Polar Vortex

Indiana is in some sort of polar vortex and I fear we will never escape.  The kids have missed a ton of school and when they do have school it is almost always a 2 hour delay.  I could really get used to the 2 hour delays.  No setting an alarm.  Snuggling with the kids.  Playing Legos.  And then still getting in a day of learning at school.  

We hung a monstrous shelf up in the boys room and Sam has it chock-full of his Lego creations already.  I told him I also planned on putting other things on the shelf but he looked so disappointed that I let it go.  

My mom and Leisl came for a visit last week.  Isa loves messing with Leisl and this old dog tolerates her quite well.

 Drew has spent some time under the crawl space this month.  I think it might be one of his favoritest things.

Drew and the kids built us a coffee table this month out of old deck wood.  At first it looked huge and was so different from the molting pleather footstool we had that we didn't know if we liked it.  Our eyes have adjusted and now we love it.

There have been a couple, maybe 3, days that have been warm enough to sled.  We met some friends at the sledding hill.  It was so good to be out and the kids lasted longer than past years.  Growing up...

Benjamin and his friends, Philip and Paul, built a snow dragon.  The two bumps on the front are little t-rex type legs...just wanted to make that clear.

My mom brought an old chandelier to see if we could use it somewhere.  Stella came out wearing a piece of the chandelier on her head that she thought was a crown.  She looked so much like the Statue of Liberty with the crown and her book that we handed her a candle and told her to raise it up.  Lady Liberty...

Big event this month was Stella's first drawing of a person.  Up until this week she has refused to try to draw anything.  She will scribble a paper to it's holey death but makes no attempt to draw things.  I have asked her a few times to try and she just says she can't and goes back to her abstract art.

We went with my mom to see Frozen on Sunday.  Might be my favorite Disney movie ever.  The kids fell in love with little Olaf and have been quoting lines all week.  "Watch out for my butt!"

 Sam

A friend of mine taught me to crochet last Monday.  I cannot think of a better winter activity.  After years and years of saying I want to learn, I finally just asked and I am loving it.  She taught me a couple of stitches and I went to town on scarves for everyone in the family.  I tried and failed to teach myself a different stitch from a YouTube video last night.  I need hands on instruction.

My first scarf.

Drew's scarf.  I took this photo to tell him it was done but should have gotten a photo of him and not Stella and I in our pjs and bedhead.  Speaking of pjs, have Stella and I gotten out of them in the past few weeks?

 Sam's.

Tried to get a photo of them tonight since I just finished up Stella's.  They were hugging and laughing and being ridiculous so pardon all the blur.  Isa and Stella are convinced they are giant headbands...

Benjamin really, really, really wanted a "normal" scarf.  I tried to tell him it would be harder to keep on, wouldn't be as easy to put on and off, and it wouldn't protect his face as much on the walk home but he was adamant.  I finished his first.  (Don't look too closely at his.)  After he saw Sam's, he said, "Mom, I feel kind of jealous.  I like his better."  No worries, kid.  Plenty of cold weather and snow left to make you another one.  I won't say, "I told you so."  But you will read this someday and know I was thinking it.

Stella said, "Mom! Mom! Take a picture of me doing this."  And then she proceeded to act out the scene from A League of their Own.  Shaking her hands while saying, "You are still missing your cut off."  She acts like a teenager sometimes.

Hopefully February is better to us.  Alaskans, you can have your weather back.

100 Hours

I helped Drew shovel early Sunday afternoon and I did not step foot outside of our house until last night at 6:15.  And, I really can't say I hated it.  I am officially one of the world's biggest homebodies.  The freezing cold temperatures and horrible roads were the perfect excuse for soaking up tons of kid, husband, and project time.  Notice I did not say clean and organize time.  Our home looks like a series of bombs went off.  Every time I start to feel stressed about it I tell myself what my mom just said to me, "Enjoy them.  They will be gone before you know it."  I have read more kids' books and played more games than I thought was possible in a week.  The kids are off school the entire week because of the temperatures earlier this week and the horrific state of the roads.  Upland, I love you but snow removal is just not your thing.  The six inches of ice and packed snow and the beginnings of slush all over the roads on the drive to the KSAC last night was shocking.  Speaking of the KSAC, I started a cross training class last night at Taylor with a bunch of my friends.  I could have died.  My body has not moved that long or hard in ever.  Ten minutes into the hour workout I asked if we were going to do a cool down soon.  One friend, who shall go unnamed, puked in the bathroom.  I told the instructor after class that we are mid 30s and she might need to go easy on us.  It was nice to see her surprise and confession that she thought we were college students.  Slight ego boast for my aching, shaking body.   

