WEBVTT
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There's a funny thing about snow days in our house
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because technically, on paper, our kids don't even have snow days.
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They do online public virtual school. No buses pulling up
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at seven am, no backpacks lined up by the door
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the night before, no standing outside in the cold waiting
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for a yellow bus that's running fifteen minutes late, no
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permission slips, no cafeteria lunches, no snow day phone trees.
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And yet somehow we still have snow days. Because here's
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the thing. Snow doesn't care about Wi Fi. Winter doesn't
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care about virtual classrooms. And when a storm rolls through
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hard enough to knock out power across the country, the
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school district cancels for everyone, every single student, virtual or not.
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Because when the power grid goes down, when the internet
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towers lose connection, when half the country is sitting in
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the dark, the school makes the call no school today,
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all students stay safe. Snow days at our house don't
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happen because we decide to take the day off. They
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happen because mother nature decides for everyone. Because the whole
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world slows down, whether you plan for it or not.
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And when that happens, oh, it's on welcome back to
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We are the Hansens, the podcast about marriage, parenting, family, love, laughter.
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I'm raising humans in a world that never goes exactly
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according to plan. I'm really glad you're here today because
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we're talking about something that feels small on the surface
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but ends up being one of those memories that stick
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around forever. Snow days at our house. And yes, before
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anyone jumps into the comments, yes, our kids attend online
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public virtual school. They log in from home, They do
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their work in pajamas half the time. They don't ride
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buses or stand in carpool lines. But if you've ever
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lived through a Midwest winter, if you've ever watched a
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storm system move across the radar like it's got a
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personal vendetta against your county, you already know a power
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outage doesn't care how your school is structured. When the
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lights go out, when the routers blink red and die,
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when the heat stops kicking on and the house goes quiet,
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school gets canceled for everyone, virtual kids included. And that's
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when the magic happens. That's when our house transforms from
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structured homeschool environment into complete and total chaos, the best
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kind of chaos. Let's talk about it. Snowdays don't start
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in the morning. They start the night before. They start
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with parents glued to their phones, watching the weather like
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it's a Super Bowl, dar wind chill advisories, ice accumulation predictions.
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You're refreshing the forecast every twenty minutes. You're checking the
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school district website. You're in the parent Facebook groups watching
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other moms lose their minds over whether bread and milk
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will still be available at the grocery store. And in
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our case, we're watching for one thing specifically, power outages,
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because if the power goes out in our area, if
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the internet drops, if the whole county loses connectivity, the
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school district cancels. They send the email, they post the announcement.
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Due to widespread power outages and on safe road conditions,
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all classes are canceled for whatever day it could be.
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This includes virtual students. The kids know the drill. They're
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not hoping for a traditional snow day announcement. They're not
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waiting for a phone call from the superintendent. They're watching
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the weather. They're listening to the wind pick up outside.
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They're checking the lights. Dad, do you think will lose power? Mom?
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What if the internet goes out. If the router dies,
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does that mean no school? And you're trying to play
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it cool, You're trying not to feed into the excitement,
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but inside you're kind of hoping for it too, because,
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let's be honest, snow days are magic, even for parents,
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especially for parents. It usually happens in the middle of
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the night or early morning, right before the sun comes up.
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Snow starts falling. Not the light pretty kind, the heavy, wet,
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relentless hind that piles up fast, the wind picks up,
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trees start bending, and then that sound, not a notification,
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not a text alert, but silence, the deep, sudden silence
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that only happens when the power goes out. The hum
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of the house shuts off, the furnace stops mid cycle,
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the lights flicker once and die. The router that usually
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blinks green in the corner dark completely dead, And just
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like that, before anyone even checks their email, you know
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virtual school is canceled. You don't have to announce it,
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you don't have to wake the kids. They feel it.
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One by one. Bedroom doors crack open, little faces peek
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out into the hallway. Did the power just go out?
