HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — With this many days of the kids out of school, never underestimate the power of middle Tennessee moms and dads to get creative. A Hendersonville mom's kept her boys occupied, and you're going to love what they did.
"I often call them my wild boys," smiled Hendersonville mom Teresa McClung watching her boys riding down a hill on sleds. "They are non-stop all the time until they fall asleep!"
Outside time is key for Teresa, mom to seven-year-old Kyle and five-year-old Bryce.
"Did you see me do that?!" Bryce laughed after his sled crashed next to a tree.
"There was a study that came out that said children spend about a thousand hours a year staring at screens, TVs, and devices," Teresa said. "We have a goal each year to spend a thousand hours outside."
School being out during this winter weather was alright by Teresa, the roads around their Hendersonville home are a little dicey. However, Teresa decided keeping the boys occupied might take creativity.
"I think it turned out real good," Kyle said, looking over at the family's new creation. "I like to call it the rainbow ice igloo!"
The multi-color igloo was big enough for the boys to climb inside.
"We got these little tin pans, and we filled them up with water and added food coloring," Kyle said.
"We had to freeze the blocks!" Bryce chimed in. "Also, it's really big. It's bigger than me!"
"We've worked the past four days to put together the blocks," said Teresa. "It took 118 blocks to build the majority of it, plus 40 buckets of snow. We made a mush out of water and snow, and that's the kind of mortar of it."
"You gonna go live in this for a while?" I asked the boys.
"Uh. No!" Bryce said with a laugh.
"Probably not, no," added Kyle.
Still, the guys were happy to show me around.
"It's actually way warmer than it is outside," Kyle said, sitting inside the igloo with his brother.
"Your mom's got some good ideas!" I told them.
"She does," Kyle agreed.
"You don't have to live in a climate where you can build an igloo to come up with things you'll remember for a long time," said Teresa.
"Happy Snow Week!" Bryce added.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
