We got a phone call at 6 am this morning to tell us that school had been cancelled due to icy road conditions. I've gotta say -- how awesome is it that those mothers at school take to calling parents about the change? Personally, we don't turn on the TV or radio in the a.m. so we could have easily made it out of the house without hearing the news. Instead, I turned over in my bed and went back to sleep for 2 hours.

Of course, my friend Lisa very correctly pointed out the irony in this. We've had a most debilitating cold snap since Christmas with temperatures in the -20 range. The kids have been banned to indoor recess and bundled to their tippie toes. That was not enough to close school. It's only when the temperatures rise to 35 causing icy roads that we have to cancel school around here. Alaska is quite unusual.

Well, I take the advice of the Anchorage School District pretty seriously. They're no wimps. If they say not to drive, I won't. So, we're hunkered down to a morning of house cleaning and planning Christopher's birthday party. Right now the kids are running around the house playing "Toy" -- a game they made up where Cate pretends to be a robot crying "toy" as she races around the house trying to capture Christopher (her "toy"). Strange game, but we could do worse. As temperatures rise in the afternoon, maybe we'll attempt getting out of the house.

This would have to happen while Christopher's still banned from television, video games, computers, and movies. It'll be a long day for him undoubtedly.