Snow Days

Today's the second snow day for the week, but the fourth day this week that my kids have off school.  Monday was a holiday.  Tuesday was teacher in-service.  ... So Wednesday was apparently my one day of sanity.  I wish I had known that at the time.  I would have taken greater advantage of it.

To console myself, I'm posting about some fun home projects that we've finished (or will have finished by tomorrow).

Finished Project #1:
Painted the hallway / finished painting the dining room.  So, 4 years ago we painted the dining room.  We left 1 wall unpainted because ... because that's what we do.  Finally it bugged me, so we painted it on Saturday.  I keep walking by it and saying, "Look at that white wall!"  Amazing.

We also noticed, once the wall was actually white instead of nasty off-white, that the ceiling, for about a 3 foot by 8 foot section, only had 1 coat of paint.  Who does that?  Who leaves a section of their ceiling with only 1 paint of coat?  Awesome people like us, that's who!

Finished Project #2:
Remember when I posted all about us remodeling our kitchen?  It was a huge to-do around here.  It was declared "finished" in August 2009.  Except there was this one small section that needed grouting around some tile work.  While we were doing Project #1, I mentioned to Rob that I don't think he intended to ever finish that section.  A little reverse psychology, maybe?  Whatever it was, it worked, because on Monday he finished that section.  So now the kitchen is OFFICIALLY finished.

Oh, and I guess we've also put up shelves in the kitchen.
Before:

After:

Finished Project #3:
Installed new shower doors, new light fixtures, bath fixtures, and towel hooks.  When my parents came with the van and the computer, they also brought new shower doors.  It's kind of a long story, but the short of it is that they've had these great doors sitting around their house for a year, so they thought we might appreciate them.  Our old shower doors were, well, old and rusty (I explained to them that they matched everything else in our house:  old, rusty, but functional), so we were happy to upgrade.  Thank you, Mom and Dad!  My brother, Keith, who now lives in Dayton, came and helped Rob install it.  Thank you, Keith!

The light fixtures have needed replaced for, I dunno, probably since we bought the house.  So 5 years ago.  We're replacing them tomorrow.  And the hooks are being installed because the new shower doors don't have a handle on them.  That's where we hung our towels before, so we needed a new solution.

Oh!  And as part of phase 2, a few months from now, we'll put a shelf or two above the toilet.  You know, for towels and stuff.  I'll probably put a plant there, too.  Any ideas for a low-light-tolerant, humidity-loving plant to go in my bathroom?  I'm open to ideas.  (Hint to Justin.)

Home Projects to Do Soon:
I need to re-arrange the pictures in my living room.  I got a 16x20 print of our family, from the great photo shoot in Key West, and it's framed and everything, just sitting behind my couch.  I would put it up, but I think there's just a better arrangement for ALL the pictures hanging up.  So I'm waiting for inspiration and/or advice from someone with a better eye than me.  (Hint to RB.)  Maybe this is why projects take so long around here:  I'm always waiting for inspiration.  Let's be honest, I'm only "inspired" about once a year.

Actually put the van in my name and then insure it.  I was going to do it on Thursday and then the snow came.  Nevermind.  I guess next week will work.  And I know you're all dying to see a picture of our van and hear more of the story.  That's for next week, too.  But here's a picture of it covered in snow!:

So there.  That makes this week seem less pointless.  We have actually accomplished things!  I can go on living now.

Oh, the Weather Outside ...

Beautiful, beautiful snow.

Beautiful 2 1/2 feet of snow.  We've been hit with 3 snow storms in the last 10 days, and there's a possibility of more snow this weekend.  The kids are having fun with the snow days.  ...  It's time for them to go back to school, though.

The picture of the tree was from Feb. 10th.  And this picture of the mailbox:

I was trying to get the perspective of how deep the snow is, but it was hard to do.  Snow is so ... white.  Today, though, I actually went outside in the snow and took pictures with the kids.  They added some good perspective:

Tank is on the other side of the driveway from Miciah and the mailbox.  That pile of snow is also about 3 feet deep.  I love, for instance, the street sign behind him. 

