Cooped Up

The hens are faring well in the storm, but we plugged in their heat lamp when temps dropped into the negatives. I opened the door to their coop, thinking they might want to get out and free range a bit in the snow. Not a chance. They won't leave the henhouse. 

I think we're a lot like the hens, with this storm. We are snowed in and haven't left home since Wednesday.  I am totally ok with this.  We're quite happy being cooped up together all day. 

But I will give you the stink eye if you leave the door open. It's cold out there!  

Pass the cider. 

Jan-Feb in Fast Forward

Here is the speed version of some of the highlights from the past 7ish weeks.

1) Reese and Quincy finally saved up $30 and earned their long-awaited trip to Build a Bear. They were so proud of their accomplishment and told pretty much every person in the store that they raised baby chicks, took care of them, and sold the extra eggs once a week. I love that they paid for the experience with their own money. The girls are eager to feed the hens and gather and wash the eggs every day now that they have a physical reminder that hard work brings great rewards. Here they are in the store, flashing their cash around like gangstas. It was super tacky and totally awesome.

Quincy chose an obnoxious hot pink valentine kitty to stuff and named her Emma.
Reese chose a white puppy with a red heart patch over the eye and named him Pupcake.
Corbin fell in love with every animal in the store and filled an entire basket with treasures.

I had a coupon and we paid for Corbin to make a little brown dog named Puppy.

2) Aaron and I went on a date to see Hairspray at the Rogers Little Theater. The show was great...mostly because of Aaron's coworker. Kalisha is a Planner for Walmart by day, but a highly talented singer, dancer and actress by night! She played Motormouth Maybelle and one of her solos was given a standing ovation in the middle of the show. She is amazing. Aaron and I both love live theater, but it is even more enjoyable when you know a member of the cast. This was our first time to the RLT and we will definitely go back. Great job, Kalisha!

3) Preschool was great and busy as always

4) This one is a highlight for the kids, but was definitely a lowlight for me. We Bunny-Sat for a couple weeks. The children fell in love with having regular access to a furry pet. I learned that bunnies smell absolutely terrible and threw up every time I went into the garage. Our friends picked up their sweet bunny during naptime, so now Corbin is confused and still looks for the bunny cage in the garage every time we go out to the car, and says, "Oh no! The bunny's gone, Mom!" and occasionally searches for her in the yard when we're playing outside. Asia (the bunny) was very spoiled with hay and carrots (and a few Little People) stuffed into her cage during her visit here and the children loved taking care of her.

5) We wore a lot of pajamas and ate a lot of pizza and takeout

6) We discovered Mario Kart, Skeeball and the sushi chop game on the Wii

7) We had our first snow day and the kids spent an entire day putting their little snow bunny suits on, playing in the backyard, then coming in and taking them off, warming up with hot cocoa, then putting thier suits back on again. I loved that it was warm enough for them to actually enjoy the weather and spend a good amount of time playing in the snow without freezing. Usually when it snows here, it is so cold they only last a couple minutes outside. We didn't get a ton of snow, and it melted after one day, but that day was a good one, especially for Reese, who loves snow so much she prayed for it to come before winter ended.

Aaron pulled Corbin all over the yard in this little inflatable sled.

On the 3rd Day of Christmas.

From the looks of it, Elf has joined Reese in wishing for a White Christmas.

Day Spa Willy

You've heard of that Day Spa in Vegas with the Arctic Ice Room where man made snow lightly falls down on you from a dome shaped ceiling?

Well Day Spa Willy is sort of like that,

except the snow fell in tons
and it is all outside
piled up in the street
preventing anyone from ever leaving the house ever again.

So we followed the "arctic spa" theme, and took advantage of Aaron being home. While he and Corbin had some father/son bonding, the little ladies turned on their "mrs. lady voices" and the grown up girl charm for a full spa treatment at Day Spa Willy.

Their total spa package included:
-a steam (shower)
-scented lotion massage
-"professional" shampoo treatment, a much needed deep scalp scrub (also done by resident professional hair washer), towel wrap, and blow dry
- pedicures with a sudsy foot spa


-sugar cookies to snack on
-I read another chapter of The Doll People to them, while they snacked and soaked

-cuticle treatments and manicures in valentine colors

-all followed by "relaxing music" while they sipped grape soda

Then the boys joined us again, and the relaxing music became the Killers, then Tai Cruz, and then a spontaneous dance party blew up in the kitchen like it's dynamite.

That was my favorite part of the day, perhaps the whole week.

Wah Waaaaaah

What?! More snow?

Snowmaggedon

Me: Let's listen to some music
Reese: [glances out the window] Liiiiiike Christmas music?

Looks about right.
What the crap.
Snowpocalypse is upon us.
I haven't been able to leave my house since Monday.

Even though the highway is clear, today, you need chains to get there. It's supposed to be "warm" today, and hopefully, with the sun shining, enough snow will melt for us to get out of the house for a couple of hours.

AND...there is MORE SNOW on it's way!

We're ready for it.

Last week, we kept busy by:

-building a maze in the living room

-making homemade valentines

-popcorn, hot chocolate, nacho cheese dip

-a stack of new easy reader books (thanks, Grandma and Grandpa!)

-a Read In (Mr H's 4th grade class, style) in the living room. We are reading The Doll People by Ann M. Martin (who deserves a special shout out for also writing the BEST children's book series evah (The Babysitter's Club! Did anyone else want to be Stacey? Kristy? I was always a big fan of Dawn, and dreamed of finding a secret passage in my own house.) I finished Perilous and started The Book Theif, the girls are loving The Doll People, Reese has sped through the easy readers, and Reese set a lofty goal for us to read 50 pages in the Book of Mormon together, during our snow days. The Read-In (and necessary junk food) kept us entertained for almost 2 full days!

