Getting back to normal

Things around here are beginning to return to normal, or as normal as can be with so much snow on the ground! Yesterday we took the family to the grocery, and as a treat stopped by Wendy's for lunch. It was the first time I'd been out since all of the snowing began, and I have to say I'm astonished at the conditions of the sides roads. I think with municipality budgets this may be the new "normal" though. Today JR played another basketball game, and then we signed all three up for baseball. Hard to imagine it's just around the corner when there is this much snow!

Here we go Steelers, here we go!

Here we go again...

...another day at home! We received the calls about 9:30 or so last night that both our school district and the one in which my husband teaches would be closed again today. And now we get to start the weekend! This much time at home cooped up in the house is really uncharted territory for me, but so far there hasn't been too much arguing and the patience is holding out. We've started to run out of some of the necessities so we are taking a family trip to the grocery this afternoon. I haven't left the house since Monday, so I'm looking forward to seeing what life is like outside, and exactly how bad the roads are. By the way, in case you haven't heard, there is another major storm forecasted for our area at the beginning of this next week. They aren't able to give numbers or totals yet, but I'm certainly keeping my fingers crossed that it won't be as dire as it's beginning to sound!

Also, HT still has all of his teeth. We can't believe it's still there because it's been dangling for such a long time.

Just in case I don't get a chance to post again before the big game...Here we go Steelers, here we go!

Day 3!

That's right, our third consecutive day of no school! The kids are enjoying playing video games, but I've got to be honest, I've had about all of the togetherness I can handle. In the summer we can go outside and play and just get out and do things. Yesterday no one drove anywhere. Today I think it is back to the sledding hill again, but I'd really like to get to the grocery sometime. Maybe tomorrow...dare to dream! I'm glad the kids are enjoying themselves and for the most part finding ways to entertain themselves, and I do look forward to sharing some board games with them. In spite of the waning patience, I'm grateful to have family with whom to be "stuck" and I'm grateful for the warm house in which we live!

Lots of snow!

We currently have about 5" of snow, and it's still coming down pretty hard! They are expecting this to subside in another couple of hours. It's a very pretty snow, and it's pretty much covered up all of the ice that fell during the night. When I checked the closings 1/2 hour ago, there were 641 schools, businesses, and churches closed. Because of the condition of the roads (and we live on a main road) my wonderful husband isn't taking the kids to the sledding hill today, but they are out playing in the snow right now. It's very nice having a little extra time off right now, but we'll be regretting this in June when we have to make them up!

On the road to recovery!

I'm finally starting to feel better. I fought it yesterday for as long as I could, but finally late yesterday afternoon I had to admit defeat! My wonderful husband took care of things while I went to bed. It helped that we were pretty sure we were going to have at least a school delay, and possibly be closed today. I coughed most of the night, but the coughing has subsided and I think a good night sleep and I'll be ready to go again tomorrow. It's been nice when I've been up at night because the Australian Open is happening and I love sports! There is also a CSI:NY marathon during the day so I'm all set!

We were right about schools being closed. Our school district originally delayed and then closed about 7:30. My husband's school went straight to closing right away at 5AM this morning. The kids were able to go to the sledding hill with their new sleds and snow suits and everyone had a wonderful time! There is more snow and sleet in the forecast for overnight and into tomorrow so I'm pretty sure everyone will be home again tomorrow. Our kids now have to go to school on President's Day because they've gone over their calamity days. Oh well, it's still fun to be out for the snow!

Down but not out!

The gunk I've been fighting is really starting to settle into my chest. Thank goodness for my inhaler! Last year at this time I'd have really been in trouble, but since I was finally diagnosed with asthma in the spring I've got the inhaler and I can still breathe. I'm resting, but I'm still functioning which is the important part!

The forecast for overnight is calling for 3 to 5 inches of snow. My kids are out of snow days (thanks to the hurricane winds that came through in September) so anything beyond what we've taken would have to be made up. I still don't mind the thought of a snow day though!

