Blog Gems #8 Vacation Edition

Jen over at The King and I is having another airing of blogs.  Here's mine.

More Snow

Yesterday was another snow day.  I’m done with snow days.  I really wanted 1. all of my many children to go to school and 2. not to have to spend hours outside moving mounds of snow/ice.  Thank goodness for my 70 year-old neighbor and his snow blower!  I’d kiss him but I fear if I did he would stop digging out the end of my driveway.

Brianne said that we should invest in a snow blower.  I told her I only invest in things that go up in value.  I am thinking about buying a snow blower or dropping my Y membership.  Well, not necessarily.

And yes, Will spent most of the day pantless.  And yes, I realize that this really could be a problem when he’s twenty five.

Pilates

Marcy took my name in vain yesterday … a lot.  I was walking into the Y and realized that I forgot my sneakers.  I stopped at the main desk to let them know.  (They do want to know things like that about me … really!  And I know that because one of them mentioned it to me today.)  They suggested Pilates.    I’m more of a yoga girl myself.  I haven’t done Pilates for about 8 years.  But I was there, shoeless.  So, I took a number.  And a number for Marcy.

It was hard.  I didn’t have my yoga mat so I slipped around.  And my body still hurts.  A lot.

Marcy told me to put my sneakers in the car and leave them there.

Looking forward

To six more inches of snow because I get to think of creative ways to get rid of it – you know ... things like “Kids guess what we’re eating for dinner?  Yay, snow!”  Or isn’t Australia in the middle of summer – perhaps I could mail some.   Or the devious – dump it in a neighbor’s freshly plowed driveway (I would never, because really it would take just as long as dumping it in their front yard).

And I’m looking forward to driving in freezing rain because it’s so much more exciting to drive when you can’t stop and slide into other cars.  It’s just like being at 6 Flags on the bumper cars but potentially a lot more expensive.

You’re welcome for the sarcasm. 

The Second Day of the Three Day weekend

Me:  Official Title --Baking Queen, yesterday I made Will GFCF bread and donuts.  The donuts had squash and applesauce, so I will add Healthy to my title.  Then I cooked pinto beans in my pressure cooker and made taco soup and French bread on my nifty French bread pan that I have only used once in about 14 years (why did I buy it – unknown).  Forced children to shovel driveway – official title:  Slavedriver.  Status:  Tired.

Husband:  Flew back from Toronto, grabbed sleeping bag, went off to sleep in a tent in the snow with scoutlings.  (Jealous much?)  Status:  Assumed cold.

Brianne:  Effectively got siblings to shovel most of the driveway (she has skills), played a lot of Kingdom Hearts, washed dinner dishes.  Status:  Briannella

Jacob:  Shoveled a lot of snow, *packed for camping, went camping.  Status:  Hopefully alive, warm and happy.

William:  Didn’t wear pants the whole day, played on iPad and ate donuts and bread.  Didn’t have school or home therapy.  Status:  Best! Day! Ever!

Elizabeth:  Great sport, shoveled a lot of snow.  Decided she wanted a iPod asked if she could do extra jobs around the house to earn money, rejected suggested jobs and came up with her own.  Status:  iEnvy of Jacob.  (And of course, completely adorable.)

*Sometimes I think my children are very lucky that they don’t have to survive on their own because I don’t think they would survive to adulthood.  Jake was wearing cloth gardening gloves when he got in the van for me to drive him to the scout camp.  To camp … in the snow.

Status at the motherof4 Household

Me:  Was called “red-headed sunshine” in an email.  Slept in until 8:45 am (did awaken at 5:35 initially, got dressed, went down stairs, was informed seminary/school was cancelled, went back upstairs, took off clothes, went back to bed).  Status:  Confused – was called “red-headed sunshine” , but all children are home, Will is hooting, was planning on writing presentation on teaching and including children with special needs in church for training.  Must make breakfast.

Husband: is somewhere in either Detroit or Toronto, hoping to get a flight back to Boston before tomorrow because tonight he is scheduled to take scoutlings on a campout/freezeout.  Status: Unknown – and that’s the literal truth.

Brianne:  SNOWDAY, still in bed, midterm delayed, no school, can chat with collected boy on phone … Status: naturally happy.  Have not informed her that she is shoveling the driveway.

Jacob:  SNOWDAY, slept in, no school, currently planning full day of watching TV, playing video games, etc., looking forward to camping in the snow with other 13 year-old boys.  Status:  Ecstatic.  Have not informed him that he is shoveling the driveway.

William:  Snowday (aka at home), hooting in living room while typing on iPad, not wearing pants, no therapy today.  Status:  Unknown, but he sounds happy.

Lizzy:  SNOWDAY, slept in, watching TV, planning a day filled with TV, playing with Calypso, snacking.  Status:  Happy.  Have not informed her that she is shoveling the driveway.

Tooth Fairy Failure

I have always been a sub-par tooth fairy.  When Bri was little once the tooth fairy forgot to come so many days in a row Bri lost her tooth and we had to leave a note for the tooth fairy to find the tooth and leave the money; eventually the tooth fairy made a deal with her.  She’d get twenty buck upfront and the tooth fairy never needed to come again.  Jake got all the money the day he lost his first tooth.  Now I’m on my fourth child and Lizzy doesn’t have a shot of getting any money and frankly I can’t remember whether I’ve given her twenty bucks or not.  At this point I might have given her the money twice.

Flash back to last Wednesday.  Lizzy lost a tooth.  She wanted to put it under a pillow.  I asked her if she didn’t just want a dollar and give me the tooth then.  No, she wanted to put it under her pillow.  “You know, I’ll forget to give you the money.”  I warned her.

“I want to do it.”  She said.  Fair enough.

Tonight she handed me the plastic bag containing her tooth.  Then she went looking for a dollar.

Happy MLK Day!

Martin Luther King Jr.'s I have a dream speech

and the I have a dream speech auto-tuned 

because I love it.

Just a little bit sick

During our unexpected 6 day weekend:  2 snow days +1 furlough Friday (although, not for Will) + weekend + MLK day, some of us got sick -- some of us apparently twice.  And my husband was delighted when he got home from wherever he went to realize he would probably be sick next week.

My arms and back hurt for two days from the 5 ½ hours of shoveling – yes, there was that much snow and it was heavy!

On the positive side, I got to sleep in which was great!  Lizzy spent an entire day playing in the snow.  And the kids got a nice break from school.