This is a glass half-full story

or else I would have to cry. Wednesday night was our usual - teaching RE to the 11th & 12th graders at church. That in and of itself is a whole story. Anyway, we drop Sarah off at the babysitter's and we take Eli with us because he has severe separation issues right now. Mark was in the middle of a big trial, so I was on my own for the evening - teaching with Eli glued to my side. At about 15min left in the class, Eli had to poop. He must have been afraid of the bathroom and afraid to tell me. By the time he was able to get my attention, we already had a disaster. Poop all over him and his clothes and no way to clean it up. No way to get him home or no other parent to help. I sat him out in the hallway so he didn't stink up the class and we finished out the hour. Then, on the way to get Sarah (with Anna & Jonah complaining as the stink filled the van), I hit a patch of ice and skidded into the ditch. No one was hurt, but we were decidely stuck with a terrified 7yo screaming, a 5yo yelling at the 7yo to stop screaming, a 3yo stinking everything up, and a 1yo waiting for us. Mark had to come rescue us - dressed in his lawyer clothes in negative temps. Then, yesterday on the way to Anna's music class, I discovered that our rear tire had detached from the rim. Luckily I was able to limp the van into town to buy two new tires. We are staying home today.

And the others....

You can see why we don't enjoy Eli sleeping with us. He's a crazy sleeper. Coloring tally sticks. I'm not sure why they all wanted to do this.

Anna doing her schoolwork. It almost looks like public school. I love my huge white board! I started increasing her written work, so we put a table in the school room for her to use. Jonah never uses the table, but his schoolwork lasts for all of 20 minutes.

Scrubbing the floor. Anna & Sarah helped. They had fun. I did not.

Sweet Sarah

Sarah's newest trick is to dip her feet in the washer when it is filling up. If you don't watch her closely, she then does this.

Sweet Sarah loves those outdoor cats! (Yes, we do spoil Sarah and let her play with the cats indoors.)

Jonah's World

As the national anthem was playing at the Vikings/Saints game, the camera scanned the stadium and showed the Saints' chearleaders for a few seconds. Jonah's reaction? Incredulously - "Dad! Why are those girls watching the game with just their bras and underwear on??" Couldn't have said it better myself. Here the boys have set up a blue area, complete with blue clothing and pretty much everything blue that they could find (most of it is behind them). Jonah discovered he could make traps by holding a book up with his math tally sticks. He put some little animals underneath and then collapsed the books on top.

The kids like to do little peformances - tricks - for us. Here are Jonah's tricks. We think he's hilarious.

Can I do it??

I am determined to make my self-imposed grocery budget this month. I budgeted $525/month for everything purchased at a grocery store - food, cleaning supplies, toiletries, diapers, etc. It's almost $17/day which seems like a lot of money and it's not a lot. Will I make it? It's Jan 22, and I have spent $444 so far. That leaves $81 for the rest of the month - almost $9/day. We go through a gallon of milk every day, so that's about $3.25 right off the top. Yikes. I need to go count Sarah's diapers.

Monster hunting

What do you take to a monster hunt? Rifles and swords!!

Preparing a stake out....

Early morning muffin makin' crew

Random things

Sarah's new smile. Nice. Playing legos.

The view from our living room.

No words are necessary for this one!

Sarah getting into her yogurt

I can see how people become alcoholics

it's because they are trying to do the impossible in a rather mundane life. My life is pretty simple. Why does it become overwhelming at the drop of a hat? Mark called this morning asking us to shovel off the cellar door so the electrician can get in. With the way it's setup, the kids won't be able to effectively move the snow, so I decided that I had to do it. I left Jonah in charge of Sarah and dressed for the part - snowpants, boots, jacket, gloves, and shovel. I waided through drifts thigh high to get back there while wondering if the electrician is really going to wade through those same drifts. I shovel the snow and find a coat of ice underneath the snow. Great. I needed to wade back through the drifts to get an icepick. Then, Anna's yelling through the window that Sarah is screaming b/c she has a dirty diaper. With Sarah's lilly white skin, a dirty diaper almost immediately turns into severe diaper rash. There can be no waiting with her diaper changes. So, I wade through the drifts and hurry to get to her. Well, I was too late. The diaper rash had already set in. So, now that sets us down another path - bath, clothing change, etc. Meanwhile, I'm wondering if I have time to get her out of the bath, get my gear back on, and clear out the ice before I take Anna into town for her music class. Man. A simple life and yet full of stress points and the unexpected. I can see how easy it would be to self-medicate some days. Anyway, off to figure out my ice dilemna.

Sledding with Uncle Pat

We had a lot of fun sledding with Uncle Pat yesterday. Pat took videos, so we have a new medium to post.

Here you can see Eli's unique sledding style.

Is this what they mean by a rude awakening?

Eli had been asleep for about an hour, and I heard him crying. I went into the boys' room to check on him. I found him asleep and crying while standing up on Jonah's bed with Jonah's head between his legs. Eli's pants were slightly wet and I quickly assessed that he was crying because he needed to empty his bladder. Yikes. Jonah was almost rudely awakened by Eli peeing on his head.

Always trying to come up with real work for the kids....

I think shoveling snow off the roof counts as real work, but it seems a little questionable. Jonah's already fallen off once, and he looks like he might be going head first pretty soon. That kid is crazy.

Are you smarter than a 3yo?

The temps are negative and we are snowed in. Here's what Eli is doing. Here's what Mark is doing. He's the guy with the shovel next to the truck stuck in the snow. He's crazy, but at least he provides us some entertainment and groceries.

Sky

Anna literally stopped in her tracks yesterday when she noticed our beautiful sky. Then, she ran for her notebook so she could draw the sunrise. She learned that you have to draw a sunrise quickly because they literally change before your eyes.

Our sunsets are equally breathtaking. Every morning and every night we watch out the windows and marvel at the beauty.

Epiphany

Epiphany was yesterday, and we celebrated with our 2nd annual Three King's Cake and scavenger hunt. Eli found the clues, Jonah made sure they were in numerical order, and Anna read the clues. They had fun. Sarah is such a ham. She is also very, very crafty (as in sneaky and smart).

We're snowed in again, folks

We had significant snowfall yesterday, and now we have 40mph winds. The snowplows have been pulled off the roads until the wind dies down. Yes, Mark is attempting to make it work today. We'll see if he makes it there and if he makes it back. I expect that we'll have a snowmobile for next winter. I think he would be much safer with that instead of a truck.

Here are a couple of pics. Check out the snow outside our patio door.

Here is Mark checking out the roads.

I can't take it anymore

Yesterday we were at 65 degrees, and Jonah wore shorts all day. ALL DAY. Today the temp outside didn't break into positive numbers, and our ground floor was freezing. The thermostat said it was 64 degrees downstairs, but I am positive that it was truly colder than that. The furnace couldn't keep up with the outside temps so low. I couldn't take it. The kids were fine, but whimpy me was not. Then I made a wonderful discovery. Out little attic room above the kitchen stays very warm and cozy if I turn on the electric heater in there. The rest of the house can freeze all day but we can be warm and cozy in one room, and our heating cost is somewhat controlled. Bulls eye! I love it when a plan finally comes together.