Sick house

This house should probably be quarantined! Everyone has something these days. JC missed school yesterday, and my wonderful husband stayed home today. Fortunately the weekend is here, and hopefully everyone will somehow find time to rest.

HT has just informed me that we need to adopt a dog. I definitely think there is enough chaos in this house already!

Tooth watch

At the end of last week my wonderful husband and I were discussing that it wouldn't be long before HT started losing his baby teeth. Sure enough, Saturday evening HT informed me that he has a wiggly tooth! His older brother has been offering "helpful tips" about ways to get the tooth out, but so far it's still dangling there. So now we are all on "tooth watch" waiting for the tooth to fall out!

All three kids (as well as me) are fighting sinus crud and colds. It's scary when all three of them actually ask to go to bed early. Very scary!

Inauguration Day

I've been watching inauguration coverage for most of the day. I remember the very first inauguration I ever watched. I was seven years old and Ronald Reagan was beginning his first term in 1981. My first grade teacher explained to us that this was an event that happened only every four years. I remember thinking to myself, "Wow! I'll be in the fifth grade before this happens again. That's forever away!" And here we are 28 years and several Presidents later. I watched Barak Obama take his oath of office with HT. At age five, he understands we are getting a new President at the White House, but not much beyond that. I explained to him that he would be nine before this happens again, and I know that he just can't fathom that. The one thing he did comment on was the number of people. He looked at me and said, "Mommy, there are a lot of people there!" I watched with tears in my ears as President Obama took the oath. It was such an historical moment and I'm so grateful I was able to see it. More than that, I'm grateful that my children don't understand why it's such a big deal that someone with skin different than ours has become President. I am hopeful that my children are able to keep that perspective as long as possible. And I'm hopeful that one day, it won't even be noteworthy or historical to mention the color of one's skin. May God watch over President Obama, our nation, and all of us.

Catching up

We've had some exciting events since I last posted! On Friday, I'm not sure that the temp ever reached 5 degrees. We received a phone call before 9:00 Thursday evening letting us know that school was being cancelled for Friday. Another day to sleep in! We had made sure to let the pipes drip and keep the cabinets open Thursday night, but I made the mistake of shutting everything down when I got up Friday. So, we had no cold water in the kitchen for nearly 24 hours. I couldn't believe it was so cold it froze during the day! We ran space heaters, but it was just too cold to make a difference until the temps warmed up on Saturday. We also had frozen hoses and a frozen washer motor on Friday. We were able to thaw that out Friday evening, but I haven't attempted to do laundry since then. Needless to say, it's on my to-do list today! My dad's cottage experienced some serious pipes freezing. He believes that something may have burst, so our planned trip up there for yesterday and last night was postponed. Saturday was spent cleaning and getting ready for some friends to come over and hang out in the evening. We loved getting to visit with everyone! Yesterday we headed to church in the morning and JR was an altar server for the first time. After lunch at Applebee's, we came home and settled in for an afternoon and evening of football. It was a perfect day! We all just hung out, and by the time the Steelers game started, we were all dressed in our black & gold. The kids sat and watched the game with us, and JC even stayed awake long enough to see the Steelers advance to the Super Bowl! My in-laws have season tickets for Steelers game, and they won the Steelers ticket lottery for the Super Bowl. They will be headed to Tampa for the big game! We are very excited for them! Today is just a day of getting ready for another week, and maybe even getting ahead on some things. I think the kids will be ready to go back tomorrow after an unexpected five day weekend, and I'm pretty sure I'm ready for them to go back as well! Here we go Steelers!

I learned something new

I learned something new this evening. My van has one of those screens in the front that lets you know what direction you are going and what the temperature is outside. I learned tonight that it is indeed able to record negative temperatures. I'm pretty sure I'd have been okay if I had never been able to know that firsthand!

