Snow Rest for the Weary

The rest of last Saturday was basically an exercise in futility. Most of the afternoon was spent trying to convince the boys to bathe and try doing activities other than watching videos of other people doing things. It was still pretty cold, and there was snow all over, but nobody had much interest in going outside.

Kira thought to invite over Carver's best friend and his brother, but they were not available until later in the afternoon. They did come over, but apparently we should have given Merritt more warning, because rather than being very excited, he turned into a dictator. The older boys were having a good time, but Merritt threw a tantrum like something out of The Exorcism when the younger brother wanted to play with the older kids. He must have been tired on top of his need to have everything predictable and going exactly as he wishes. Anyway, finally by the end of the playdate Merritt was able to calm down enough to apologize to them so that they might consider coming back next time. We got him fed and to bed as soon as we could.

There was supposed to be a good deal of snow overnight, so we were not exactly surprised to awake to maybe 5 inches. Church was still on, and so I got feeding the boys, but then things changed to remote church, so I relaxed a little. The boys were thrilled to not have to get in their church clothes. With the extra time, Jesse and Carver somehow noticed for the first time since Christmas that I had made them a Lego table. Without me saying a word about it, they got playing with it and had a grand time for about an hour before we had to tear them away for lunch.

I felt like I must have been dreaming, because they were using it and having fun organically, rather than me forcing them to resort to it after banning them from screens. Now, if they never play with it again, it will at least have served its purpose.

I fed them while Kira was busy doing church things for the second hour. Merritt decided to go out into the thick snow, and I tried to cook and keep track of the little people. Once Kira was done with meetings, I took Merritt to swing on the big swing across the street. Avey had plans to hang out with some friends downtown, so I drove her there and they had a good time.

In the afternoon, the neighbor kids rang the bell, and so the boys all played with them in the backyard. They were joined by even more neighbor kids, and they were all playing on the playset at one point. We had a quick family night once our boys were inside, and then it was bedtime. Hannah came over for a few rounds of a game and then we all went to bed.

We awoke to another 2 or 3 inches on Monday, but school was still on. I shoveled enough of the driveway to get the truck out. I was very glad to have it to get Avey to school, because the roads were pretty bad, so it sure was nice to have the 4-wheel-drive. By the time I got back, Kira was nearly done shoveling the rest of the driveway. She said that the boys helped shovel while they were waiting for the bus, and some of the neighbor kids wanted to try, too. Funny how some work looks fun to kids (reminds me of Tom Sawyer).

It snowed the rest of the morning, so I worked and then went back out around noon to shovel again. Fortunately, it was all done snowing then.

Kira had only one client for the day, and they wanted to meet remotely. She still went into the office.

Avey accidentally left her phone at home, so we hoped that she would find a way to contact us if drama club were canceled. We never heard from her, so we just showed up at the school to pick her up at the normal time, and it all worked out. Merritt played in the snow a bit when he got home, but it was just normal homework and dinner otherwise.

Tuesday was standard stuff. We heard a rumor that school might be delayed because of extreme cold, but that was a problem because Kira had made appointments for Avey in the morning, and I had just made my own doctor appointment, so if the boys were home, that would be a tight schedule. We discovered later that afternoon that they would just need to make school a remote learning day because with so few bus drivers available, that would still leave a lot of kids out waiting in the cold. With the prospect of sleeping in a little, we stayed up too late.

In the morning, I got to my appointment and then was home for Kira to get Avey to hers. I got the boys going on their school assignments, mostly focusing on Merritt. He finished before Kira and Avey were home, and Carver was a really big help to Jesse for his assignments. Carver eventually got his own done, too. While he was dashing around to help, he slipped in his socks on our hard floor and landed on his shoulder and face with about a 2-foot drop. He bent his glasses up really badly, but fortunately did not hurt his face or eye too much. We were very glad to have a backup pair of glasses. I took him in to get the bent pair adjusted back, but the eye doctor's was locked up tight even though the hours said they were open. I called and nobody answered, so maybe they had closed up due to the cold.

Kira had brought home fast food for lunch, so that helped to keep the day from being even more chaos. I eventually got to do some of my job while Kira took over the baths and showers for the boys.

We printed everyone's report cards from the last semester, and were glad to see the kids are all doing very well.

Kira spent a good deal of the early evening trying to get the older two boys to finalize their plans for the talent show submissions. Carver kept insisting that he was going to do something with his friend, so shot down all of her prodding. Jesse spent a lot of time trying to decide on a song and then working out some choreography. Merritt had his figured out pretty quickly.

Jesse recorded his final take the next night:

Early Thursday morning, Avey started dog-sitting for the neighbors. I went into the city, and things were good. I had a good energy through my classes, so it was a good day. Kira was productive at home, even though she had not slept very well the night before. It was an otherwise standard day.

Kira left for the temple on Friday after the kids were away at school. She was then gone until after they came home. With the house to myself, I did my day job stuff for a while, and then I did laundry, dishes, and took Apollo to the beach. It was pretty cool to see the snow piled up on the lake, but Apollo was not all that impressed.

It was very cold, in his defense. I brought him home and then showered and did more laundry before finally taking a little time to myself before the boys got home. Merritt was in rare form. He disappeared for a minute, and so when I called out to make sure he was still with us, he was furious with me. He said that he went to take a nap, and so I should not call to him. He clearly needed a nap, too. He left again for 15 minutes, but then came right back down.

A little after Avey was home, I gave her a ride downtown to hang with friends, and then picked her up about an hour later. We had a typical evening, and Hannah joined us.

Today, Avey is going sledding with the youth in church, and then she has a choir performance for Solo & Ensemble, so we are still working out what else we will do for the day. I got up early to make pancakes and bacon, so maybe that will keep the mutiny at bay a little longer. It's still bitter cold, so we are not sure if we will get out of the house much...