Snow action

We were near blizzard conditions today. Public school was cancelled, but not homeschool! :)

Here's a little tip if you need to make emergency snow boots. Put on your husband's big socks. Then, pull a plastic grocery bag over each foot. Pull another big sock on each foot over the grocery bag. Once complete, squeeze your appropriately clothed foot into any shoe with traction. This contraption is guaranteed to last a strong hour in deep snow, but only if the temp is under freezing. Guaranteed or your money back. Do not attempt to use in standing water.

She has caught the fever

She read her first 100 page book today, and she didn't even realize it.

Why didn't I think of this?

Jonah: "Mom, you forgot something that I need for when Eli is bigger and we have a dog and we play in the forest." Me: "I did? What is it?" Jonah: "A gun." Me: "A gun?" (That is the last thing Jonah will ever need. At 4yo he still falls off his chair at the dinner table.) Jonah: "Yes, a gun. For when we see bears and deer. So they don't hurt us." Now, why didn't I think of that? How could I not see deer as a threat?

Lent is here

In keeping with my plans to celebrate the liturgical year more fully in 2009, Lent has arrived. We (meaning me, not the kids) made a lenten calendar. The purple squares are the 40 days of lent while the yellow squares mark Sundays. I added pictures to our special days of the season. Easter Sunday is still blank. I can't decide what to put on it. I'm thinking a tomb of some sort, but I haven't figured it out yet. I wanted to hot glue jellybeans to the Sundays, but my hot glue sticks are MIA from the move. You can't see the special effects, but the path glitters. I'm going to write some form of Pray, Fast, Give on it too. As part of our extra giving during the season, each day the kids will be counting our blessings and putting that amount of money in our rice bowl. The rice bowl will be returned to church on Holy Thursday. Today they counted pillows. We have somewhere between 16-25 pillows. It all depends on how well you count and how you define the term pillow. The kids decided to use their clipboards to record their counts. They then counted out the change themselves. Jonah counted pennies, but I made Anna trade up her pennies to nickels and dimes. I'm always looking for the additional school lesson :)

This is our ark. Each day of Lent during tea time we will be opening a window in the ark and discovering an animal mentioned in the bible. This $3 ark even came with a pamphlet to learn a little about the animals and a lesson relating to lent. Today's lesson was wonderful. What a deal for $3!!

Our other plans for Lent include picking a family member to receive extra prayers for the day. Today was Anna and tomorrow is Jonah's day. Works out perfectly for Mon - Sat. The biggest hit today, though, was our sacrifices. Each day the kids will have a behavior to focus on and earn jelly beans. Today their sacrifice was "no yelling or smart mouths." They earned a jelly bean for every time they used happy language and lost a jelly bean when they yelled or had smart mouths. What a wonderful day for me! They were falling over each other to be nice. Eli has never had so many books read to him or so many options for playing.

Why would anyone post this picture?

Yes, it is a picture of butter. I store my butter in a cabinet with the thought that it will be spreadable when I want to use it. That theory worked in San Antonio. Not so much in Minnesota, though. Maybe that correlates to our $200 heating bill for 15 days. Why am I always surprised when I try to use the butter and it won't spread? This is what would be considered a minor inconvenience.

I'm afraid to get our first electric bill after the first painful gas bill.

They will be best friends some day, right???

Who loves suckers?

And today it is 80 degrees in San Antonio....

this weekend it looked like this in Minnesota.

Would you have moved from San Antonio to Minnesota in January?

Snowbunnies

The glasses are fun. They aren't real (but they are cute).

Beyond adorable

Sarah is struggling to get to sleep the past few days. Yesterday I let her cry, and this is how she fell asleep. Poor little thing.

My newest student

Jonah had his first official reading lesson yesterday. I'm not sure reading will stick, but we're going to give it a try. He wants to read like Anna does. He just seems not quite ready. After his reading lesson, he drew a picture for me. He drew a desert car. I was quite amazed. Up to this moment, his pictures have consisted entirely of people, grass, snakes, and maybe an occassional sun. This picture was a huge leap in terms of thought process and drawing complexity. Remember that he's 4 (but he draws pretty similar to me).

Standard baby in cabinet pics

She is cute, isn't she? These are pre-move.

Pics of our trip

Yes, these are the only ones I took. Sad but true.

Dinner or Supper?????

This just cracks me up. In this area we live in, dinner is considered the 2nd meal of the day and supper is considered the 3rd meal of the day. Our household has these meals....breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack. For us, snack is a 24 hour thing. So, here's my dinner story for ya. A handyman stopped by to check out water leaking in our scary bathroom. He told me that he would be back the next day after dinner to check on his work. Much later it dawned on me that I didn't know if he meant dinner as in lunch or if he meant dinner as in dinner. I waited all day for him not sure when he was coming, and in the end he didn't show up at all. Huh. Maybe dinner means something completely different to him. So, I just looked up a couple definitions. According to Webster, dinner is the principal meal of the day. Clearly, that could be at any time during the day. In our house, it would definitely be the third meal. Now onto supper....Webster defines supper as an evening meal especially when dinner is taken at midday. Well, I guess that's that. I'm not sure what that is, but that's that. I don't think I'll be spending time looking up random items in Webster's anymore.

