ANOTHER SNOW DAY?!

We all hovered over the weather reports in fear last night. Will there be school or not? By 5 AM, we knew. We were going to have another snow day. Another day of entertaining children who don't know how to function when they have a day off of school.

Well, boredom is the mother of invention correct?


What I have found in my children, that so far are all boys ( 3 of them, ages 8, 7 and 5) is that when they are bored, and the chores I have for them are not enough to drain the energy they have stored up since last night, they get very agitated with each other and irritable with me.

So what's a mom to do? I'm not their referee or there activities director. But what I can do is push them outside and lock the door. Which if we're honest only lasts for about an hour if we're lucky and there's still a lot of day left.

I started thinking about this problem a lot of parents have when there is a snow day. Your children aren't used to this free time, they don't know what to do, and, if we're honest, one day of just letting them be bored is not going to suddenly make them the created little buggers you know they can be. What I know we can do instead is get them moving somehow. This means a little forethought and creativity on your part, but I'm pretty sure you'll have all you need already at home, so there's no need to brave the roads, when your kids are at home anyway because said roads are supposed to be too dangerous to be on in the first place. (if you're like me, driving on a snow day or ice day is not an option, *shudder*)

So on to this idea of mine. It's not actually a new idea, you could google it and come up with lots of beautiful pinterest worthy 'sit-down' types of ideas, but what we want here is something that will get these kids moving - without tearing up the house. Here are some links that have some good ideas, but, I know if we use them, they will have to be modified to suit 3 boys who want to push the limits:

https://www.parents.com/fun/activities/outdoor/snow-activities-kids/

https://365atlantafamily.com/52-ways-to-play-outside-in-winter-without-snow/

http://www.kidactivities.net/category/Games-Winter-Outside.aspx

My idea is to have winter olympic games at home:

Cross country: Have the kids find 2 sticks each and run the perimeter of the yard x amount of times. The child that finishes all laps the quickest wins this challenge.

Ice chunk toss: Kids stand in a line and toss ice chunks as far as they can (watch out! no one leaves the line until everyone has tossed their ice) the furthest throw wins!

Stair run challenge: Throughout the day, kids can individually run up and down a set of stairs. At the end of the day, the child with the most runs up and down wins this challenge.

Best friend search and find: So this idea has a double purpose, to have fido's little land mines picked up, and have your children do something productive :)  The child who cleans up the most messes from fido in the yard wins. (A prize at the end of this particular challenge might invite more cooperation) Make sure you kids know how to do this in a sanitary way with a scooper or shovel and where to dispose it.

Dogsled race: No don't tie fido up to a sled, give each child a sled to pull and load the sled with snow, or toys from the yard. the child who drags the sled to the finish line wins! (In my case, I'd have each child in his own lane, making the 5 year old lane shorter than the 8 year old's to even up the challenge)

Photo taken from PopSugar.com
https://www.popsugar.com/moms/Hot-Chocolate-Recipes-Kids-27669979

Later in the day, my kids will a reward of hot chocolate and a show, or maybe some minutes on a video game as a reward. But, I challenge you NOT to make screen time your go-to to occupy your child's time during this snow day.

I know this is just one way to manage your snow day, what are some of your ideas? Please leave polite comments below :)

http://bit.ly/NutureNature3

I get asked this question quite often. And I have to say, you can practically use YL oils ANYWHERE! Being mindful of safety uses of course, these oils can be applied to the skin, used aromatically, and ingested. Click on my link above to learn more, but since I started using them about 10 months ago, I have been able to clean with less chemicals, use less OTC medication, improve my beauty routine, help my kids sleep better, help myself sleep better and improve overall wellness! Stay tuned to this Blogspot for more in depth examples of what you can do with oils - or click on the links above to see for yourself! Right now my kids are begging me to make something to eat, so off I go!

Launching!

So this is entirely nerve wracking. I don't believe I really have time to devote to this, but I like the idea of getting stuff out there in a more thoughtful way. So here it goes....

This blog is going to be a multitude of different information, stuff I think is important, encouragement and silly stories from my experiences. I hope you can find something that piques your interest!

My vision for this blog is to be a hub of information and support to others who are interested in nurturing themselves - physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. God created all those parts of us, and I believe He means for us to take care of them and nurture His Nature in them!

A little about myself: I am married to an amazing, supportive, wonderful man. We have 3 children, and I gladly stay at home with them. I also run a daycare and dabble in essential oils through Young Living. And just because I don't have enough to do, I decided to start this blog - oi! So, in like fashion of Diva Delporto of http://mylifesuckers.com/, I readily equip myself with a cup of coffee and yoga pants! Mothering and wifery are hard work!

2015 Sugar Mapling