Elijah and Tank made this mini-snowman with Daddy last week:

I would have them go out and build another snowman now, since we have so much snow, but 1- Rob is busily working and 2- the snow is straight powder.  Not great for snowman-building.

Elijah, helping Daddy shovel:

So cute.  And Miciah, eating an icicle:

There have been some HUGE icicles around.  They just keep getting bigger, with the snow still coming and the temps not heating up enough in the shade.  One of them on our neighbor's house looks like another pillar on their porch!  ...  The kids found the largest one on our house and knocked it down before I could get a picture of it.  Oh, the days when eating snow and icicles sounded like fun!

... Happily, the weatherman linked our abundance of snow in Cincinnati to the lack of snow in Vancouver.  Something about high pressure areas in Canada.  This makes me feel more connected to the Winter Games.

(The Winter Games have been awesome, by the way.  I watch the Olympics as a sort of obsession.  Love, love, love the Olympic Games.)

 

 

The First Unofficial Snow Day

We got a call at 7:30 this morning saying that there was a 2 hour delay for all elementary schools (why elementary schools only?  I don't know).  Rob looked outside to see how many inches of snow had caused this delay, and rolled his eyes at the snow dust on the roads.  I said, "Well, how much is out there?"  He didn't even have a real response.  He said, "What do you mean?"  Umm, was my question unclear?  I gathered that there wasn't much snow on the ground, but still.  "How many inches are there?"  "Half an inch.  Maybe."

Still, Miciah enjoyed sleeping in.  The boys got up at the normal time, of course, just to ensure that we got no extra sleep.  Teancom came and cuddled with me, like usual, and Elijah came plodding into our bedroom in his pajamas.  That is not like usual.  Normally Elijah gets dressed before exiting his room so that he's ready to go for the day.  So even before he said anything, and he was just standing beside our bed, I knew something wasn't right. 

"My tummy is hard." 
Umm, okay.  What does THAT mean?
Rob suggested that he go potty and maybe he'd feel better.

Elijah obediently went potty and didn't feel any better.  He came back and said, "My tummy is moving."
Rob suggested that he just needed to go poop.  I looked at Rob as if to say, "Really?  THAT's your response?"  I mean, the kid is pretty serious about his bowel movements.  I think he'd know if he just had to go poop. 

Plus, how can you describe an upset, about to puke tummy better than saying it's in motion?

Within minutes he'd done the deed.  Rob went in to help him (though the great thing about having slightly older than itty-bitty kids is that they need little help.  Just comfort) and Elijah looked at Rob and said, "I TOLD you!"  That made me laugh.

So right now, at 10:45 a.m., Miciah just left for school, and Elijah gets his first "Snow Day."  Fortunately he's feeling fine other than the upset tummy, so he's happily watching a movie.

And the real question about the whole situation remains: 
Is this the first of our annual Winter Stomach Bugs?

Only time will tell.  duhn duhn duhn...

Another ... I Can't Even Say the Words Outloud (an update)

Well, at least Miciah was in school for 2 days this week before the first 4-Letter-Word Day was upon us. The kids have been enjoying playing Nintendo downstairs (no, not our Wii. The original old-school Nintendo) and I've been enjoying the peace and quiet upstairs. Rob decided to work from home to keep the craziness at bay. Hurray!

The roads are clear now, since the sun came out. So school should be on tomorrow. ... Really, I don't mind Snow Days that much. They can be fun. But last week was a LONG week. I felt better knowing that it wasn't just me that was going crazy. It was everyone I know, kids and parents alike. So, at least if I'm going crazy, I'm in good company! Universal Snow Day-Induced Craziness. I think that's an official medical condition.

I would take more pictures of the snow, since it is beautiful, and another 6 inches of gorgeous powdery snow fell yesterday. But, after a while, it's just snow.