I can almost see the light

I'm nearly giddy just remembering the moment. Last night after dinner (that's the third meal of the day), I set Anna & Jonah to their evening chores. Eli was getting underfoot in our crowded little kitchen, so I told him to go pick up toys in the living room. A moment later I turned around to keep tabs on the kids, and all THREE older ones were ON task. I think I held my breath not wanting to ruin the moment. My mind quickly flashed forward and I thought some day we will have six people all helping. If six people each do a little bit, can you imagine what we could accomplish? It's mind boggling. If you are glass half-empty kind of person, you would probably point out that six people also create a lot of work. Thanks for that thought. Pics should resume shortly. The desktop is out of the box. Mark even made an office for us. SWEET!

4yo Thoughts

I asked Jonah what he missed from our old house. Here are his thoughts. 1. I miss the sun. It shined all the time in Texas. 2. I miss my fence. With the fence, I knew where to go and not go. Sometimes I just can't stop going where I shouldn't go, and I don't like to get in trouble. 3. I liked the bathrooms because they didn't have any windows. I have to note that Jonah's snowpants already have holes in the knees. It's only been one week! We might be looking at multiple pairs for next year.

The Good, The Bad, and The Cold

Our desktop is still in a box, so no pictures yet. :( We've been here a week, and life is good. Mark and I have been talking about it a little the past few days, and I feel that our lives are very peaceful and we are at peace in our little quiet community. This small town mid-west thing feels pretty good on us. Mark completed his first week of work, and he seems to be liking it. He isn't saying much yet, so I have to read between the lines. He did make his first appearance in court this week. The kids & I are trying to get into a new normal. I'm raising my expectations of the kids, and I think we are responding really well. Jonah even had his first official math lesson Friday. I was trying to hold out, but he is doing a lot of math on his own, and I don't want him to have bad math habits. The Good (in no particular order) so far: 1. The breakfast bar in the kitchen! We eat there for breakfast, lunch, and snacks. Anna does her schoolwork there too. 2. Having Mark come home for lunch. 3. Mark's 2 minute commute. 4. Having our bedroom downstairs & the kids upstairs. 5. The old fashioned wallpaper and beautiful woodwork in our house. 6. Living in town. 7. The town. Madison is nearly self-sufficient. They even have a bakery on main street. Here's the Bad so far: 1. Poor quality updates to the house. 2. The garages aren't attached. 3. Carrying groceries and kids up a full flight of stairs to get into the house. 4. Miniscule water heater. 5. No lighting in the living room(s) 6. The ick factor- The house is dirty since it hasn't been lived in a long time. 7. It's hard to meet people in the winter. The Cold: Well, it's just plain windy. That wind is a killer.

What makes a front door?

The one closest to the street? The one closest to the porch? The prettiest one? The one closest to the the mailbox? The one easiest to get to? The one the residents use? Well, I've been pondering this weighty question today. We have four doors into our house: 1) One in the back of the house up a flight of stairs. This enters into the kitchen and is the one we use. 2) One below the kitchen door which enters into an enclosed patio in the basement. 3) A door on the side of the house which enters between the main level and the basement. 4) A door on the front of the house which enters into an enclosed porch and then into the living room. I didn't really think which door was the front door when we moved in. I assumed the front door was the one in the front of the house with the mail slot. WRONG!!!! Everyone who has ever been in this house before (which totals three people now) have used the little door on the side of the house. They use the small town greeting of knock quick, open door, poke head inside, and yell hello. My 4yo intrepid explorer is out investigating the rivers on the street. The temps are just above freezing so the mountains of snow are turning into little gushing rivers. My 6yo is trying to avoid falling asleep as she mourns the friends she left behind in Texas. She fell on the steps this morning and launched into a woe-is-me hour begging to go back to Texas. She attends her first RE class tomorrow night, so hopefully we meet a couple nice girls in her class of 5 students. That reminds me to call the school and ask about girl scouts.

Phone

Just so you all know, we are scheduled to finally have a home phone on Wednesday afternoon. We do have a cell phone now, but it has limited minutes so I have not been using it. Communication (and life) will be much easier in a few days.

***Special Report***

Sarah is walking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Last night she took one step twice. Then, just before lunch today she started taking off. She's only going about 5-6 steps at a time right now, but she sure wants to walk more. Wow. She's only 9.5 months old. She's the second fastest walker in our family. Eli walked at 9m, Anna at 10.5m, and Jonah at 12m. In other news, the moving in continues. I have to laugh at our kitchen situation. When we got here, we discovered that the landlord had moved out the stainless steel fridge. Now I think it's because it was the only working appliance in the kitchen. The dishwasher doesn't work and neither does the oven. At least I have the stovetop and microwave. Good thing we own four crockpots and a skillet!!

