Coming off of the long MLK weekend, we had a bumpy morning with my five-year-old twins, Stella and Sophia. Stella did not want to go to school and was crying a bit while we were getting ready. Sophia dashed around the house looking for snow boots and I eventually swept Stella into the mini-van. As we were cutting through the Norwood Park circle to school my phone rang. I looked over and saw the girl's school, St. Thecla. I hit the speaker button and heard a message that there was no school today due to a heating problem. Stella screamed with excitement and Sophia started laughing. I pulled over to check my phone to see what was going on.
My mom friends were all texting and sure enough - no school! While the girls were excited, I let out a slight sigh as I thought of my "to do" list. I was still packing up a few lingering Christmas decorations, we needed groceries, I had some insurance consulting work to do, there were bushels of laundry to fold, dishes to wash, Christmas thank you notes to write, and our house was a huge mess.
Time to adjust I thought and texted the moms to see who wanted to go for pancakes at Firewater. I roped in my friend Laura and her kids, Claire and Bryan and we had a great breakfast. The kids were so excited when some of the teachers from St. Thecla walked in. The teachers were like a big celebrity sighting! Over breakfast we played telephone which caused lots of giggles and the kids asked questions like what is your favorite Disney character. It was a sweet breakfast.
We went home for a bit. Then Kerry texted about sledding and Melissa posted about sledding on Facebook. The girls wanted to go sledding and we happily loaded up the sleds in the mini-van. We drove over to the hill by Superdawg. We bundled up and piled out of the car. The girls had not be sledding here before and Sophia was hesitant as we walked over to the hill. Stella called out to Mikey and Liam and Sophia cautiously checked out the scene. I waved to Kerry, Kristine, Melissa, and Julie and the other mom. The girls quickly climbed on the sled. Off they went and I heard them laughing. As they climbed up the stairs, I could see the smiles on their faces. They ran up and told me how great it was and quickly went back down the hill. It was so fun to see the girls sledding with our St. Thecla pals. Sleds got passed around and kids jumped on with each other. There were many close, almost crashes and endless smiles. The moms and dads chit chatted as the kids went up and down the hill a zillion times. Stella's checks were so rosy and Liam's gloves kept falling off. Stella jumped on a sled with Kara and they tried to race James and some of the bigger kids. Sophia persuaded me to go down the hill several times and I wondered how these kids could go up the long stairs so many times without wearing out! It was such fun on this sunny, chilly day. It took a while to leave as every time I said that was the last run Stella would jump on the sled again and dash down the hill. While I was watching Stella, Sophia would jump on a sled and head down the hill too. I finally got the twins into the mini-van and they were so excited. Stella said, "Mom, that was awesome!" Sophia quickly chimed in, "Mom, can we go sledding again?" I said it was awesome too and that we could go sledding again soon.
My mom friends were all texting and sure enough - no school! While the girls were excited, I let out a slight sigh as I thought of my "to do" list. I was still packing up a few lingering Christmas decorations, we needed groceries, I had some insurance consulting work to do, there were bushels of laundry to fold, dishes to wash, Christmas thank you notes to write, and our house was a huge mess.
Time to adjust I thought and texted the moms to see who wanted to go for pancakes at Firewater. I roped in my friend Laura and her kids, Claire and Bryan and we had a great breakfast. The kids were so excited when some of the teachers from St. Thecla walked in. The teachers were like a big celebrity sighting! Over breakfast we played telephone which caused lots of giggles and the kids asked questions like what is your favorite Disney character. It was a sweet breakfast.
We went home for a bit. Then Kerry texted about sledding and Melissa posted about sledding on Facebook. The girls wanted to go sledding and we happily loaded up the sleds in the mini-van. We drove over to the hill by Superdawg. We bundled up and piled out of the car. The girls had not be sledding here before and Sophia was hesitant as we walked over to the hill. Stella called out to Mikey and Liam and Sophia cautiously checked out the scene. I waved to Kerry, Kristine, Melissa, and Julie and the other mom. The girls quickly climbed on the sled. Off they went and I heard them laughing. As they climbed up the stairs, I could see the smiles on their faces. They ran up and told me how great it was and quickly went back down the hill. It was so fun to see the girls sledding with our St. Thecla pals. Sleds got passed around and kids jumped on with each other. There were many close, almost crashes and endless smiles. The moms and dads chit chatted as the kids went up and down the hill a zillion times. Stella's checks were so rosy and Liam's gloves kept falling off. Stella jumped on a sled with Kara and they tried to race James and some of the bigger kids. Sophia persuaded me to go down the hill several times and I wondered how these kids could go up the long stairs so many times without wearing out! It was such fun on this sunny, chilly day. It took a while to leave as every time I said that was the last run Stella would jump on the sled again and dash down the hill. While I was watching Stella, Sophia would jump on a sled and head down the hill too. I finally got the twins into the mini-van and they were so excited. Stella said, "Mom, that was awesome!" Sophia quickly chimed in, "Mom, can we go sledding again?" I said it was awesome too and that we could go sledding again soon.
When I was putting the girls to bed they again said that sledding was awesome and they wanted to go again. They thought it was so cool to be sledding with kids from St. Thecla and loved racing down the hill. Stella and Sophia fell asleep so fast that I had to smile. All those treks up the hill finally caught up with them.
As I thought about my long, unaccomplished "to do" list I recalled part of a poem:
The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
for children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.
My to do list can wait, my Christmas thank you notes will be late, and I'll clean up the house tomorrow. My babies and I had an awesome time sledding and I know that babies don't keep.
* The above part of a poem is from Song For a Fifth Child, by Ruth Hamilton, 1958.
As I thought about my long, unaccomplished "to do" list I recalled part of a poem:
The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
for children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.
My to do list can wait, my Christmas thank you notes will be late, and I'll clean up the house tomorrow. My babies and I had an awesome time sledding and I know that babies don't keep.
* The above part of a poem is from Song For a Fifth Child, by Ruth Hamilton, 1958.
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