Three Goblins

Monday ended up being one of the most productive days of my life. Mind you, this isn't hard to accomplish. I can make dinner and fold a load of laundry and the day would be tied for second place on my productive days list. (I despise the word 'productive' even. As well as 'effecient' and 'effective.' Why would I want to be those things? I rather value being relaxed and easy-going, and if that means sacrificing productivity, then so be it. Productivity: --shudder--)

Monday started with me cleaning the entire upstairs. I vacuumed every floor, and wiped down every hard wood surface by hand. I did all the laundry. I traced a full-sized Elijah onto posterboard for him to color and then put up in his room. I decided to put up curtains and they were too long, so I spent hours doing a sewing project to make them just the right length and look good, too (for me this was a HUGE accomplishment. Sad, I know, but normally I would just cut them off, leave the ends ravelling, and call it good). I babysat last minute for a friend who needed to go in for an emergency doctor's appointment (no, it's not someone you know. Yes, she's fine). So I even had an extra toddler while I got all this done.

the curtains, all finished!

To top of the "Tamra is Awesome" feelings, I have been finishing lots of projects lately, and it's been a good feeling. Projects I've left for YEARS. In January I finished a wood working project that's been on my To Do list for 3 years (1 year of thinking about it, 2 to actually start, stop, and then finish making it), finished a book that I've been meaning to finish for the last 2 years (Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling by Bushman--HIGHLY recommend it, but it's a thick read), made a few paper craft projects that I've been meaning to do for a long time, and completely and totally de-cluttered my entire house, top to bottom.

So I was standing downstairs, folding the last load of laundry and feeling pretty good about myself as Miciah and Elijah were upstairs coloring the Elijah poster so we could post it in his room. Mid-self-congratulatory thought, Miciah came downstairs yelling, "Elijah colored his face and hands!" Well, that was good, I thought, since he'd been avoiding those areas on his poster. I said, "That's good!" Miciah just stared at me. She blinked. "No. I mean, Elijah ACTUALLY COLORED his face and hands. With marker!"

Oh.

I thought about that for a minute. So what if he colored his face and hands? Was it hurting anyone? No. I chuckled to myself, thinking about how funny kids are, and said, "It's alright, Miciah." She was not expecting that response, and she jumped on her opportunity. "Can I do it, too?" "Sure! Just don't color on your clothes." What a relaxed, fun mother I was right then! I kept folding laundry.

About 10 minutes later Teancom came downstairs, his face, hands and feet COVERED in red marker. Totally cute, and totally funny. I went upstairs to see all of them covered in their favorite colors: Teancom, as I just said, was red; Miciah was blue; and Elijah was green. They were all goblins, they said. Elijah was the Green Goblin (a familiar character in our family). Teancom ran around the living room saying, "I red gobwin!" and shooting me with his pretend weapon that shoots out of his hand. I got out the camera and took pictures of the 3 of them. I was even composed enough to take a video.

And then I noticed a small detail I'd previously overlooked: They colored the bottoms of their feet. I could just see, in my mind, marker all over my house, rubbed into the carpet. I imagined myself on hands and knees for hours trying to get that red out of the carpet and being wholly unsuccessful. And suddenly, the fun was over: I sent them all into the bathroom to take a bath. Miciah complained, "You said we could keep it for a while!" "Well, that's before I knew you colored the bottoms of your feet!"

I went to turn the water on, and it wouldn't warm up. Our water heater has been acting up lately, and the pilot light hasn't been staying lit. Rob has been re-lighting it a few times every day, but he hadn't shown me how to light it yet. I put that on my to-do list. Then I got the phone and called Rob at work. He wasn't there. I looked at the water heater, trying to figure out how to light it, but all I could picture was a blown-up water heater. I thought about calling a neighbor to use their tub, but I quickly put that out of my mind. I went back to the bathroom and did what I had to do: I ordered the children to take a cold bath.

Needless to say, they weren't thrilled with that prospect. I filled up the tub with a minimal amount of water and told them they could stay standing, but they HAD to wash off the marker. I left them in the 3 inches of water and went back into the dining room to find marker footprints everywhere. A little flustered, I started Windexing. I surveyed the livingroom as I went past, and there was no marker on the carpet, for which I said a small prayer of gratitude. Then back into the bathroom where there was marker EVERYWHERE. I must have Windexed every surface of that bathroom: the floor, the sink, the toilet seat, the glass shower door.

