that opportunity very often.

They both went back to school on Thursday, much to my dismay  given the weather circumstances.  School was shut down on Friday and has been since.  I just got a phone call saying they are closed again tomorrow due to the extreme cold.

I love my children.  I love them more than life itself.  But this is starting to get a little old now.  It really wouldn't be that bad but at this point we can't even go outside.  There's a ton of snow that they are dying to play in and I'm anxious to let them enjoy it, but it is frigid here (I think we topped out the day at 1 degree.  That, as my dear friend Kristina pointed out, is not a temperature)  Plus, Grant's car is buried in the driveway so he's been taking my car, truly leaving us here without a way 'out'.  He says if it warms up enough tomorrow he is going to try to dig it out and start it.  Keep your fingers crossed!  So deep breath, one more day, the warm-up is on the way and I can't see any reason both of them won't be back on Thursday.

In the meantime, we took advantage of our extra time together and learned some more fun facts about Alabama and continued some work on our Alabama projects.  They cut out the letters for the state for our "We've been there" map, looked through the visitor's guide book (Noah was delighted to find out there was a zoo in Birmingham) and helped me make some Sweet Butter Rolls for dessert tonight.

I've promised we could throw Tinkerbell a birthday party tomorrow, so that should provide plenty of entertainment.  Until then...

Alabama Fun Fact of the Day:  The word Alabama means Tribal Town in the Creek Indian language.

They had a reading party in Noah's room this morning as it was probably one of the warmest places in the house

 Working on finding the letters in Alabama

 We're going to build this map week by week.  Everyone will have their own sticker to mark if they've been to a particular state so the kiddos can keep track of where they've been

 Ready to make some sweet butter rolls

 Pressing the seams together for the rolls

 A little sugar and cinnamon

 All rolled up

 Sliced and ready for their sauce

All baked up - these were a HUGE hit here.  They are baked in a sauce of milk, vanilla and sugar and served warm.