James: Alex, Knock, knock
Alex: Who’s there?
James: Golf club
Alex: Golf club who?
James: You’d better pick up your golf club or I’m taking it away.
Alex: Ha ha ha!
Will: Alex, that’s NOT a Joke!
So, its been awhile since I updated…
I wish I had a good reason, but really, how many ways can I say “We’re stuck inside because its super cold/icy, someone is sick again…” That’s about it. Not much interesting to say at the time. We were surprised with another 6 inches of snow on Sunday but the rest of the predicted storms I mentioned in the last post just didn’t happen(darn). It was just really, really cold, so nothing melted.
Here’s a close up shot of the ice stuff in our driveway from Saturday, Feb. 5th. James was able to get parts of it off (where he’d been able to put salt down), but other parts stuck around. Everyone was out of salt so there was no chance to add much more. And then we got the snow (he shoved off) and then we got our Arctic Blast! (as the news liked to call it). It was possible to get out, but made for a bumpy driveway. On Tuesday Marcus started getting fussy with a low grade fever, hat ended up getting up to 103 that night, but thankfully it broke that evening. While he was that sick he only wanted to be held by Mommy…that made for a long Tuesday.
I thought I’d throw in a few random pictures from around the house on a sunny day as I catch you up on the last week. I realized I don’t really blog unless I have pictures…and with all the indoor stuff, I’d not taken any, so I made a point to take a few on Friday. Marcus likes wearing Alex’s “work goggles” that came with a tool kit Alex got.
As I’m working on this, I’m realizing this is just a really random post of scattered thoughts to match the scattered pictures! 
Will’s teacher missed a week of school before the whole Ice Storm. She was walking backwards in the hall and tripped on a desk and fell and hit her head on it. She was taken to the hospital and kept there overnight for tests. Thankfully she’s ok, but she was having dizzy issues so she was out for a week. Then the kids missed 3 1/2 days because of the ice. They went back and the temperatures plunged to below zero so there was indoor recess for the whole week–where they stay in the classroom and do “stuff” (that would be Will’s description). She noted in the class newsletter that came home this week that there had been a higher then normal number of discipline issues. Hmmmm, you think? Will was telling us if they behave better & there is indoor recess again, there will be stations set up in another part of the school they can go to. I just have to shake my head. But it is a rough time of the year to be going to school and to have all the distractions, I just wish they had one more open spot so the kids could run around and play instead of being stuck inside. But–good news! Its warming up! We got above freezing 3 days in a row!!! We hit 50 today! Break out the shorts! (Seriously, it was good to have the week back to ‘mostly’ normal, but I’m sure the anticipation for the Valentine’s Day party hasn’t helped either.)
Marcus likes to walk up and give random hugs. Here he’s “hugging” the couch.
Marcus also likes to walk up and wipe his nose on your pants. That’s not quite as fun, so I’m getting good at grabbing a Kleenx as I see him coming with a runny nose. He can kind-of blow his nose. He’ll snort out, the trick is to get him to do it right when you have the tissue, not when you’re holding him and he does it to your shoulder or as he’s walking by you and he finds your leg a nice place. He also likes to help throw things away (too bad its usually not trash), unload the dishwasher (by throwing everything on the floor), and helps clean up the floor (by eating all the food he’s thrown down from the high chair). Such a good boy!
Alex was happy to go back to preschool. This was supposed to be his week to be the “Loveable Lion”, where he gets to be the line leader and “star” of the class for the week. Of course, with a week off because of the snow days, the little girl before him didn’t get to do it, so they agreed to share and she was the lion on Tuesday, he was on Thursday. He had a great time decorating his “About Me” poster and picking out his toys to share with friend. They also got to have a pizza party on Thursday (it was “P” week).
Yesterday started off bitter cold (our low was something like 5) but then really ended up being more of a “mild” day (we got up to 29 or 30, with no wind!) and sunny day, so by the afternoon cabin fever kicked in, and it was just begging for us to spend some time outside! So we did. I got some pictures and did a tiny bit of chipping away at the driveway (all from places that didn’t have ice on them so I had steady footing, no need to worry!)
Will did have school, after a 2 hour delay. The boys had fun playing football before the bus came. I was hoping to venture out, but Alex was only feeling “a tiny bit better” so we stayed home and rested. I gave him a cookie for a snack and he said that hurt his throat, so it confirmed my decision.