As I was finishing the Windexing, I could hear Teancom repeatedly saying, "It's cold. It's cold." And then Elijah said, "Mooomm! There's peeee in the bathtub!" "Do I LOOK like I really care?" is what I was thinking, but I said, "Why is there pee in the tub?" "Because Teancom peed in it." I almost rolled my eyes. "So don't drink the water."

Having finished the Windexing, I proceeded to the tub to make sure the kids were adequately scrubbed down. I had told them that they could keep the marker on their faces, but decided against it after wiping marker off too many surfaces. The kids were NOT happy about me scrubbing down their faces with cold water. Teancom doesn't like to get his face washed anyway, so the whole time I was scrubbing his face he was screaming bloody murder and the red marker dripping from his face made it look like he was bleeding bloody murder, too. Good times.

Afterwards I sent them downstairs to watch a movie until Daddy got home. I needed a little sanity time after that! And as they were marching downstairs, I called after them, "Oh. And you can't color with markers for a few weeks." Miciah wasn't happy: "What? Why?!" "Because I said so," I replied, and sat down to read a book.

Pink Eye

On Thursday Miciah's eye looked a little pink, but not a big deal. Cleared up on its own after a few days, and by Sunday she was fine. I called a medical student friend and asked what the tell-tale sign for pink eye is. He said, "If your other kids get it." So wouldn't you know that on Saturday Elijah's eyes started looking pink, too. Still not a big deal and no real goopiness or anything. And then Monday TEANCOM got it. His eyes, though, turned pretty dark red and were very very goopy. So I'm pretty sure, looking back, that they all had pink eye, and I'm very sorry that we attended church on Sunday. However, it appears to have been one of the most mild forms of pink eye I've ever seen. Teancom's case, with as bad as it was, is over now. ... Course, there could be a re-infection in a week or so. That's par for the course at our house.

Teancom's Naps

Teancom has decided he's done with naps, which is usually fine. Sometimes I find him on the floor, blanket over him, and I'll ask if he wants to go lay down. He'll say no and that's that. The other day, though, he was being pretty fussy all day, and then in the evening Rob walked into the kitchen and said, "Doesn't need naps." I looked at him and he motioned for me to come into the livingroom. I found Teancom like this:

His "nap" was short-lived, though. After 10 minutes or so he was back up and running. I guess he just needs cat naps. Like his dad.

Rob's Birthday Coat

Rob's parents came down for his birthday and took us all to Trader's World. Fun place. If you've never been there, you might want to try it out. It's a huge flea market, and it's totally random stuff. We found matching shelf/peg board things for our front entryway (I say entryway, but it's really just the livingroom wall right by the front door). We've been searching for just this sort of thing for a while now, we had the money for it, they were really inexpensive, and I really liked the woodwork. I'll take a picture of them, so you know what I'm talking about. I thikn they look really nice, and I would definitely go back and buy this guy's stuff again. I like the style. (They also had other cool wood stuff, like a kids' play kitchen set for about $50, and a rocking horse for $30.)

the little one is in our bedroom. I've wanted a little shelf there for almost 2 years. This one works perfectly.

One thing we did not find there, though, was a new coat for Rob. Rob decided that for his b-day he wanted a nice coat. Like mine. Not that I'm bragging about my coat, but I love my coat. Love, love, love. It's 5 years old now and it's not very stylish, but it keeps me warm. So Rob's parents took the kids home with them and we went searching around town for a coat. Burlington Coat Factory: No acceptable coat. Bass Pro Shop: No acceptable coat. Kohl's: No acceptable coat. We didn't even try after that. Figured if we couldn't find a coat to Rob's liking at Burlington, our chances of finding it anywhere else were slim.

So we looked on-line after we got home. Still, Rob wasn't finding a coat he liked. I finally looked at him and said, "You know, the coat you want: someone has to SELL it." Finally he found the coat he wanted, and he got it in the mail on Friday. He likes it. It keeps him warm. Happiness. (In the picture of the wooden peg shelf things, the green coat hanging up is his new coat. Not that you can see it well in that picture, but whatever.)

He also got a birthday goodie box from his Aunt Lisa. She sent candy and a movie (which we haven't watched yet. I'm slow on movie-watching).

