Take my kids to work day

The problem with a blizzard that fizzles is kids get a day off from school while the rest of the world keeps turning, putting parents in the awkward position of juggling family and work responsibilities.

Did I mention I don't know how to juggle?

And that is why I ended up with a whole lot of hand prints on the arched window in my office.

I started out the day at home with the kids, monitoring my work e-mail and making a few phone calls. I let Jeff sleep until lunchtime, then woke him up and headed to work. I managed to squeeze in two-and-a-half hours of uninterrupted (i.e. fully billable) hours, but then my young assistants had to join me because Jeff had to head back in to work.

They brought three DVDs with them, but whoever picked them out didn't do a very good job. First choice was their Playmobile Pirates movie, which is highly interactive, which means they were calling me every few minutes to work the remote. That's after I'd spent several minutes trying to wipe the grimy fingerprints off it so that it would play without skipping. Next choice: the Little Mermaid. Sydney loves it. AJ hates it. Final choice: an Imaginext cartoon. It's less than 15 minutes long.

"Mom, what else can we do?"

Playing with my phone held AJ's attention for only so long. Soon he was peaking around my chair looking for new ideas.

"Mom, let's do estimating!"

AJ's teacher has an estimating jar that she fills each day with a different item. Whichever child guesses closest to the correct number wins a treat. AJ is pretty proud that he's won three times. And so, in my office, he started estimating the number of cough drops, the number of sheets of paper and the number of dirty plastic forks that I need to bring home and wash.

Sydney, meanwhile, had fun with "Mommy's playset."

Both of them also spent plenty of time coloring, followed by plenty of time adding their masterpieces to my office wall.

Overall, I'm pretty proud of how they acted. They were there for almost three hours and didn't disturb any of my co-workers. As we drove home, AJ asked, "Do we get something for being good?"

"What do you think you deserve?" I asked, expecting an answer involving a fast food restaurant.

To my surprise, AJ's suggestion for a treat didn't involve food or spending money. "Play hockey with me in the basement when we get home."

Yes, we played hockey.