Foiled! And not in a crafty way.

I'm feeling foiled, in more ways than one - and that's not including our bathroom remodel. Today I was going to talk about the FABULOUS bottle caps I made with the girls on Monday, and share with you how to make them! Except our power went out around 5:30 today, and I was going to take pictures of the process this evening while we worked on some new ones after dinner. Kind of hard to do that in the dark, by candle and lantern light.

I had plans for Wednesday, you know. I figured the kids would be home from school - they were forecasting snow, and this being Virginia, we seem to cancel school if there is any whisper of potentially icy weather. I thought I could at least get some cleaning done, and have fun playing with my kids too. We had a dusting of snow overnight Tuesday, and the 6am call came that school was canceled.

Now, Jason had dropped my new Martha Stewart heart confetti punch on the floor Tuesday night. I have to admit, I was kind of ticked about that, as it broke into unusable pieces, as I really felt it was a splurge in the first place when I'd bought it on sale at Michaels over the weekend.When William offered to buy me a new one, I knew I needed to just let it go :)

So when Wednesday dawned kind of gloomy but not blizzardy yet, I figured we had time to head to Michaels again before the snow hit, and I'd let the boys pick out some stuff to make bottle cap magnets with - who says they need to be necklaces, right? What the hell was I thinking? Taking four kids into a virtually empty Michaels on a dreary Wednesday morning? The store was so quiet, I'm positive all the employees could hear every snarl and bark out of me as I tried to hustle my four through and pick stuff out that would fit in a one inch circle AND appeal to boys. Jason, I'm sorry, but the enormous dinosaur you had your heart set on  would NOT fit on a bottle cap, not matter how much you cried :(

So we finally made it out of the craft store and back home, me all the while wondering where all the snow is, and why my kids didn't go to school today, when finally around maybe 3:30 or 4 it started coming down. Hooray! This is our first big storm of the winter, and everyone was so excited to see it sticking to everything.

I can only say, I am so happy I started cooking dinner around 5 - spaghetti and meatballs - because no sooner had I turned off the burner and drained the pasta, than the power went off. For about four hours. So much for my plans for the evening.

You  know what though? If it hadn't, I would have plowed on with MY agenda, instead of taking things as they came. We ate our spaghetti  by candlelight, Matt texted me where to find the camping lantern in the basement, and the kids entertained themselves with coloring and stamps in the kitchen for at least an hour.

Sarah didn't understand why she couldn't watch tv, but it seemed to sink in after a while. I took some pictures (something I've been meaning to do!) before I cleaned up dishes, and then everyone got pjs on and played a board game before talking to Dad in San Diego.

I had just said goodnight to Evie and come downstairs when I glanced out the window and saw two power company trucks drive by, and not 30 seconds later the power was back on. So much for me reading on the couch by candlelight followed by an early bedtime :)

I really had quite a list planned for myself this evening, and I have to say it was really nice to be forced to slow down and take things easy - had the power not been out, I would have plowed through our evening, moving from one project to the next, pushing everyone towards bedtime.

Instead, the four played together SO NICELY! And I was lucky enough to witness and be a part of it all, instead of checking things off of my list of chores. I can always exercise tomorrow, and the snow isn't going anywhere until I get out there and move it - or a neighbor with a snow blower takes pity on me :)

So that was our first snow day, and school is canceled already for Thursday. I'm really hoping they go in on Friday, as Monday was a teacher work day  - if they don't go in, it will be a one day school week, and that's not NEARLY enough. Unless I say Uncle and give up on cleaning the house for the week.

There's always next week, right?

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So is anyone else putting their winter fat on, or is it just me? I feel like I should be a bear. I have single-handedly managed to finish a box of Crunch 'n Munch in two days. The box says it has 11 servings in it. Not two. I don't even want to mention how many calories are in it. Chocolate? Don't think there is a single piece left in the house, I've eaten it all. And I'm thinking boxed wine - some of which is actually pretty tasty, I started out thinking 'oh, I won't feel obligated to finish a bottle in 3 days because it will keep!'  - well, I think I'm actually drinking more wine, because really, how objective is your eye when filling your glass? Not very, apparently. I keep thinking I'll be 'good' tomorrow, and tomorrow never seems to come...

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And finally, here's a bit of Evie's cleverness :) Girlfriend cracks me up.