Snow what!

So we have been hit by the not-quite-Canadian-standard (yeah we've all seen the Facebook funnies) but nonetheless impressive snow.  The first flake hit the Met Centre and the country ground to a halt as children got a euphoric gleam in their eye. SCHOOOOOOOOL'S OUUUUUUT! Oh how I used to love snow days as a teacher.  Almost as much as I loved the news items which slagged us all off for being pathetic and causing a childcare crisis as the presenters asked should teachers give up some of their summer holiday to atone for being such LAZY USELESS SHIRKERS?!!  Mwah ha ha!

But teacher I am no more so fully free were we to frolic and advantage take (hello, Yoda voice?!)  Except, we weren't. Nope, 'ol preemie-lungs Babyzoid has been suffering with a barking cough and noisy chest as she does everytime she catches a cold or virus.  Last year I felt sorry for her and let her out in the snow anyway. Never again.  This time I wouldn't have my heart-strings tugged and she would recover wrapped up in cotton wool the warm.

Aye, we would have loved to have done all the fun stuff like go tobogganing on Holycroft Hill, build snow men or polar bears (someone did this in our town and it looked amazing) or lay down and make snow angels - though the snow has been far too deep for that and Babyzoid would have found herself sweeping it over her face - just look:

But it wasn't meant to be.  So what did we do instead?  Well we had some lovely indoor fun to ease mummy's guilt.

We started with painting.  Babyzoid painted 3 separate pictures - a field of flowers, a house, and some ducks on a pond.  All of them looked the same, bless her (Peppa-style muddy puddles if I'm honest), but mummy was absolutely and totally proud! 

Babyzoid then got poorly after another major coughing fit and didn't even complain as I told her to stay indoors and watch Happy Feet 2 while mummy shoveled snow off the drive for 10 minutes.  I must have done a pretty poor job because I saw my neighbour kindly sprinkling salt on the bits I'd missed.  Being pathetically girly but gamely giving it a go yields rewards, it seems!

Mummy and daughter then had a huge tickle fight (see yesterday's post) which ended once again in a nasty coughing fit, some Ventolin and a commitment to building a huge Thomas & Friends wooden track so mummy could sort lunch and make a maple apple and parsnip cake.  This is ultra rare, in case you're fooled into thinking I'm some kind of domestic goddess (my husband would die laughing) - but when the mood takes...  And Babyzoid had demanded cake for her sore throat...!

Little lady then naturally wanted to help so I said we could bake lemon cup cakes afterwards on condition that she tidied her track away.  She agreed as long as she could watch some Abney & Teal on CBeebies catchup as she was doing it.  I said okay as it meant she would give me the 5 minutes peace I needed to wash up.  Parenting, it's all about bargaining...:

Look mummy, all tidy!

Using mummy's cute Jamie Oliver prep bowls

Yeah mummy might step in and help at this point

No sinking in the middle!!

Et voila! A Babyzoid masterpiece!

Babyzoid enjoys

So yeah, we don't have lots of cute snow shots to share with you I'm afraid (maybe next year) and the only snow we'll be enjoying will be what we trudge through en-route to the doctors surgery to check out little lady's chest.  But not to worry.  At least I know that if we end up back in the emergency room waiting for chest x-rays it won't be because mummy was a soft touch and went against her better judgement.

Poorly now

So come on, make us jealous and tell us about the snow frolics you have all been enjoying.  Or perhaps you also have a child with vulnerabilities whom you've had to keep indoors?