I was also amused when I did a little shopping this evening. In spite of the subzero temps, a clothing store had put out the tank tops that they are ready to sell for the spring. I bet those are really flying off the shelves right now! Gotta love the "retail calendar"!

Brrrr!

It's definitely cold here! We only received about 2 or 3 inches of snow, but because of the snow AND the single digit temps our school is closed today. It took my wonderful husband 80 minutes (instead of the usual 45) to get home yesterday, but his school district only had a 2-hour-delay so he still had to make the drive over this morning. It was nice to sleep in this morning, although some appointments had to be cancelled since the kids are home. I don't mind a "quiet" day in though. The kids are disappointed because new sleds arrived for Christmas, but with the temps so low it's too dangerous to go out sledding, even though we FINALLY have real snow!

Bummer!

We were all eagerly anticipating last night's snow! It was even forecasted for the perfect time, to begin about 4AM! Sounded as though we would have at the very least a delay, and we were hopeful for school closings. Not to be though. In fact, the temps were higher than expected so we woke to nothing white but everything wet. What a bummer!

The temps are beginning their drastic change though. By Friday the high (yes, the "warm" part of the day) is supposed to be a balmy 7 degrees. I'm not letting the kids walk to and from school in those temps.

And I'd like to give a "shout out" to my friend Andy in Chicago, where they were under a blizzard watch last I heard. Hope you are staying warm and safe!

Busy weekend

Our family had a busy weekend. Saturday morning JR had his first basketball game. Because he's one of the older ones on the team, he's also the tallest. He had a really good game with several steals, and also scored the first points of the entire season for his team! We were so excited for him! That evening we attended a surprise birthday party for a friend. I was a nervous wreck because I've had really bad luck with surprise parties, and I was part of the plan of getting her there. It worked out wonderfully though, and she was very surprised. Yesterday morning was church, then last evening was the Steelers game. Our family was all dressed in our black & gold as we watched Pittsburgh advance to the AFC championship game! In between everything I attempted to get the Christmas decorations down, and also to organize the kids' rooms. We had some new shelves brought in on Thursday, and between that and the new Christmas presents everything is in total chaos! We also still have our little friends here this week. I didn't get everything finished that I wanted to this weekend, but I consider us lucky to have so many fun things to do!

Little things

It's amazing how something so seemingly insignificant can make you realize how blessed your life is. Lots of big things happen every day that make me realize how blessed our family is. I see or read something terrible on the news, or hear about a tragedy or terrible illness some family has suffered, and it makes me so grateful for the blessings we have. My children and my wonderful husband do things each day that make me so grateful for our lives together. But this opportunity to be grateful caught me off guard. I received a forwarded email from a cousin I nearly never hear from. She had received it as a forward from yet another cousin. It was one of those where you make a wish and then it has to be passed onto 10 people so it will come true. I'll be honest, I did forward it on, but mostly as an opportunity to say hello to some people and let them know I've thought of them today. It may not be the most personal method of communication, but I did it anyway. However, the wish part was challenging. Oh, of course there are many things I would love to have in life. Yet at the same time, for maybe the first time in my life, I realize that I'm truly content with life. As a child I'd always wanted to be married and be a mother. I have a wonderful husband and three beautiful children who amaze and amuse me every day (some days with a tear or two along the way!). While we had hoped to move and we could use a bigger house, I love this house, I love the location, and I love the neighbors. Not to mention that I'm grateful for a warm house and a roof over my head. Of course everyone would love to have more money, but my husband and I are very blessed, and between hard work, good choices, and savings, we don't have to worry about putting food on the table from week to week. I really didn't know what to wish for that I didn't already have! I hope that everyone finds an expected way to recognize the little blessings in their lives.

Snow!