In the event that we DO get that other 6-8 inches of snow that Mr. Weatherman (who is NOT my friend) predicts "will make last weeks storm look like child's play", we will be ready.

This week, we are armed with:

-a new movie (Alvin and the Chipmunks: the Squeakuel---don't be jealous)

-supplies to make some valentine gifts for the ladies I visit teach and the girls' school teachers

-bubble bath solution, pedicure supplies and the works for a "spa day"

-fixin's (that's right I said "fixin's") for a sweet Super Bowl party--Go Packers!

-heart shaped cookie cutters and ingredients for sugar cookies and pink icing

(PS-Sorry Hays...this much snow really isn't normal.)

Snow Day No. ?????

The roads STILL have an inch of ice on them.

No one is coming in, and no one is ever getting out of here.


Know what?
I think it's kind of wonderful.


It's really sad when I log onto facebook and everyone's status updates are about how much their kids are driving them crazy. I mean, yeah. I get it. Snow sucks. No one likes to feel trapped, and with everyone cooped under one roof, it's easy to get on one another's nerves. Kids fight, people get frustrated.


But dude. Post after post after post of people saying they 'can't stand their kids', 'the kids are driving me crazy', 'I can't wait for them to go back to school', and 'I've got to get away from these people'...it's getting old.

It makes me feel like screaming, "You've just been handed a whole day to spend with your family! Remember why you had kids? Enjoy them!"



If I'm going to be trapped in the house with anyone, I sooo want it to be these guys:

And because there just isn't enough excitement out there, I'm going to say it again.

I'm GLAD my kids are "stuck home" from school today.

I love them.

I love them.

I love them.

Yes there is arguing. Yes we are frustrated that it is -1000 degrees outside. But we're having a blast doing everything and nothing together, and I will happily take 100 more snow days if it means I will get to spend them with my family. Bring it.

I like that school has been canceled.

Today is a gift.

"Honey let's play hooky 'cause it snowed last night..."

Brrrrrr.....
It was 1* outside with windchill.
That's a little too cold for Bella Vista, and way cold for the girls. They didn't last very long outside, but they had fun while they were out there.

The rest of the day involved me sitting in the "audience" (hallway) and high quality live puppet theater. The girls pulled up a stool behind the curtain, so Corbin could reach. It was a short lived effort, but very sweet nonetheless.

Before Reese got on the bus, this morning, she had a lot of questions about what Quincy, Corbin, and I will be doing with our day. She begged one last time for me to let her stay home and play with us. I think she is starting to realize that the world doesn't stop when she isn't home, or when she is asleep.

Little does she know, the world of every mother stops a little bit when her children aren't home.

I assured her that that if she could see the mountain of laundry that I plan to fold, the dishes I'm going to wash, the shower drain that will be unclogged (gag), diapers that I'll change, (or if only knew how grueling the phone calls to the Boise State Admissions office and Health Insurance company are going to be), she'd choose to go to school.

She told me, "it would be so nice if you could wait to have any fun at all until I get home."

Too bad every day can't be a Snow Day. Carry on.

On a Snowy Day

Dough is rising, chicken is marinading, black beans are cooking, and my mouth is already watering for some CPK pizzas tonight.
The fire is keeping our house at a comfortable 72*, even though the wind chill temp outside is 1*.
All 3 children that were pretty crabby an hour ago are now napping.
I have a batch of citrus blueberry muffins (from scratch thankyouverymutch) in the oven that will be ready to glaze in 9 minutes.
Aaron is working from home.

I'd be selfish to ask for anything more out of this perfect day.

Sugar Coated

The world beyond our doors looks delicious, today.
A sugary, white frosting fell during the night and continues to drift down from the sky and stick to every iced surface as little flakes of coconut dusted atop a cake.


Even my deserted garden beds appear mouth watering again, since everything looks like one big frosted doughnut.

Reese was just delighted when she woke up to the surprise, this morning.
If only school had been canceled so she could stay home with us.

Winter has offically begun.
Those who are not fans of Winter say, "Aye".
Aye, Aye, Aye. (<----all three of those are from me.)

I kind of hate snow, but I've been trying to see the silver lining in it, and every year the snow grows on me a little more. Today, the silver lining was easily found when I felt how tickled my daughters were by the sight of the first snow. They've longed for months for the snow to return and stick on the ground. And just like they do when a cake is taking an hour to bake or when we're on a long road trip, they've been ringing my ears since October with,

"Is it time?

"Is the snow coming, yet?"
"When will it snow?"

"When will it be time?"
"Is it time?"
"Is it ready?"
"Are we there yet?", "Are we there yet?", "Are we there yet?"

...
...
...


"How about now?"

I awoke to the wake of destruction caused by my sick day. Aaron did a swell job caring for me and for the children, and even purchased a new vacuum and sucked what looks like an assorment of woodland critters from our living room carpet, and I am very grateful for his service. But it's a reality that the aftermath of any Mom getting sick is always a category 5.

It appears that while I was "snowed" with meds, my home was frosted.
With a mess! A HUGE mess. A Monday House x 10

Toys, clothes, dishes, everything, everywhere, on top of everything. Covered in a layer of everything. Smelling of diaper and fringed with kleenex.

So it would be easy to wake up irritated with the disaster.

But, thanks to the absolute joy brought to my children by the fluffy confections falling outside, my walls are bursting with optimism that today is going to be wonderful.

I think we've all got a sugar high.

And if I've got a frosted mess that is sprinkled with these faces, well then...

looks like that cake is finally ready. Yum.

The world beyond our doors looks delicious, today.

Snow Day