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Is the internet gone? So that means no school right,
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And you check your phone because you're responsible, because you
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want to confirm, and there it is the email from
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the school district, all classes canceled today due to power
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outages and hazardous conditions. You show them the screen, and suddenly,
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without any warning, without any planning, you're having a snow day,
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not because you decided to skip because winter or cited
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for everyone. Here's what happens immediately after a snow day
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gets declared in our house, pure unfiltered chaos. The kids
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lose their minds. They're running, they're shouting, they're jumping on beds,
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even though you've told them a thousand times not to
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snow day, no school. We can stay in pajamas all day.
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And you're standing there in the dark holding a flashlight
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trying to figure out if the heat's going to come
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back on, while your children celebrate like they've just won
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the lottery because to them, they did a snow day.
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When you do online school feels earned. It doesn't happen often,
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it doesn't happen lightly. It happens because the world literally
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said everyone stop, everyone slow down, everyone stay home. There's
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something about that, something about knowing it's not just your house.
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It's the entire county, the whole disc everyone's in the
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same boat. No Google classroom today, no Zoom calls, no assignments,
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no logging in, just nothing, which sounds amazing until you
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realize now you have to fill that time with no power,
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no internet, no screens. And that's when the real adventure begins.
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Once the excitement dies down, once the adrenaline wears off,
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you start thinking logically. You start planning, because a houseful
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of kids with no structure, that's a recipe for disaster.
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So you call a family meeting in the living room
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by flashlight and you lay down the snow day rules. Okay,
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listen up, We're not just doing nothing all day. We're
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going outside once it's safe. Everyone's helping with chores. We
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still eat real meals, not just snacks, and no not
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watching movies on devices all day because there's no power.
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The kids nod, they agree, they look attentative. They absolutely
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will not follow any of it, but you try anyway,
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because that's parenting. You set expectations, knowing full well they'll
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get ignored, but hoping maybe one or two will stick.
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The first challenge of any snow day without power breakfast
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because kids wake up hungry. And when there's no microwave,
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no toaster, no electric griddle, you get creative. If you're lucky,
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you've got a gas stove. We do, so we fire
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it up. We make pancakes the old fashioned way, mixing
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batter by hand, whipping them in the cast iron skillet.
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No timer, no perfect temperature control, just eyeballing it. There's
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something about cooking by necessity that makes food taste different.
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The kids crowd around the stove, they watch the batter bubble,
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They argue over who gets the first one, and for
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a moment, it feels less like we lost power and
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more like we're camping indoors, which, let's be real, that's
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exactly what this is. Eventually, the kids start getting restless.
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They've eaten, they've burned off the initial excitement, and now
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they're bouncing off the walls. So you make the call,
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all right, everyone outside, And that's when it starts the
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great snowgear hunt. Where are my boots? I can't find
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my left glove, the coat doesn't fit anymore, my snow
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pants are wet from last time. And you're running around
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the house like a mannic, digging through closets, checking the
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laundry room, trying to find matching gloves that aren't soaked.
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Because here's the truth about snowgear. It disappears. You buy it,
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you label it, put it in the same spot every time,
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and somehow, by the time you actually needed, half of
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it's gone lost to the void, eaten by the snowgear monster.
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You eventually cobble together enough gear for everyone to go outside.
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Some of it fits, some of it doesn't. Some of
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it is from three years ago and barely zips. But
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it's fine. It's a snow day. Nobody cares if your
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pants are two inches too short. When everyone finally gets outside,
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something shifts. The chaos holms, the noise softens, because snow
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does that. It muffles everything, makes the world quieter, slower.
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The yard is unrecognizable, everything buried under a thick blanket
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of white. The trampolines a giant snow mound, the slide covered,
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the swing set looks like a frozen sculpture. And the kids,
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they lose it. It's the best way. Snowballs start flying,
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orks get built. Someone tries to make a snow angel
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and ends up face first in a drift. There's laughter,
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real deep belly laughter, the kind you don't get on
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a normal day, the kind that only happens when everyone's
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cold and wet and completely present, no phones, no distractions,
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just kids being kids, and you stand there, freezing watching, thinking,
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this is what childhood should look like. Every snow day
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has a sled situation. In our house. It's always the same.
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We have exactly three sleds. We have three kids. Someone
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getting left out, someone going to cry, someone going to
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try to ride down the hill on a trash can lid.
