Beaches, Burning feet and the Oracle

I discovered last night, well, more like early this morning, that I definitely couldn't be a coastal dweller. You see, we have had a system of fronts move through here all bringing different types of weather over the last 36 hours. Yesterday it was in the 50s. The day before, it was near 70. Today, the wind chill is below zero because it's 19 degrees with 40 mph gusts.


The storm hit this morning at about 3:30 with thunder. Thunder before a snowstorm? Yeah, we do things like that here in Texas... keeps you on your toes. I woke up and was laying there hearing the freezing rain hitting the windows in the bathroom. Then it would die down and then a HUUUUUGE gust of wind would make the whole house creek so much that I checked my phone to make sure it was going to be a winter storm instead of a thunder storm.


Because of the fact that I am now on my FOURTH day in a row of being up at 3:30 a.m. and this one was due to the wind and rain, I now know that I am not a beach person. The fear of the damage that wind can do is more than these nerves can take. I'll take a good QUIET dumping of snow any day over the risk of hurricane-force winds.


So, as I said, I was in bed and listening to the thunder... and the huge gusts of wind... and Ben's little breaths... It was then that I thought, let's check Facebook. It appears I wasn't the only one awake. It was around 4:15 am that I saw on my phone (e-mail) that the boys' school would be closed today. I text Josh to let him know. I knew he'd be excited.


We get up at 7:30. Andy let his car run for a good 30 minutes to melt the ice on the windshield and to get warm. He made it to work with no problems, just slow and steady.


The boys and I had some leftovers for lunch. I had chili. Josh ate lasagna. Drew said he wanted lasagna but opted for a hot dog at the last minute -- that drives me nuts!


Then, knowing that the wind had died down somewhat I told them they could go outside (since they really wanted to and who wants to be that Mom - the one that won't let her kids play in the snow on a SNOW DAY because it's too cold and windy? Not me!). I would have lots of pictures but, with the wind blowing like this, I obviously wasn't about to take Ben out in it.


Josh has grown so much that his ski pants no longer fit. Couple that with the fact that his foot went from a 6 1/2 to an 8, his hiking boots didn't fit any longer either. So, the kid was not only wearing my ski bibs but also my hiking boots (and his toes were at the end!) I didn't want him ruining his new tennis shoes or getting them soggy, boggy wet. My eleven year old kid can wear my ski bibs and hiking boots! Crazy!


The boys decide to go to the end of the street where there is a little hill. I wanted them to have fun even if I really felt the urge to over "momma" them because that wasn't the safest thing to do. Sometimes, though, you gotta let the boys be boys and make some fun memories together. Sometimes, it feels good to be a "yes" kind of Mom. And so away they went. Josh left the driveway dragging Drew who was sitting in a green recycling bucket. It was the funniest site I have seen in a while. My first thought was "how white trash is this" but then I thought to myself how sweet it was that Josh was being a great big brother. However, the white trash thought just made me just laugh it all off.


They're gone a while and then come in and warm up. Josh decides to start his own polar bear club. Only, we don't own a pool. So, he decides to go outside in his polar bear UNDERWEAR... in the snow... and he wants it on video. The kid is certifiable.


But I did it.


It's on video.


He's a nuthead.


And now, I have proof!


I told him, "Your feet are going to burn."


"My feet are going to burn?"


"Yes, your feet are going to burn."


"How?"


"Go grab an ice cube and hold it for about 4 seconds and tell me that it doesn't start to burn your hand because it's so cold."


"But..."


"I'm just saying, that's the same thing out there... ice. Your feet are going to burn. Have fun."


He goes through with the madness.


When he walks in and grabs his warm towel out of the dryer, the first words out of his mouth?


"My feet are burning!"


No, I didn't say, "I told you so." I don't think my job as a mom is to do that... because letting him learn the lesson that generally my warnings are always valid just leads him to continue to believe that I'm some type of mothering oracle. And I like that... because I know it won't last.