to pack or not to pack?

That is the question parents are asking all over the place tonight...Will it be a snow day tomorrow...In some places (Foxboro, Mass), they have already called it for tomorrow!  Around here, it is falling fast and furious, but...the big question on Vancouver Island always is...how long till it turns to rain?  How long will it last?  And , personally, I am packing lunches for tomorrow because I am very hopeful that tomorrow will not be a snow day!  (I do not relish the idea of a house full of children home from school, wishing it would stop raining so they can go out and play in the snow before it all melts!)...I love snow days, don't get me wrong.  But I mean real snow days, when we have 14 inches of beautiful snowman building snow and some bright sunshine and the kids can go out and build snowmen and forts and have snowball fights, and then head down to the school yard and slide and slide and slide, until their legs are burning from climbing back up the hill so many times, and their hats and mitts are soaked through.  Then they come home and eat all the cookies in the house and drink mugs full of hot chocolate with marshmallows and leave chocolate rings on all the tables and the empty cookie packages on the counter.  And then, because they are still starving, they eat the lunch that was packed the night before (for school!), on the floor in front of the television like they are having a picnic.
So now, what do I pack?  Well, if it is a school day, but they get to go out and play, it will be good to have something hot in their thermoses...so, some chicken gnocchi soup (new recipe from Eating Well magazine: chicken breast cut up, onions, carrots, celery, all cooked till soft, add 4 cups chicken broth and heat medium high till boiling, add the gnocchi and cook for another 10 minutes) to use up some of that Gnocchi that was in the pasta basket I won in the school raffle at Christmas.  And we have some pita bread, so that and some cheese cut up and carrot sticks...There is a loaf of banana bread in the freezer that will be ready to cut up in the morning, and then of course, two mandarins for Kate, and applesauce, an apple, a pear and a mandarin for Duncan.

I hope if you get a snow day, that you get a chance to play too!