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It happens every time I called it first, you got
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the fast one. Last time that one's broken. I'm going
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down backwards, and you're standing at the top of the hill, refereeing, negotiating,
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trying to make sure nobody ends up in the emergency room.
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Because kids on sleds fearless, reckless, completely unconcerned with physics
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or safety. They'll ride down anything. They'll aim for trees
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like it's a challenge. They'll build jumps that absolutely should
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not exist, and all you can do is watch and
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pray and maybe take a few videos for evidence later. Eventually,
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the cold winds, it always does, Fingers go numb, toasts
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start hurting. Someone's crying because their face is frozen, and
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you call it all right, everyone inside, there's resistance. Just
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five more minutes. We're not even cold, but you stand
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firm because you know, you know that in ten minutes
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someone's going to be sobbing about frostbite. So you heard
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them back towards the house, slowly, one by one, leaving
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a trail of snow and wet gear behind them. When
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everyone comes back inside, the house feels different, quieter, darker,
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because the power's still out. No TV blaring in the background,
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no device is charging on the counter, no lights humming overhead,
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just silence and cold, wet kids stripping off layers in
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the entryway. You grab towels, you start a fire. If
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you have a fireplace, you pile blankets on the couch,
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and slowly everyone settles, bundled up, still shivering, but together.
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When the power's been out for hours, lunch becomes a challenge.
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You can't just throw something in a microwave, you can't
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heat up leftovers. You've got to get creative, and in
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our house we make snow day soup. It's become a tradition,
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not because we planned it that way, but because when
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you're standing in front of your pantry in the dark,
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holding a flashlight, trying to figure out what you can
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cook on a gas stove with no electricity. You start improvising,
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and this this is what we came up with. So
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let me walk you through it, because if you've got
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a gas stove and some basic ingredients, you can feed
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an army of cold, hungry kids with this. First, you
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need a big pot, not a small one, a big
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one because this is going to feed everyone and it's
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going to simmer for a while. Start with oil, a
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couple tablespoons olive oil if you've got it, vegetable oil.
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If you don't, whatever you have, heat it up over
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medium heat on your gas burner. Then you're going to
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brown some ground beef about two pounds if you're feeding
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a crowd like ours, one pound if your family's smaller.
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Break it up as it cooks, let it get nice
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and brown. Season it with salt and pepper while it's cooking.
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Don't skip this step. This is where the flavor starts.
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Once it's browned, train off most of the fat. If
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there's a lot, leave a little bit for flavor. Now
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here's where it gets good. You're going to add one
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onion dice. If you don't have a fresh onion, use
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onion powder, a tablespoon or soap. Throw in some garlic
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three or four cloves minced or add a tea spoonful
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garlic powder. If that's what you've got. Let that cook
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for a couple minutes until it smells amazing. Next you're
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building the base. Add one big can of dice tomatoes,
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the twenty eight ounce can. Don't drain it, dump the
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whole thing in. Then add beef broth pour cups. If
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you don't have beef broth, use bowllyon cubes and water.
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Nobody's judging. This is survival cooking. Now for the vegetables.
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This is where you raid the pantry and the fridge.
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Frozen mixed vegetables perfect. Throw in two cups fresh carrots
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you need to use up. Dice them and toss them
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in celery. Great potatoes even better, cut them into small
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chunks so they cook faster. Green beans, corn, peas, whatever
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you've got. It all works. The beauty of this soup
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is that it's flexible. It doesn't have to be exact.
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Season it. This is important. Salt pepper, Italian seasoning. About
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a tablespoon, a bay leaf if you have one, a
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pinch of red pepper flakes if you like a little heat,
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taste it, adjust, and more salt if it needs it.
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Then let it simmer. Turn the heat down to low,
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put the lid on it, and just let it go
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twenty minutes thirty if you've got time. The longer it simmers,
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the better it tastes. While it's cooking, the whole house
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starts to smell incredible. The kids start circling. Is it
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ready yet? How much longer I'm starving? Right before you
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serve it, add pasta small pasta, elbow macaroni, small shells,
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whatever small pasta you have, about a cup and a half.
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Stir it in. Let it cook for about ten minutes