We are getting some snow here! It's coming down at a pretty good clip, but I don't expect anything to really accumulate. It's so nice to see some white stuff after all of the awful ice we've had lately. We still have our two little extra friends here to play today. HT loves being the oldest and being "helpful". It's very cute to see him in that role! Other than the extra little ones, we have a pretty quiet day around here. Just the normal spelling, homework, reading, ballet lessons, etc. I love the fact that we can walk to ballet just around the corner! For a small town we have lots of wonderful activities for the kids. My wonderful husband also has to work late so it's just Mom tonight! I truly admire single parents everywhere and they have my prayers because I don't know how they do it every day!

Back to reality!

My wonderful husband and the kids have gone back to school. It was such a shock to the system waking to an alarm this morning! And although the kids are back to school, no quiet time for me. The sitter of some friends is on an extended vacation so I have two extra little people here. I love having toddlers in the house, but it also makes me appreciate HT, who at age 5, does not require constant supervision! HT loves having playdates all day, and the girls really are cute.

My wonderful husband had a birthday Saturday. Because of prior plans, we celebrated as a family yesterday. Lunch at Bravo was delicious, and the kids were very well behaved. It was very enjoyable.

My wonderful husband has bought an exercise bike and is trying to make an effort to ride it daily. He used to be an avid bike rider, but age and three children has changed that. He's really dedicated to it right now, and keeps telling us that this will help him get in shape. JC was so excited about his birthday this weekend, and my husband explained that someday she'll reach an age where she won't be so excited about turning another year older. She looked right at him and asked, "Is that when you get old and have to lose weight?" It's amazing what children think of, and what comes out of their mouths!

Random thoughts into the new year

I always find the new year so fascinating. For me it's not only a time of looking ahead, but also a time of reflection. I think back to this time last year, and our house was for sale. We were so convinced we would move during the year, but we just couldn't get our house sold. Strangely enough, as the school year started, the leaves began to change and the holidays came upon us, I was so grateful that we were still in this home. It felt so peaceful to be here. I know that we need more space, but I do love this house! There were lots and lots of medical issues in our family in 2008, but I'm so grateful that they all turned out to be fairly minor and manageable. I'm grateful my children are growing safe and healthy, but I wouldn't mind if they stayed young longer than they are supposed to. Time passes so quickly!

One thing I don't understand about children (although I was the same way myself as a child) is that kids refuse to sleep and fight it even when they can barely stay awake. I wish I could take naps and go to bed early, but that isn't the way adult life works! You would think that bedtime was a jail sentence around here, especially when there is no school the next day. I really had to laugh on New Year's Eve. We left our friends' house shortly after Midnight and arrived home about 12:30. HT fell asleep literally as we turned the corner onto our street. I carried him into the house which of course work him. I gave him a kiss told him he needed to get jammies on and he announced in an irritated tone that he wasn't tired and wanted to stay up! I have to be amused that someone who had just fallen asleep could think he wasn't tired!

This wonderful break has gone by so quickly. It's been a wonderful time shared with so many family & friends and we definitely stayed busy. On Monday my wonderful husband and the kids go back to school. There will be lots of homework again, as well as basketball, guitar lessons, ballet lessons, scout meetings and early mornings. I'm grateful for the opportunity to be home with my kids and see the little things I get to see each day, and I'm grateful that my husband has a job that he really likes that is stable. I'm grateful for our family and friends and for all of the blessings we receive each day.

I hope everyone has a wonderful 2009 and I hope you look forward to it with excitement and anticipation. And I also hope that your 2008 was so wonderful and blessed that you are at least a little sad to see it go. Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

We rang in the new year last night in our traditional way, with friends we've had (in some cases) for decades now. My wonderful husband was sick last year and we couldn't join them, which made it all the more special this year. The kids enjoy playing together, and it's just a great time to catch up and hang out. In my opinion it was absolutely perfect!

I send out special greetings to my friends whom I don't get to see regularly...I think of you all often and miss you very much! And to everyone, may you have a safe, healthy, happy and blessed new year!