Our tree out front, I thought it was interesting how the ice on it was getting melted off by the sun and then refreezing. After the boys were out front, they tried to knock all these icicles off.
The boys loved how they could climb over the flower garden and then slide down. Yeah, its so frozen solid they can walk right across it.
This morning we woke up to more snow. We were initially told to expect “light” snow…then it was upped to maybe 2-3 inches. We ended up with about 4-5 inches. I included a few shots that are the same from earlier in the week so you can see the snow on top of the ice. It’s a beautiful snow, just not really what anyone wanted to see. We’re supposed to get another inch or two tomorrow and then MORE on Wednesday. What a strange, snowy winter. Might a sudden, early spring follow? I can hope!
Yesterday I finally kicked, no bribed, no really, I convinced the boys to go outside and play in the “frozen” stuff. More like play ON the ice.
They had fun seeing how slippery it was.
They pulled out the sled and experimented sledding down/around various places, including down the steps of the deck.
I was surprised how far out it went after this picture, it didn’t just get stuck like it looks here, it actually slid a bit. The pictures aren’t good because I was standing at the back door, trying to keep Marcus inside while taking them (he SO wanted to go out! But he’s too wobbly on his feet as it is, I’m not letting him try to walk on frozen snow/sleet!). Poor kid is JUST old enough to enjoy outside and we’ve had a record amount of snow fall that’s kept him stuck inside. He’s going to love it once it warms up enough to go outside.)
They tried sledding down the slide but knocked off the slab of ice that was on the slide. Will is showing how thick/big of a slab it was. It was quite heavy!
They came in and got the promised hot chocolate.
Today they went back out this morning to play some football out front. They had fun running over my flower beds (because the ice was solid, they literally went over the beds, not in or on them–it was quite odd to see!) Then Will’s bus came–he only had a 2 hour delay today, so it came about 10.
Icepocalypse or snopocalypse are terms being thrown around the interwebs to describe the crazy storm we had move through. Ours was the ice form, not the snow one, though I kept hoping and praying we’d get the snow. (Seriously, Chicago got 2 FEET! How cool would that be? Much cooler then 2 inches of ice. Which is kind of what we got.)
(Here are some pictures I took after Round 1, around Tuesday Mid-day. You can see the bits of snow/sleet in this picture as Round 2 was starting):
We really ended up dodging a bullet. We got more sleet then ice (how often is one cheering for sleet?). I wrote the other day about phase 1 of the storm. Phase 2 started at lunch time on Tuesday. (I canceled the Dr. appointment I had Tuesday morning and the boys didn’t have school because of the first layer of ice and the anticipation of it getting worse.) At lunch I looked up and realized it was raining (but it was freezing rain) sideways. An hour or so later, it was suddenly thick, heavy little ice pellets. They had been treating the roads well and James hadn’t had issues going in, but it was starting sooner then expected and they had said it would get much heavier in the afternoon. I was quite happy later in the day when I checked my email and saw James had written to tell me they were going to close the office at 3 and send everyone home. So I was watching the clock and the driveway after 3:20, waiting for him to come home. I was a bit surprised it wasn’t until 3:40. He said the roads weren’t bad, it took him a long time to deice the car. Poor guy had to do it in the morning to go to work and then to come home. So we hunkered down, I worked on finishing up anything that required power (making cookies, washing dishes, making supper), figuring it was only a matter of time before the power went out. Thankfully we got much more sleet then expected, so the power lines and tree limbs didn’t get as coated as they could have. We did still have flickers and at about 7:30 the power went out, came back on, and about 20 minutes later went out for good. We got the candles out, put the boys to bed (they got to stay up later because they’d already canceled school) and started folding laundry to the light of candles and the laptop while listening to a downloaded podcast. The power came back on after about an hour, and then after 20 minutes went out again. It came on again at 10 and surprised us by staying on all night! What an answer to prayer to wake up to a warm house! It turns out the temperatures went up from 10-12 pm and we had rain, which knocked off some of the sleet/ice from the limbs and power lines. Then the cold front came through and it changed over to snow, and refroze everything on top. Right now our driveway is covered in 2 inches of frozen solid “stuff”. The only good news is it’s rough so while its slick, its not a sheet of ice, so there is a bit of traction. We’re just not quite sure how to get it off without using a hoe or shovel…and I’m not going to be out there trying to do that at this point in the pregnancy!
