Snow day!
We live "in town" (it's a small city, with a population of something like 40,000) in a mixed business and residential neighborhood; the street out front is bustling and, functionally, we have no yard, so my kids rarely get to play outside when we're at home. But snow! Snow keeps cars off the road and blurs the normal lines between sidewalks and streets and alleyways. Suddenly there is a whole huge quiet outside world for them to stretch themselves in.
Mr. Terrible is home all week, so all four of us bundled up in our improvised it-never-snows-around-here gear (and here I admit that I am always puffed up with maternal pride and a keen sensation of Industry and Virtue at the utility and eccentric beauty of my handknit woolens) and went out and then back in again when Baby refused to put her mittens back on and then cried because her hands were cold.
Perhaps above even scrunching bootsqueaks and the appearance that everything is topped off with bright bright white mounds of frosting, I love the vacillating bipolar flurry of a snow day. Outside inside outside inside outside and back in again, for refreshment and a spin in the dryer: clothing or children or both, take your pick.
Today we are warming back up again with Alice's Adventures in Wonderland read by Jim Dale, plain yogurt topped with apple cinnamon preserves and a handful of granola, and warm cups of Holy Basil infusion.
Extra honey for the kid with the runny nose and the cough.