Rob's parents got him 2 new games and 2 new movies.

He's 30 this year. I threw him the big 3-0 party last year and told him it would be his 29th birthday this year. Really, I won't insist people say he's 29 all year, but the idea was a good one, apparently, because it made this year feel really nice. All the big hullabaloo stuff surrounding the party was over with, and we got to spend a quiet birthday with just his parents around our dinner table. Best of both worlds, I think.

Taxes

Finished our taxes already. Nothing special about that, it's just nice to be done with them! Plus, we got a good chunk of money back from the feds, so we'll be able to buy that new water heater. And fix our van. And still save some.

Spiritual Gifts

I have to give a talk on Sunday about Spiritual Gifts. If anyone has any insights for me, let me know!

MarioKart Wii

We've been having fun with MarioKart Wii lately. Rob has been impressed with my driving SKILLS. I'm not really a gamer, but MarioKart is My Game. SNES was my system, and MarioKart was my game. I played it for countless hours. MarioKart Wii is different, of course, but the same sort of idea. I'm having a good time with it.

And can I just say that I love that the Wii keeps track of your "accomplishments" for the day, and the "accomplishments" list is exclusively how long you've played? This cracks me up every time. I always check out how long I've played, and I think this is a useful feature, but not in an accomplishments sort of way. In a making sure I don't play too much sort of way. I may not like the word 'productivity', but I know what NON-productivity is, and video games pretty much defines it (sorry, my gaming friends, but you know it's true, too). Accomplishments, indeed.

Rob's Career

Rob is developing relationships with colleges in Cincinnati. He made contact with a wonderful woman at Mount St. Joseph's (if you aren't familiar with this college, don't worry, you're not the only one). They spent a lovely few hours talking about what life was like as a professor there. It was a great meeting, and it gave Rob all the information he needed about what it would be like to be a professor at a teaching-focused college. Rob is more excited than ever about his future, and that's a WONDERFUL change for us.

He also has put in an application to teach at least a night class at a local college. He was encouraged to put in more applications to more places. ... It seems it might be likely that we could stay in Cincinnati long-term. This is weird to think about, since we came here thinking we're be here and then moving on in 4 years. We're on year 5 and we wouldn't mind at ALL spending many more years here. Cincinnati is a lovely place for us.

And that's life from here.

Pictures of Snow and Ice

Our chainlink fence in ice. Rob took the picture this morning. Beautiful, isn't it?

Well, Snow Day #4 is upon us. That means Miciah had the whole week off.

Yesterday I got a call from the dentist's office. Miciah had an appointment today (Friday) at 8:30 am. 8:30 was perfect, because then she could be in and out and to school on time. (Her last appointment was supposed to last 15 minutes and it took us 3 hours, all included. She missed almost an entire day of school.) So when they called to confirm the appointment, I was surprised to hear that the appointment was at 1:30 pm. What? I told them I wasn't willing to take her out of school for so long for such a short visit. "That is," I joked with the lady on the phone, "If they have school at all. Ha ha."

Ha ha, indeed.

They let me re-schedule the appointment for yesterday afternoon, which was fine. Miciah didn't have school yesterday! I called and asked Rob how the roads were. He said they would be alright, and the worst part was just right out on NorthBend in front of our house, but that wasn't a problem, really. Okay. He decided to come work from home and watch the boys so I only had to take Miciah. What a doll he is! He called to tell me he was coming home. He called 10 minutes later to tell me that he was stuck. He couldn't get out of the snow he'd parked in. Nice. He said he'd call back in another 10 minutes to either say he was on his way and out of the snow, or he'd meet me at the appointment to help with the boys since he couldn't get his car out. Thankfully a couple stopped to help him push his car out.

NorthBend wasn't "too bad". Right. It was horrible! I was shocked, actually, with how bad the roads still were. The rest wasn't too bad, though. And the trees were gorgeous. There's this one spot on the way to Children's. Going on MLK,Jr. Up that hill towards Clifton avenue. There are the same types of trees lining both sides of the street, and almost your entire vision is taken up with these trees. We turned the bend and then there it was. The Winter Wonderland. It always takes my breath away and makes me wish that trees ALWAYS had ice on them. ... Going down the hill isn't as breath-taking, by the way, because your vision isn't filled with the trees in the same way.