Because our weather app informed us that Monday was a poor day for outdoor fitness, Drew and I tackled our stair project.  Way more time intensive than we had originally thought when my mom said, "Oh it's pretty wood under here!" and immediately began ripping off the rotting carpet and pad.   Whoever installed the carpet was staple happy.  I would like to go back in time and punt them for the ridiculous amount of staples.  We removed well over a thousand staples from the stairs.  I am sure we spent at least 16 hours removing the 1/4 inch staples that you couldn't even fit a screw driver under.  A few curses and lots of bloody knuckles later, we were done.  We sanded, filled said thousand holes with wood putty, sanded again, painted the backs of the stairs white, and stained the tops a "traditional pecan".  Now we need to risk death by standing on jerry-rigged scaffolding to paint the stairwell.   

Our tv room is cold on normal winter days and is where all of our draft comes in and where the heat escapes to.  On Sunday night before the freezing temps rolled in, I pinned up this sheet to keep our kitchen warmer thinking it wouldn't do much good but was worth a try.  When we got up Monday morning, the sheet looked like a giant balloon from the warm air on one side and cold air on the other.  The tv room had a quarter inch of ice on the inside of the windows.  And that is with the vents open in there. The drop in temperature from one side of the sheet to the other was crazy!  So this is the view in our kitchen this week.  Lovely.

Isa and Benjamin are crazy about Settlers of Catan.  Isa didn't want to be on a team but she wanted me to help her.  Perfectly logical.  She is the luckiest person ever.  No matter what random number she placed her settlements on, they were rolled over and over and over.  She was swimming in cards.  I thought Drew and Benjamin were going to pull their hair out.  It was a good lesson on humility as she got super braggy and cocky.  It is really fun to be able to play adult games with the kids.  Sayonara, Candy Land.  You shall not be missed.

The kids were so excited for the extra time off.  They played house and school for the majority of Tuesday.  They asked us to serve them lunch in the play house.  It's getting a little cramped in there with an 8, 7, almost 6 and 3 year old.

My favorite activity at the end of the day is to pick up and stage the doll house for the next day's play.  I think it's safe to say I enjoy the doll house more than my children.  My dad built it for my sister's 6th birthday and it's super nostalgic for me.

 We have had more than pediatrician recommended screen time.

We introduced the kids to A League of their Own.  I haven't seen this movie in over a decade.  The main characters being sisters and ball players triggered all these strong emotions in me remembering and missing Sara.  Thankfully, the kids didn't notice and enjoyed the movie as much as I always did.  The most quoted phrase around our house this week is of course, "Are you crying?  There's no crying in baseball!"  Classic.  My other favorite line, "The hard is what makes it great."

 Hot chocolate and friends was another bonus throughout the week.

I was holding Stella last night and Drew said, "I feel like I am looking at the same person, young and grown."

Small Group Christmas

Our small group (that we lovingly call Supergroup), had a Christmas party back in December.  We had delicious food and exchanged gifts.  I love the weird Santa in the bottom middle of these photos. We missed you, Millers!  (And yes, that is mostly fake laughter.)

Read this quote from Bread & Wine by Shauna Niequist and thought of this beautiful group of friends we have had the privilege of living life with. “When the table is full, heavy with platters, wine glasses scattered, napkins twisted and crumpled, forks askew, dessert plates scattered with crumbs and icing, candles burning low – it is in those moments that I feel a deep sense of God’s presence and happiness. I feel honored to create a place around my table, a place for laughing and crying, for being seen and heard, for telling stories and creating memories.”

A Few of Sam's Favorite Things

Sam is determined to get his photo in a Lego Club Magazine.  He asked me to take photos for a rocket contest that they are having.  No matter what angle he held the rocket, Benjamin was not happy with what I was missing of the rocket for the photo.  He is my child.  

Experiments.  Sam was born to the wrong mother for this.  I rarely ever can get excited about doing a science experiment.  However, he got a Highlights subscription for Christmas and it recommended this little experiment which was easy, fast, and made for a happy little boy.

Put 2 drops of red food coloring and 2 drops of blue food coloring into a tablespoon of vegetable oil.  Stir until the food coloring is broken up.  Pour the oil/food coloring into a glass of water.  Watch the pretty colors begin to fall.

I love him.