(The rest are photos I took today–all from inside, using my telephoto lens. I’m not crazy and have no desire to go out in this mess right now.)
(All that white stuff on top of the railing is solid sleet, frozen, not snow)
Today James did not have to go into work and we had power all day, so it was a really fun snow day! I relaxed the rules on the video game and the kids had great fun playing together and with Daddy. Marcus has taken advantage of us not having to go out to catch up on sleep the last two days, he has taken double naps that have been extra long. I enjoyed relaxing after rushing to get lots done before we lost power yesterday. We did do a few crafts in the afternoon and we ate leftover food I’d made “just in case”.
(Again, not snow on the ground, just frozen solid ‘stuff’. They plow the road in front of our house fairly well because its right by the hospital. That, along with the sun coming out, actually melted most of the stuff off the road today! Our driveway, and all the side roads, are another issue though.)
We did get a call this evening that school is out another day. After teaching for 5 years up in a rural county (where our record for days out was 2 weeks solid), this isn’t that big of a deal. For local friends, I keep reading comments like “Three days in a row, that’s a record!” on Facebook. I guess these city folks are used to their roads being plowed sooner or just making it work! James called the “weather line” for the office and at this point the office opens at 6 am (though they said to call back, it might change) so I’m working on making plans to have a bit more structure to our day tomorrow. Tonight the temps are plunging down into the single digits.
(This is time #3 of James getting ice off the car. He decided to get it done today, in the sunshine, to make getting ready for work tomorrow easier.)
Yesterday we were talking about the forecast, how they’re calling for a chance of light snow both Saturday and again on Monday. Alex said “We’re going to turn into rotten snow birds!!!”
Sorry for the lack of entries in the last 2 weeks. It was just too depressing to say “Yep, we’re sick again” but that was the case. Marcus had tooth #5 pop out and I was hoping the runny nose was because of that. Nope, Alex got it and then I got it as well.
Right now we’re in phase 1 of a two part big storm that is bringing us sleet& freezing rain. Part 1 has lived up to the forecast–which isn’t really that good. We’ve already gotten the phone call that school is canceled for tomorrow (the roads are coated with a thick sleet/slush mix). The second part is supposed to come in the afternoon tomorrow, we’re being told up to an inch of freezing rain. Yikes! I keep praying it’ll go north/south and we’ll get snow or rain, but we shall see. We shall see. I took the younger two boys to the store first thing this morning to stock up (we got paid today so various supplies were getting rather low). So we got out and the normally empty store (for 9 am on a Monday morning) was pretty busy. We got home and I realized I’d forgotten several important things. But Marcus was tired and needed a nap. Once he got up, we had lunch and went back out and went to the store around 1…and WOW. It was crazy. Everyone was out, stocking up. The evening events were canceled, so I spent the evening getting some food cooked up “just in case” (a big pot of chili–easy to reheat–and then I cooked up some drumsticks that we can have cold if we lose power, or put on salads or what ever the need will be in the next day or so. We have water stocked up (since we have an electric pump for our well), we have other easy heat meals (soups) & PB & J supplies (the kids would be thrilled to only have that), lots of fruit, a heater with kerosene, laundry is done, so I’m hoping we won’t need to worry about it and I’ll have over prepared. Oh, and I have craft ideas for the boys, Thank You notes for Alex to write and class valentines for the boys to do. Trying to be prepared! OH–and after our big dump of snow or freezing rain or rain, we’re looking at strong winds and then REALLY cold temps. So please keep us in your prayers!
I wanted to record some things the kids said that I put on Facebook in the past few weeks so I have them saved. So forgive the randomness of the rest of this post (or the repeat, if you read it on Facebook).
We’ve just had a snowy winter. Last week we had a storm that came through during the day–just after I got Alex to school it got worse. I probably wouldn’t have even taken him but I had to go to the Dr. myself, so I just slowly made it there and then off to the Dr. All continues to progress fine. (I was supposed to go in tomorrow and was going to talk about my itchy skin coming back…but not really wanting to take all 3 kids with me tomorrow. We’ll see how the roads look in the morning.)
