Polar Vortex 2014

What a difference a week makes. Yes, that is true for every week, although it seems to be more evident some weeks. We started off with record cold, blistery wind, bone chilling temperatures. The snow started to fall late Saturday evening and did not let up most of the day Sunday.
Roads not plowed, wind whipping and not even the slightest crack in the grey overcast sky made it an easy decision to do church at home.
The rest of the day, we spent curled up with books and hot drinks, only getting up to up the thermostat yet one more degree, and then one more degree... There are few houses built in Michigan suitable for this type of weather and we were grateful for a fully operational furnace, and diligently turned off lights as we left rooms in an effort to conserve what energy we could - this bill will be an eye popping one for sure.
Bob's office was closed on Monday, so what had already started as a longer than normal three day weekend with Bob's early dismissal on Thursday got extended yet one more day, yeah!!!
Once Christmas was put away, hauling in and out boxes at the exact midpoint of the day, when the day time temperature would be the highest, we settled in to a more normal school routine, albeit with hats and hot cocoa.
The boys also layered up to shovel the drive way and to perform the job the had contracted for next door. Once outside, and a bit more used to the cold, they hoped for a bit of play time. To avoid frost bite, the kitchen timer was our friend, 10 minutes of play, when the timer goes off, come back inside. Sweaty from shoveling, snow covered from digging and snow flinging (too cold to make snow balls) and completely red faced from the wind and chill, the boys happily accepted a hot mug of cocoa and settled back inside.  Yes, we drank a lot of cocoa this week, good thing we bought milk before the storm, :-)

On  Wednesday, we saw what used to be negative double digits move into single digits and it was no longer quite as necessary to time the boys outside time. After shoveling the most recent snow fall, they played outside and had some fun experimenting with bubbles. Mamma, bundled up in too many layers to count, was not agile and flexible enough to capture all the fun that the Christmas stocking bubbles afforded this cabin fevered crowd. Bubbles froze mid air, bubbles collapsed as they lifted up into the air, and those that landed felt like the finest, thinnest and most delicate crystal. And there was plenty of science to be discussed - easy check off on the school schedule.