Guess who went to school on the first snow day of the year? Yup, Clara and I trudged through the snow to find an empty school building yesterday morning. It turned out to be a great day and I'm sure if we'd known school was closed we'd have been sluggish all morning and wouldn't have done half the things we did.

I wasn't sure if the Carrefour would be open since most garderies and all the schools in Montreal were closed because of the all-day snowstorm but we decided to take the sled and make our way up there anyway. I'm glad we did. There were several other old siblings in Leo's class and the energy was really great with so many kids excited about the snow. We decorated gingerbread men and promptly ate them, sang, danced, and ran around like fools in the gym. Instead of going straight home we went across the street to the new restaurant for lunch with two other families. We took over the old bank vault and continued the party over sandwiches and soup. Clara rekindled an old friendship with Mathilde from her preschool class last year. The difference was, this year Clara talked! The two big girls giggled maniacally while Leo wrote his name over and over on the blackboard wall (this restaurant really is an excellent place to eat with kids).

Gingerbread cookies right before they were devoured.

I love how Leo writes his name, I didn't even teach him, he just picked up a pencil a few weeks ago and wrote the letters ELO. Now he generally puts them in the right order but his Es usually have at least 4 horizontal lines... I love it and will get a picture of it some time. Of course that would require that my camera to stay turned ON when I want to use it... I'm having issues with it right now.

Back to our snow day. After lunch we headed back home in the sled - it is much easier pulling two kids downhill on Saint Denis than up hill. When we got home we shoveled the front steps and played in the snowbanks until we were too wet to stay outside. All hell pretty much broke loose while trying to get everyone out of their wet snowsuits, boots, hats, and mitts. Five and three year olds don't have much patience when the are DONE being cold and wet. I diffused the situation with the offer of a Christmas movie, the first one of the season. The Santa Clause kept them away from each others throats long enough for me to figure out dinner so when it was done Clara did some colouring (what is new) and Leo instructed me on how to colour a page for him :)
The day was pretty much done then. We (I) ate dinner and then it was into pajamas and stories on the couch. Leo fell asleep on my shoulder listening to Holly Clause. I don't remember the last time he did something like that! Clara fell asleep pretty quickly as well once she was all tucked in and her back had been well tickled.

So, now that Clara, Leo and I have experienced a "snow day" I think we'll be looking forward to the next one. And if Environment Canada has any clue what they are talking about, we'll be in for a few more days like yesterday this year.

This was taken today. Still snowing but school was opened.