The Great Escape and Surviving the Storm

It has been 8 days since we last ventured out of our home but today we made our great escape. AHH! What an amazing feeling to be reunited with civilization! While I felt fortunately prepared and pretty lucky to have had all of our basic necessities during the storm, keeping the kids entertained was another matter entirely. I have learned in my nearly 6 years of parenting that my primary roll as mother is not to nurture, feed, or clothe, it is to entertain. My job is just like Julie on the LOVE BOAT. She is the girl who plans all of the activities that keep the cruisers happy. The primary difference between Julie and I being, I don't get paid and we ain't sailing to no tropical paradise. I know what you are thinking, "KIDS LOVE SNOW! MY KIDS WOULD BE IN HEAVEN WITH THAT MUCH SNOW!" But you see snow isn't that fun when it is over your head, like in Nash's case, or if you don't own a pair of skis, a snowmobile, or even snow shoes. Snow becomes a miserably confining monster lurking at your doors and outside of all your windows. Of course the kids did venture out, but most of their time was spent indoors under the tutelage of their unpaid Snow Day Director, aka, Mom! While I can't say that anything we did while trapped in our home was particularly creative or exciting, I thought I would give you some ideas just in case, heaven forbid, you ever find yourself in a similar situation.

1. We made homemade playdough. There are recipes all over the Internet and you will most likely be able to find the ingredients in your pantry. My boys also love Moon Sand and Bendaroos. More of an investment but worth the entertainment value.
2. Board Games or should I say "BORED" Games. My boys love Candyland, Memory, Jenga, Twister, and UNO.
3. We spent a lot of time with the LEGO Box.
4. Making and decorating cookies.
5. Making Valentines and writing letters to friends and family.
6. Looking at old photo albums and telling the boys stories about when they were babies and when they were born.
7. Taking a bath in the middle of the day, even if they were not dirty.
8. We used a roll of butcher paper and drew roads and buildings to create a city for their matchbox cars.
9. Finger Paint, Coloring Books, and Puzzles!
10. DICE! We rolled dice and graphed the numbers we rolled. Believe it or not this was totally exciting for them. What can I say, maybe their nerds or better yet maybe they are destined to become dealers in a Las Vegas Casino!
11. We watched alot of TV!!!
12. We played alot of Computer games! My boys favorite site is www.starfall.com
It correlates with Atley's Kindergarten Curriculum. Therefore, I feel totally justified when they play.

13. We made collages from old magazines!
14. At least one hour of reading a day!
15. At Michael's you can buy these little wooden projects with the paint included for $1. There are trains, airplanes, animals, etc. I try to keep a supply of them for days like these. The boys painted COBRAS this week!

16. Stringing beads for no reason other than stringing beads occupies little minds and little hands!
17. Rock Band with Pots and Pans!
18. Building blanket forts and sitting in them with flashlights.
19. DANCING, BABY!!
20. And when all other ideas failed, Nash decided to dress up like a Hawaiian Stripper.