Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Other Ramblings

If you watched the National news at all last night or this morning you saw we had some excitement in Kansas City yesterday (Feb 7, 2007). A chemical plant had an explosion in the afternoon. I was getting an alphabet video ready for my afternoon kids and saw the live coverage on the news. The smoke cloud looked exactly like a giant tornado. I about had an accident because that's what I thought it was initially.

Thankfully no one was killed and only 2 were injured. The fire burned itself mostly out last night and firefighters sprayed foam on it to finish it off.

On another note it is a balmy 20 degrees here in Kansas City. We have had a month of sub freezing temperatures and I have to say I am sick of it. I am tired of having to warm up the car everymorning. I am tired of fighting Grace into her heavy coat everyday. I am tired of being cold. Remind me of this when I am in Texas and complaining of the heat!

Finally, I had an interesting dream this week. I dreamt that Thomas bought a Viking ship and entered it in a race. My darling husband talked me into rowing to boat with him in the race. Did I mention that this was a Viking ship? Anyway, Neilson decided not to row the boat and left me to do it myself while he laughed at me from shore! Ooooooooo is he in trouble big time. Needless to say I was exhausted when I woke up as I had been rowing a boat all night. The moral of this story is, Thomas may not but a Viking ship and under no circumstances will I agree to enter a boat race with my husband! :)

Brrr Shiver Blessings,

Heather

The Promised Snow Pics

Another First

Yes, I realize that Grace is almost 3. Yes, I realize we've lived in Kansas City her whole life. However, we had a first for her today. I let her play outside in the snow. We got 4 inches of snow last night and it was the perfect wet, smooshy kind for snowballs and snowmen. Soooo after a warm lunch of soup I bundled the little one up and we went out to play.

We made a snowman with button eyes and a carrot nose. We tramped all around our yard and up and down the block several times. I took many pictures and plan on posting several tomorrow from school (home of the hi-speed internet).

To tempt you I'll tell you how adorable she looked in her boots (Mommy!! my Dora boots!!), her mittens and her coat. Don't fret grandma's, she had on tights, pants, boots, t'shirt, sweatshirt, coat and mittens and her hood was pulled up!

She hated to come inside but her hands were little icicles after about 20 minutes so we headed in, stripped down and curled up in bed to snuggle, read and nap. Ahhhhhhh! I love winter.

Ice Ice Baby

If you've watched the weather channel at all this week you'll know that KC has been getting slopped on. Albeit not as bad as those poor folks in OKC and Dallas but we are now in our third day with sleet and temps in the 20s! Yuck.

It all started Friday afternoon with sleet. I only had 7 kids in my afternoon class of 14. Parents just didn't want to get out in the mess and that was fine by me. By 2:30, though, I only had 2 kids. Yep, you read that right, 2. Many parents chose to come early and again, I don't blame them.

We still had daycare but most parents even picked up early from there too. However, at 5:30, the official end of day care I still had 3 students from 2 families. One family got there at 5:45 and it had taken mom about an hour to get there from i-35 and 75th (yeah yeah, i know, that info is only helpful to those familiar with KC but I don't know the milage.) She was so sweet and warmed up my car, scraped it and put a seatcover on the driver's seat so it would be warm when I got in later.

And it was nice not to have to scrape my car again when I got in at 7:30 that night. Yeah, we had a miscommunication combined with crappy weather that led to a student being in my care for most of the night. We had a fun time, though. We talked, watched cable (woo hoo cable in my room!) and raided the preschool snacks. I wasn't sure how long I would have to wait and I wsn't to keen on driving him home myself without permission from a family member but I did tell my principal that if he was still there at 7:30 we were going to get pizza and I would take him home. Who I really feel bad for is the kid. He had called his mom's work and she had left at 4:00. He was really worried about her and she doesn't have a cell phone so there was no way to reach her. His dad was working late and thus why we had to wait so late because he too does not have a cell phone.

The moral of this story is, make sure you have accurate emergency contact information for your child at his/her school and maybe every parent should have a cell phone, even if it is a pay as you go phone.

Saturday's dance class was cancelled due to weather but Grace and I did manage to get out to get our hair cut. We both are growing our hair out so we can have pretty updos for part 2. Gracie let Alissa wash her hair in the big girl sink. She wasn't too sure about it but mommy held her hand. As we were leaving the salon the sleet started up again so we hurried home.

Sunday brought more sleet and snow. By the afternoon these girls had a bad case of cabin fever so we ran out to target to pick up a few things. It was nice to get out of the house.

The good news is, there is no precipitation called for tomorrow--- just frigid temps so hopefully the road crews can get caught up. :)

Keep warm!