We're here

in the middle of nowhere. Madison seems to be a very quiet town, and almost everything is within walking distance of our house. I made a quick trip to the grocery store today, and I was impressed with their selection and prices. We've eaten at/from the local Dairy Queen, Casey's (pizza), supper club, and grocery deli. We are working on unpacking, and I think we've made good progress today. The kitchen, dining room, living room, and kids' rooms are mostly done. Our room, bathrooms, toy room, garage, office and school stuff aren't even started. The house is big with beautiful woodwork and glass. It also shows all of its almost 100 years. Sadly, the updates through the years have been rather shoddy. We definitely won't be buying this house. We were disappointed to find that some of the house's selling points were a little misleading. The four bedrooms are really just three (so we now have a girl room and a boy room); the three baths are really 2.5 baths, but one of them is so disgusting that we're nailing the door shut, so really just 1.5 baths; the central air doesn't exist unless you count two window units and/or wind through open windows; and the heated garage is only heated by warmth from the sun. I am 99.9% sure that we have the ugliest bathroom you have ever seen. Words can't describe it, and even if I had the words, you wouldn't believe it. I will be attaching pictures once we are up-and-running. Mark's boss told us that we should see quite a few additional houses on the market this spring. Once people in town know we are here, he thinks people will want us to consider buying their house. I guess he's already had people making inquiries, and these are people who don't have their house listed right now. That's great for buying but pretty scary if we ever need to sell our house. I'm sitting here realizing that the only outside noise I've heard all day was the snow grater that came by twice this afternoon. Wow. How different and how wonderful.

Northward Ho! - Episode 4

We are so close....and yet still so far away. We made it to Mark's parents' house around 5:00 today. The kids were great again, but I admit to giving Sarah 2 suckers today to get her to last just a little bit longer. Tomorrow Mark is going to clean the house while the kids and I aren't getting in any vehicles! Thursday Mark, Sarah, & I will be at the house to greet the movers. Mark's parents will bring out the older three sometime later on Thursday or early Friday. Mark wants to start work on Monday, so we have a busy weekend ahead of us. The kids are loving the snow. It's funny seeing them learn all the snow stuff.

Northward Ho! - Episode 3

We are finally done for the day. 300 miles, 3 states. We stopped for the night in Council Bluffs, IA. I'm not sure where that is exactly, but I do know that I am pleased we are in a casino hotel for the night. The kids are swimming right now, and we'll be feasting on the buffet later. No fast food for dinner!!!!!!!!!!! The drive went pretty well again. Little Sarah continues to amaze me. She is a great traveler. We learned quite a bit as we drove through Kansas. We saw a ton of oil wells and an oil refinery. We saw wheat fields and the seemingly never-ending Kansas plains. We saw windwills used to pump water for cattle. We saw how trees grow along rivers and in the shade of the bluffs but not in the middle of the flat plains. We talked about Mary and Laura settling in the Kansas plains and where they would choose to build a house. We saw hawks hunting for food. We learned how the mile markers worked, and my preschooler read off the numbers for me while my 1st grader told me what the next mile marker should be. We saw a ton of trains and track which enamored my little train lover. We even stopped at a pond with ducks and stepped in all kinds of duck poo. I think the largest Walmart in the world is in Topeka, KS. Wow. I could barely see from one side of the store to the other. It was just amazing. We finally found a spot to weigh our vehicles this afternoon. This trip is coming together nicely. Only one more day to go (hopefully).

Northward Ho! - Episode 2

What a most perfect traveling day! We made just over 350 miles today with NO kid issues. Nobody complianed, whined, screamed, or cried. I am in disbelief. We stayed the night in Wichita, KS. Another night with our family crammed in 2 beds. Wonder how long that'll work out for us? The only miss from yesterday was not getting our vehicles weighed. We tried at two stops, and they were both not working. Grrrrrr My motto has been less is more, and it's working. Yesterday we drove in quite all morning. No music, movies, or audio books. It was delightful. We listened to an audio book all afternoon, and time passed so pleasantly. Those Little House in the Prairie books really puts life into perspective. When we stop tonight, we'll be in snow!!

Northward Ho! - Episode 1

What a start! Mark was out late cleaning the house, so we got a late start Thursday morning. Despite having directions, I took a couple wrong turns on our way to drop off the keys at our rental agency (what is with San Antonio and not having street signs identifying the streets???). We went to turn on the walkie talkies and discovered that the batteries were dead. Mark bought some new ones, but they were the wrong size. Then, after buying the right batteries, we finally got headed in the right direction only to quickly discover that the car's passenger side window would not roll up. Hmmm. We either had to stop the operation and get it fixed or continue with a broken window. Keep with the time schedule or stop at hotels with an open windown and drive through freezing temps with an open windown. We decided it had to be fixed. Mark stayed behind to get it fixed (they put us at the front of the line!), and the kids and I headed north. About an hour into our drive and Sarah threw up all over herself. It was disgusting, but at least she didn't choke or trash her car seat. I wouldn't want to smell that for the next 4+ days. We only went 250 miles before stopping at 6:00. Mark caught up with us just as we were looking for a hotel, so that worked out very well. The four packs of batteries we bought earlier in the day went unused all day. Ironic. It would have been nice to have two cell phones today, but everything turned out just fine.