As an aside: That stretch of road is often one of the most beautiful sites in the city, in my opinion. In the Spring the trees flower and you're filled with this romantic spirit as you drive through the trees. In the Summer, the trees are green and lush. In the Fall, well, you get the idea.

Miciah and I were admiring the beauty of the ice and snow, but also the treachery of it all. There were cars that had obviously been at the side of the road for a while. They were almost entirely covered with that brown, slushy icy snow stuff that the plows had pushed to the side. Another car had a full foot of brown slush hanging right behind the front wheel well, just driving down the road like that. Crazy.

On the way home, we stopped by the library. You have to pass by Miciah's school to get to the library, and funny enough the roads were worst right in front of the school! That was almost comical to me. I was driving maybe 10 mph hoping not to lose control of the car. Maybe I'm a little paranoid (I did flip a car on its side in similar driving conditions. That same car, actually), but I was taking it REALLY slow. NorthBend on the way home again was even worse than I remembered it on the way there. It's a two-lane road normally, but not with ice and snow on it. There was one point where I was trying to be in the "right" lane since a car behind me looked like he was annoyed at my speed and wanted to pass me. The snow and ice, however, re-directed my car to the trenches made by other cars gone before. ... Fun times.

So, here are some images of the ice and snow.

This was taken yesterday afternoon-ish. It's the end of our driveway (still under an inch of icy slush) and our street.

Compare with the street today. Pictures taken this morning, looking up the street:
And looking down:Doesn't look much different than yesterday, does it? In the plowers' defense, there's a lot of city to cover, our street is insignificant, and it snowed another 1/2 inch (or less) last night. ... Oh, wait, I noticed a difference! The sun is shining today.

This is a picture of a chunk of ice:

It's not a good picture. I autoleveled it so you could see the chunk of ice better. It's about an inch thick, and Rob took it off one of our cars. The picture also shows our walkway, which was still under ice after Rob shoveled it. (He has since shoveled it again and it's better today, though not much.)

... About that chunk of ice from the cars. Rob was taking a trowel to our cars, to break up the ice. So I looked outside and saw Elijah walking around the van, full-on smacking it with a trowel! I opened the door and shouted, "Elijah, stop that!" Rob said, "He's doing it because he saw me doing it." I just looked at him, horrified that he was thinking that it was okay for Elijah to be hitting our van with a trowel. "You know, to break up the ice," he added. But Elijah wasn't hitting any ice, he was just hitting the van! ... Rob felt my subtle vibes and took the trowel back from Elijah.

I have to admit, though, it was fun to break the ice off the car. Miciah and I spent a few minutes just kicking the car, watching the ice shatter.

The little tree in our front yard:

A picture I took. I call it "Gazebo and Ice": (Very artistic-sounding, I thought.)

And obviously, from the next picture, the ice and snow has made us all a little loopy:

I would LOVE to share with you the video clip I took of Rob last night being his goofy self. It's HILARIOUS! He has made me swear not to post it on-line, though.

To end: The dentist asked Miciah if she missed school yet. She said, "No! It's like a second Winter Break!" Indeed it is. Too bad we couldn't have planned for it. We could have been somewhere else this whole week!

Another Snow Day. Another Snow Day?

Today, not shockingly, was another snow day for Miciah. The roads are still horrible. If the sun would come out, I think things would be good pretty quickly.

Note that the roads are still horrid and it snowed last on WEDNESDAY at 2:00 IN THE AFTERNOON! Too much ground to cover with the snow plows? Who knows. ... We watched a snow plow go down our street yesterday afternoon and get stuck at the top of the hill. Nice. Today you can't even tell the road was plowed at all.

Tomorrow has already been declared a 2-hour delay. I, again, wouldn't be shocked if school was cancelled altogether. I'm hopeful that Miciah will go to school for at least SOME period of time this week. 3 consecutive snow days have made for 3 long days. 4 might be too much!!

