I live in an area that is rich with God’s artistic design, from the kaleidoscope of falling leaves in autumn, to white velvet blankets of snow in winter, to the lush rainbow of color in spring and summer.

This morning, I awoke, looked outside, and checked my boys’ school website to see if there was a two-hour delay. Nope. Instead, school is canceled due to the weather. In our part of the country, that’s not uncommon. The school calendar has snow days built into it.

Hubby spent the morning reclaiming the driveway. Our oldest son has been hunched over his computer, while our youngest watched the Food Network for a while. He decided he’d like to go into culinary arts. Women love guys who can cook. 🙂

As for me, it was another work day as usual. I want a snow day. When I was a kid, I loved snow days. When we were younger, we’d hang out at my grandparents’ dairy farm, sled ride down the hill near the barn, brave the pond to see how thick the ice was, and have snow ball fights with my cousins. As I grew older, snow days meant sleeping in and reading good books.

As an adult, snow days throw a wrench into my daily routine. I work at home and my day is laid out in a specific way. Two extra kids in the house makes a big difference. They’re teenagers now and do their own thing, but when they were younger, keeping them entertaining while I worked was sometimes a little challenging.

Here are five ways to keep your children entertained (and share quality time with them) during snow days:

• Bundle up and head outside. Build a snowman, make snow angels, and have a snow ball fight with your kids. Don’t forget your camera. Once the snow melts, you’ll have pictures to remind you of the time you spent creating memories with them.
• Make a tent in the living room by spreading blankets over the tops of your couch and chairs. Secure the edges of the blankets with books. Grab flashlights, pillows, blankets, a snack, books and have a pajama party in your tent. Don’t forget the camera!
• Cook together. Cooking with children is a wonderful way to spend quality time together as well as help them learn. Go through cookbooks together and decide on a fun recipe to make. Enjoy the treat with the family. Don’t forget to take pictures!
• Go through family pictures and work on a scrapbook together. Children love looking at pictures, especially of when they were younger. Share some laughter as you take a stroll down memory lane.
• Throw open those closet doors and play dress up. Children have vivid imaginations and love to pretend. Take their pictures and add them to the scrapbook!