what farts a snowflake?

One of the more interesting parts of parenting a gazillion children (okay, four...same thing in the opinion of some) is juggling all their various needs and wants. In our house, the kids seem to take turns doing extracurricular activities. It's not planned that way; that's just how it works out. Right now it's Sam's turn. He's in band and yearbook this year, both of which have after-school commitments during the week. Therefore, the other three kids and I have spent a lot of time sitting in the van waiting for Sam over the past few weeks.

While this is not such a big deal for Zander and Izzy (they'll take their snacks in the van just as happily as anywhere else), Jake gets rather bored. I don't blame him; I get a little bored myself. So I've started taking little things for the two of us to do. In addition to giving us both something to do, we get in a little "quality one-on-one" time as well. This past week it was paper with some tic-tac-toe grids on it. We played several games, got righteously beat by the cat, and then headed home when Sam came out.

Of course, then there is the traffic issue. Getting off the base in the "after work" time frame is an absolute pain. Even though we live less than two miles from the front gate, it can take upwards of 30 minutes to get home. The traffic is that bad. Jake, being the enterprising young man that he is, used one of our rides home this week to draw up a little cartoon on the back of our tic-tac-toe paper. I, being his mother, think it is hysterical and want to share.

I present you with: Snow-vamp!

There was a long conversation about snow-vamp on the drive. Snow-vamp only attacks other snowmen, never people. He drinks water from them which makes them smaller. You have to try to kill him with snowballs. The "Snow Sheriff" is trying to catch him but was grossed out by the "snow fart" (a snowflake...that looks a lot like a baby snowman) and couldn't. Snow-vamps obviously would not be red (contrary to what you might think, mom, geez!) because snowmen don't have red blood.

If you are familiar with this family on a personal basis you know that Jake is pretty quiet. Having him giggle and story-tell his way through a 30-minute car trip is a serious triumph. He's so quiet that we sometimes worry that he gets "drowned out" by his more, shall we say, boisterous siblings. This little activity really got him going and I was so happy to see it. It's nice to see him bubbly and creative.

I'm almost starting to look forward to sitting in the van!