That night we got a call saying Will had a 2 hour delay the next day (our school system has an automated phone system for those plus other things). I told Will and Alex how nice that was, “When I was in school we didn’t get phone calls.” Alex said “Why? Oh, that’s right, they didn’t have ‘lectricity then!” Then I explained we DID have electricity, we’d have to watch the TV or listen to the radio, he said “So did you look online?” Kids!!!
Another day, I put socks on Marcus. He promptly sat down, pulled one off one foot and then one off the other (almost falling backwards as he pulled each one off each foot) then picked them up, walked from the living room to the kitchen to the trash can and threw one away. So we know how he feels about socks. (And why he either wears socks + shoes or is barefoot.)
A few days later Marcus was trying to play with the mouse to James’ computer. Alex came over and started “playing with him” (meaning took it and played with it himself) and was singing “Hickory-Dickory Dock” rhyme while having it “run” up and down the side of the desk.
So those are a few glimpses of life amidst the business of day to day life. We’ve had basketball each Saturday and its been fun to see Will get better at that (he scored TWO baskets last week–first time to score any!). Alex, Marcus and I are all starting to feel better–maybe with the snow shutting everything down for a few days we’ll even stay healthy a bit longer! I’m trying to balance not overdoing it with the nesting instinct that makes me want to get things done. Thankfully James and the boys are helping me so things are getting done. As I’m starting to feel better from this last cold I’m feeling like I have more energy–some times. Today I got so much done and was pleased how I’d gotten it done and wasn’t too tired, but then I hit a wall about 6. So once again I’m resting and hope to take it a bit easier tomorrow.
I’m going to throw in a random cute picture of Marcus out in the snow last week. The snow is all melting and we’re getting rain tonight–first time we’ve been above freezing and had rain in awhile. I put these on Facebook so those who see stuff there have already seen it, but I had to include it here too!
I took him out to get pictures of him in his hat (made by James’ Aunt Betty) and gloves (made by Grandma Lo). I expected him to want to come in as soon as he fell down. Instead, he had no problem when he fell, he just got back up and kept going. It took me a few moments to realize he was just so excited to be DOWN! and FREE! out front that he was just Going–Right Towards The Road. So we came back inside. He’s going to have a great time running free in the back yard this spring & summer!
Sunday afternoon we celebrated Alex’s birthday. We had a co-party with one of his good friends from church who turns 5 on the 20th. We thought it’d be nicer then inviting all the church kids to two parties in one week. And it worked out so well, both boys had a great time and both sets of parents enjoyed having help.
I did the games, our friend did the cake (we brought an easy ice cream cake) and the invitations. We also did a piñata because Alex remembers us doing one when Will was 5 and has been talking about it the last YEAR–there was no getting out of it.
I wanted to keep it simple, so we had lots of simple games–all in the big Multipurpose Room at church so the kids could be free to RUN. And it was fun for them to get a chance to run all around, that normally doesn’t get to happen when lots of people are there. We started out with Balloons–fun for all!
Especially babies who were just walking around playing with a balloon and getting in the way. He LOVED this.
Then he decided to start rolling on the balloon. The real reason for the balloons was to do relays with them. I was then going to have them hit them through an obstacle course, but didn’t have a chance to set it up, so the balloons got moved to the side for the next relay–
The “Race with a Marshmallow on a Spoon” relay. This went well, but some kids didn’t realize you can’t actually HOLD the marshmallow down.
Then we tried a version of Steal the Bacon. That was a fail.
So we took a break and broke the piñata! YEA! Every kid had a chance to hit it and then we tore the rest apart and threw the candy everywhere so they wouldn’t smoosh each other. And then we gave the bags/candy to the other moms and they divided them up. Instant goodie bag, right there!
Some people! (The Dad of Caleb, the other Birthday boy)
We ended with obstacle course. I was going to do kick a ball and then bat the balloon, but it got too tricky with kicking the ball and we were getting the cake ready, so they did the ball, and while some kids were waiting, they started playing with the balloons. Then it became a balloon free for all–and then all the balloons got popped.
So we had cake! An Incrediables cake and the ice cream cake.
Then we opened presents and it was time to go. The boys both had a fun time (Alex spent the whole hour before the party telling me what time it was, knowing we needed to leave at 2:30). And now we’re done with that 5 year party! No more parties until they’re 10!
