Thursday, January 27, 2011

How does anyone shovel with kids around?




So we got 19 inches of snow last night. Guess what that means? No school. Also? Jeff can't go to work, because it is going to take 10 hours to dig out our cars. However, he will still work in the basement. So...3 kids at home for the umpteenth day, but required to be quiet so Daddy can work.

Excuse me while I go scream into a pillow.

Right now Jeff is taking a shift with the shoveling. When you have 3 small children, it is not an option for both of you to go out and shovel together. There is nothing efficient about shoveling when you have children. Yesterday, I had to shovel out the 4-6 inches by myself because the snow didn't come down until after Jeff had left. It went something like this...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

8:15 am- Since Jeff left for work at 6:15, about 3-4 inches of snow had fallen. So Giselle must go shovel out her car to take Andrew to the bus stop or even all the way to school. Giselle gets her boots on.

8:16 am- Snow-dar goes off in the 2 year old. The 4 year old also wants to go out in it. Giselle drags out the boots, snow pants, snow mittens, and hats.

8:30 am- We finally all get outside. Lily and Michael immediately begin fighting over our 1 kids' shovel. Andrew gets a broom to sweep off the windows of the van. Giselle begins shoveling paths behind her car.

8:32 am- Mike gets pushed into a snow bank by Lily in the struggle for the shovel. Giselle must go break up fight.

8:34 am- Giselle resumes shoveling.

8:35 am- Andrew begins crying because snow has gotten on his hands. Giselle realizes he never put on his gloves and goes to help him clean off his hands.

8:37am- Giselle resumes shoveling.

8:38 am- Lily slips in a slick spot and falls on her bum. She cries hysterically despite the fact she has 16 solid inches of padding between her butt and the ground. Giselle goes to help her get up. In the mean time, Michael takes the kid shovel, climbs up on top of a mound of snow, and begins pushing newly shoveled snow back onto the driveway.

8:39 am- Giselle hears her neighbor snickering.

8:40am- Giselle begins shoveling again, after a strict talk with Michael and Lily about shoveling the opposite side of the driveway than Mommy.

8:41 am- Michael begins crying when his mitten gets lost in a snow bank. Giselle must go find the mitten and put it back on. Lily takes this opportunity to take back the kid shovel. Michael screams anew at the injustice. Giselle takes the kid shovel and puts it in time out. She realized that she has only shoveled half of what she needs to.

8:42-8:58am- More of the same. Shovel a row, break up a fight. Shovel a row, help someone in trouble. Finally get enough snow shoveled that we can get in the car and leave.

8:59 am- Try not to scream at the kids to get in the car...but fail. Once in the car, children begin peeling off snow gear. Ice hits their skin and crying begins anew.

9:30am- Finally get back home after taking Andrew to school. Roads were shitty. School is only 5 minutes away, and it took me 30 minutes to get there and back.

10:30 am- Get a phone call that school is being dismissed early. Andrew will be sent home in 90 minutes.

10:31 am- Giselle cries.

7 comments:

Heather said...

Hope the snow gives you a break sometime soon. In the meantime, I recommend locking yourself in the bathroom with a book, a glass of wine and a bubble bath.

Aunt Sara said...

Suddenly 102 degrees all summer doesn't seem so bad does it?

HawleyFamily said...

Are you having fond memories of Yorba Linda right now? We could be walking around east lake village as I type this!! :) Snow sounds SO fun...for about an hour, then I am DONE with it!

Devan said...

NIGHTMARE! The 8 inches we had a couple weeks ago was enough to make we wish that we will never see snow again. (at least this winter.)

Emily said...

I know how you feel. There are several elderly home owners on my street, and there are a couple of neighbors who bring their huge snow blower and clean off all their sidewalks and driveways. Which is super nice, but they always skip ours, I'm assuming because we have two able bodied adults in the house. I understand, but that just means that our driveway is the only one on the street not shoveled, because I certainly can't do it during the day and it's dark when Brian gets home. Urgh!

Grandma said...

I feel your pain, but I laughed so hard I cried. You really need to write a column, a.k.a. G. Bombeck

CARRIE said...

I'm surprised you didn't start crying during that phone conversation. So 10:30:15.
Mother Nature is apparently NOT a mother because if she were she would know that this snow day business is a pita for us stay-at-home moms!