What the weather!?!?!?

Its crazy what we've been dealing with here. Houston is known for its womanly mood swings, its crazy rainy days and cold in the morning hot in the afternoon days, BUT ice storms and snow days? In Texas?

Yup. Houston is basically having a break down. Here we are stuck inside again. It happened Friday and its happening again today. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy days off, because I get spend time with my little ones, but somehow, the school districts are going to make it up.

The winter storm was cancelled, the media hyped it up more than it actually was. Just like they hyped up Rita right after Katrina hit and nothing happened... But when Ike came, no one took it seriously and a lot of people didn't survive. Anyway... My mind wonders.

Houston is being called "iceapocalypse". 

And what's crazier is that it's freezing again tonight but will get up to the mid 70's by tomorrow afternoon, back cold again by the beginning of the weekend and back up to the 70's at the end of the weekend. 

So what did we do? The weather outside is a bit crazy, especially if you have children. An ice storm is the worst form of winter weather for parents: School is canceled but you can’t bundle the children up and send them outside to make snow angels and people. Stuck indoors, kids resort to a few unsavory scenarios: Yelling at each other or sitting like zombies in front of the TV.

Here are a few ideas to save the ice-days (which we will never have again): 
 
The Amazing Cleaning Race: Set a timer, then challenge the kids to see who can do the most amount of cleaning in that time. For younger kiddos, set it for 5 minutes. For a bit older, try 30 minutes or even an hour. Each kiddo could tackle their own bedroom/play area. If you happen to live in a magical world where those bedrooms are already clean, give each kiddo a different room or section of a room. Works every time.
 
Let the kiddos go play outside for a bit. Being cooped up in the house isn't so much fun if its an all day event. Let them explore their ideas. Mine actually thought it snowed so I let them go check it out. They didn't come back in with snow, but they did come back with ice! And boy did they have a blast... Even if it was for only 15 minutes. (Remember it was freezing)
 

Watch a movie under toasty blankets. Pop your blankets in the dryer for 10 minutes to get them warm before putting on the movie! Sit on the couch snuggled up together (as my 4 year old son says) and drink hot cocoa. It really is the warmest spot in the house.

Lastly...

Cook something special together: Make all meals together throughout the day. This gives the kiddos something exciting to do. Bake and cook. Kids love this! Today we made breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Breakfast: Homemade organic banana Greek yogurt muffins, omelets and peachy cobbler green juice.

Lunch: Spaghetti and turkey meatballs

Dinner: Greek salad, mac and cheese and teriyaki chicken. 

Night snack: Mexican homemade hot cocoa.

Just make it fun. Might as well, since the media and this Houston weather are going crazy.