Today was the day for Will’s Cup Scout Pine wood Derby. We’ve done this for 2 years in Awana, it was interesting to do it in scouts where its a bit more competitive but also done a bit more efficiently. Having the 2 years of already doing it did help make this whole thing a bit easier for us at least. Friday night James and Will got to go and weight the car and practice a bit. He and Will went in at 9:30 this morning for the official weigh in. Alex, Marcus and I followed closer to race time (10:30). They divided it up by Dens (or small groups) and Will’s Den was going first, so it was important to not be late! There were a few technical issues at the start so we didn’t have to worry about that, but once they got going, the whole thing went FAST!
We started off sitting, but realized it wasn’t going to work. Alex couldn’t see and Marcus wasn’t happy to stay put.
Marcus was happier with Daddy (or later in the stroller with some Graham crackers.)
Alex was happier with Will. Here Will is playing thumb wars with a friend, Alex is on the other side of him.
Here Alex is joining right in doing the hand signal they use to get everyone’s attention and get them quiet. He had a great time sitting right up front with the other Scouts.
So, once it was time to start, they raced each small group against each other, and the winner of each one went to the finals. They added the top racers to make the top 16 move on. Will’s car needed a tiny bit more weight so James glued a penny to the driver’s seat (like the driver’s head), so it was easy to see–in the picture below it was in slow #1.
He won this race!!! He got 2nd in the other ones he raced, the car that won the den won ALL the races it was in. So, Will did not move on. But he had fun watching the other races. (We thought it was cool they had the track set up to a computerized tracking program to track who finished, the speed and order. We also liked that they had the computer hooked up to a projector so everyone could see. This is how it went so fast, there was very little down time between races.)
And look, its me! Will wanted me to bring the new video camera. I taped one race out of the 4 he ran in (they run each car on each track). It didn’t turn out that well, I won’t torture you with it. There are just so few pictures of me out there, I figured I should put one out there.
Here are the 4 cars that were in Will’s Den, you can see a great close up of his car, #87.
Marcus and I left after that, James and the Older Boys stayed to see all the races. Marcus endured going to the grocery store with me quite well, and I’m glad to have that job done. I got home and was surprised to see everyone home already, I had expected it to go until 2 or 3. It was nice everyone could get a rest or some down time in before we got to go to Will’s basketball game at 4.
Turns out I can’t get good pictures there, even with my good lens, but here is the best of of the day, of Will, right before the threw the ball inbounds.
He had a better game then last week (all the kids did), everyone was much more upbeat. Will did a great job going after the ball, getting some rebounds, throwing the ball back in, even improving on his dribbling some (but it needs lots more work). We’re really pleased with the choice to do Upwards Basketball and he’s having a good time doing it–that’s what matters!
So it was a crazy busy week, with a crazy weekend. Tomorrow we have church, Alex’s party and our small group meeting in the evening. We’re all happy James and Will have Monday off, it’s going to be nice to have an extra day to recover!
Thursday was Alex’s birthday and he is now a 5 year old! (Funny aside, he went to a party Tuesday night for a friend at school. He was telling me how the place they were at had a basketball area for kids who were 5 and up. I asked if he played there and he said “No, I’m only 4 and 1/2.”)
I asked him when he first got up if he felt any different–he said “Yes”. He said he felt bigger.
He took cupcakes to preschool–we made red ones with sprinkles on them. Then I let him pick out what he wanted for supper. He chose fish sticks and French fries, because it’d been so long since we’d had them. (That would be because Daddy hates fish sticks, and so ever since he’s gone back to working days and eating supper with us, we don’t eat them!
Then we had Angle Food cake with cherries and whipped cream for a small treat. We’re celebrating his birthday on Sunday with friends, so he’ll have his real cake then.
We also decided to go ahead and give him our present now. He was surprised with how BIG it was (so was I, I ordered it online back at Christmas time when it went on sale for a great deal.)
Its an air craft carrier! He got a pirate ship for Christmas and I thought he’d enjoy having another ship for the fleet. Plus they have lots of airplanes, I thought they’d enjoy having something for the airplanes to take off/land on.
I just got a laugh how Marcus is so excited here as James tries to take it out.
He’s had fun playing with it the last few days.
A toy all 3 boys can play with? GOLD!
