Cold Days at home

There have been several snow/very cold days around here when school has been cancelled.  It has been wonderful.  We have had a great time.  I let the kids watch t.v. or play games until 9:00 in the morning.  Then I make them do chores for around an hour.  ( And when I say chores I mean get dressed, brush your teeth, tidy your room etc.)  Then I make them go play with toys. 

They built a very elaborate tent/hideout one day.  My linen closet is always a mess.  They love to build tents and make them all of the time.  But I make THEM fold the blankets and put them back.   They aren't really good at folding big blankets yet.  So my linen closet is almost always a wad of blankets. 

Starting in January, I have made Enoch a notebook of things to do.  Some things are fun and some things are school work.  He only has half day Kindergarten.  When he gets home, the first thing he asks is if he can play games (meaning video games).  My list normally takes him around 2 hours.  He then has about hour of game time until Ali and Shadrach get home.  Then no more games until 7:00.  Sometime I will show his notebook.

Everyone has a chore they do everyday right now.  It is the same chore every day.  Ali's is to clean this bathroom.  When I am pregnant, I hate the smell of pee.  It REALLY bothers me.  Shadrach cleans the kids bathroom.  Enoch clean the laundry room.

It has been crazy cold some of these days.  One day it was -14.  We have stayed warm with the fireplace going and warm blankets.   

Greg has found several games he likes to play with the kids.  They are old enough to really play now and he has a good time.

Ali played too.  I just didn't get her picture.  The games last 1 to 2 hours.  The kids get very into them and love to play them.

I really needed to mop the floors.  So I trapped Liam in his chair and let him paint.  He was really wanting to paint because Shadrach painted his pinewood derby car last night.  He was happy.  I was happy.

I walked by this bathroom on Sunday morning and all three boys were combing their hair.  It was the best picture ever.  But by the time I got my camera only Shadrach was still brushing.  And they refused to reenact it.

Shadrach stays up late into the night.  Bed time is 8:00 p.m.  but that only means you have to stay in your bed at 8:00.  You can stay up reading until as late as you want.  Shadrach is up until 10:30 around every other night reading.  It is HARD to keep enough books in the house.  I love it.  I am often in bed and asleep by 9:00 right now ( I get tired when I am pregnant).  So Greg often reports to me how late he stays up.  I love filling out his reading log for school.  They are supposed to read 60 min. a week.  He often reads 150 min. in one night.  So by the end of the week it is often between the 700 min- 1,200 min.  I often wonder what his teachers think.