Short weeks and snow days

My children are going to forget how to be at school.  We are on the tail end of the second four-day weekend in a row for Jack, after a quick two-day week.  Our friendly neighborhood polar vortex has stayed with us and every school in Northeast Ohio shut down because of the cold on Thursday and Friday.  Wind-chills hovered around -10 degrees all day on Thursday, and were in the -25 range on Friday morning, so I suppose it was justified.  And I'll take a 4 day weekend, any time.  In fact, I think the 2-days-on, 4-days-off schedule is just about perfect.

Managed to get remarkably little accomplished on this mini-vacation, with the exception of running a benefit auction and doing a lot of sleeping in.  It was lovely, getting remarkably little accomplished.  I could get used to this...

Here are some moments from the past week.

1.  My favorite ever video of Ivy.  She is wearing a much beloved Ninja Turtle mask she got for Valentine's Day.  Beyond that, I have no idea what is going on here.  Watch it with sound.

 We've begun a bit of a tradition of having a trio of sweet siblings over for after school playdates on Wednesdays.  The two girls have been painting one another's nails and playing with the dollhouse and it is so very sweet.

 Some of Nat's shots from last week's trip to Orchid Mania.

My children are so very strange.  These were sent to me on Tuesday when a busy evening kept me from coming home for dinner or bedtime. It's nice to know I'm loved.

Wednesday evening swim at the JCC.   Here are the children  chatting after our dinner in the playroom, discussing the fact that having a real phone is what makes you a teenager...

                                              

Thursday-- our first wonderful surprise of a day!   I got in a 7 mile run in the morning and then we had a a wonderful treat-- Auntie Bec had the day off from school too, and she made the drive out to see us.  We snuggled in for quality time at home..

... and took Bec to ride the carousel and see the historical society.

 ... and best of all, a splurge on coffee and treats at Presti's.  oh!  The creme brulee!

We got our call for Friday late Thursday night.  Can you imagine!  If only we'd known we would have two days off in a row!  We might have run off to a water park or some other exotic location. As it was, we knew we needed to do something memorable with our next day off...

So we took off with a vanful of friends for the wild destination of ... Medina.

The "Amazone" play center was cute, and fit the bill for a warm place to spend some time.  The key attraction?  Laser tag.  We've got a little addict:  Jack played 5 games while we were there.

Saturday- another snowy day, who knew? As 5 more inches fell outside, the kids made playdough and went sledding.  How wholesome are we?

Me?  I spent the day arranging and dressing up the party room at the Winton Place for the West Shore Chorale benefit. All sorts of planning and prepping came together nicely, with a cozy party room, plenty of tasty food, and a great selection of auction items.  the snowy weather kept about a third of our ticketholders home but those that attended said the night was a success.  Phew!  

Today-- a bit of recovery.  The kids slept over at a friend's house last night and so we were dealing with PSFD today (post sleepover fatigue syndrome, in case you're not familiar with this affliction).  We had a wonderful, laid back birthday party to attend (bagels!  Coffee! Bacon!  A brunch party = fabulous!) and then we cozied up at home for movies, card games, snacks and schoolwork.

Four day weekends are so great.  Time to do and go and plan and play-- and some time to stay, too.