When I first heard the prediction for the recent snowfall, I thought to myself "Please, no snow." Over the next few days, I moved into the denial phase and told everyone that I was sure that the meteorologists were wrong and that there would be no snow. As everyone around me was excited about the prospect of snow, I kept thinking of being stuck in the house and how I wouldn’t be able to get anything done. I could hear the constant sound of the dryer full of snowy clothes. I could see the house strewn with mittens and boots. And I just knew that washing endless hot chocolate mugs was in my future.

At 5:23 am on Saturday morning, I was awoken by two little people declaring that there was snow everywhere and my heart fell. A few hours later I found myself laughing as I watched my daughter go at lightning speed down a hill. I even climbed on her sled and took a spin down the hill myself, which I have to admit was a lot of fun. But I still was secretly hoping that a heat wave would happen the next morning and all the snow would instantly melt.

As the days wore on I found myself slowly getting into the groove of relaxing and being at home. I cleaned out and organized several rooms that I had been putting off. I played board games, watched movies and even contributed to the large amount of dirty mugs by drinking endless cups of hot chocolate. The sound of the dryer running constantly no longer annoyed me and it actually seemed oddly quiet when it was off. I came up with a system for keeping track of all of the mittens. And I really enjoyed spending hours sitting on the patio with my neighborhood friends while the kids continued their quest for reaching maximum speed on a sled. I even got the chance to ride on an inner tube pulled by a four-wheeler through a snow covered field, which I highly recommend. Here is the video that my husband took during our ride  - Tubing Behind a Four Wheeler

As I walked home with the kids on Monday evening from the neighbor’s house that had been the designated ski slope the past few days, I was happier and more relaxed than I had been in months. I realized that when I decide that I don’t have the time to slow down and be snowed in is actually when I need to spend three days watching my kids sled down a hill the most.