Snow Day Quiet

Confession - I am a yeller.  Not all the time, but enough.  Enough that I want to stop.  I took a step back a month or so ago and realized that when I reach the "yell" point it is usually because I've done something wrong.  Ouch.

I am incredibly guilty of taking our days off - be they weekends, vacation days, or snow days - and using them to get "my stuff" done - rather than taking the time to "be with" the kids.  We are on the go so much with 4 kids in activities that I need to take these slow down moments and treasure them.  So, today, I tried.  I did get something done "for me," but since it didn't take an exorbitant amount of time - and it needed to be done.

But, once it was roasting in the oven, I could catch snowflakes on a dark piece of paper:

Then, I got the stock in the pot to simmer:

And, then we made microscope slides of snowflakes:

And hooked the computer up to the microscope:

And looked at the slide of the snowflake (SO COOL!!):

I went outside to take a few pictures of the snow:

And after dinner, we made snow cream:

And did a science experiment:

The jar on the left is loosely packed, the jar on the right tightly packed with snow

This is how much water was left in each jar after melting, quite the difference.

Amazingly, by engaging the children - off and on through the day - I didn't yell.  Not once.  Hmmmm.....