... But it is beautiful. When the sun comes out, it'll highlight the ice coating all the trees. The snow draping across the pine trees. Wow. A winter wonderland.

But turn school back on, please!

Very First Snow Day

Today was Miciah's Very First Snow Day of the 2008-2009 school year. Woo hoo! ... On the news they said that the snow storm is just starting and that by tomorrow afternoon we can expect another half inch to an inch of ice on top of the 3 or so inches of snow we already have (the ice has barely started). Then, to sandwich it, another inch or two of snow.

So if tomorrow is another snow day, that'll be a 5-day weekend for Miciah (she was off Monday for a teacher inservice). As much fun as snow days are, and as much fun as the kids are having, and as nice as it is to think about Rob working from home tomorrow, ... an unscheduled 5 day break with nowhere we're able to go? Not so much fun. Not horrible, either, though.

Anyways, here are some fun pictures of the kids in the snow. Enjoy!

All the kids helped Daddy with the shovelling. We only have 1 real snow shovel, though, so Miciah used a normal shovel, and they improvized tools for the boys:

Teancom's tool, if you can't tell, is an ice scraper thing for the windshield of a car.

They all three worked very hard, especially Miciah.

It's nice that helping out is fun at this age. I can't wait until they're a little older and it's "Do we HAVE to shovel?" all over again. I thought shovelling the driveway was HORRIBLE when I was a kid. I'd just get so cold and it was so hard for me physically. I shudder even thinking about it.

Later they all went out into the backyard to play and Rob and the boys made a snowfort:

Rob is the parent in charge of snow play. I stay inside and watch them get cold. It's a good life.

Pictures of the Snow

Here's 2 pictures of the snow. Obviously the first was taken as the snow was at its peak. About 2:30 on Saturday. I wanted to take a comparison shot.

The one with less snow is from about 2:30 on Monday. The snow is almost all gone now.

Tamra

We're Back from Vacation!

It was a long and great 3 weeks! And it's been a long and slow 2 weeks home. I have meant to send this e-mail off since I got back, but it hasn't happened (obviously). It seems like just now life is getting back to normal. So here's the update.

First off, I've added quite a few people to this e-mail list. Some of you asked to be put on, some of you did not. I decided to change policies. Before I added you if you asked. But I decided that some people want to hear it all, but just don't know I send them out. So I added anyone I thought might possibly be interested. So if you are NOT interested, e-mail me back with something like this: "Tamra, stop sending me crap!" No offense will be taken and I'll remove your name from the list. Easy as that. ... Or, if you don't want to read it but just don't want to hurt my feelings (not that you would, though), just delete the updates as they come.

And I've decided now to BCC you all, so as not to bore you with long e-mail address lists, and to protect your information.

Trip to Utah

OK, now on to the update. We left January 5th to go to Utah. It was funny flying into the SLC airport. It felt a little like coming home. I suppose because it's the first place Rob and I lived as a married couple. I decided on the spot that it is a place that I could again call home, though I'm not overly anxious about doing so. But if there were ever an opportunity in the future, ...

We stayed most of the week we were in Utah with Grandma Thacker. We got to see everyone we wanted to see and some people that we weren't sure we'd have the time to see. There were only 2 people that we didn't see that we would have liked to. So, sorry C's and RH (though not that we didn't try, R--Rob stopped by your office three times). We got to eat out at all the places we wanted to (Cafe Rio is heaven!--we ate there twice), and we even got a BYU chocolate shake (undeniably the best chocolate shake I've ever had (pay extra for the hard serve chocolate icecream instead of the soft serve vanilla--trust me), and I've had a lot of chocolate shakes).

Trip to CA

C then got to fly on the plane with us to California on Jan. 12th. It was really nice--three adults and three kids. Good ratio for flying. So that was a heavenly and relaxed trip. We got to in to H at about midnight (our flight was delayed), and we were ready to plop into bed the minute we got there. But instead we spent a little bit of time with J and the rest of the family that was there. J got off his mission to Alaska on Jan. 9th. Everyone should go on a mission! My brother is now the coolest guy in the world! Okay, maybe not THE coolest, but definitely a major improvement from before.

We had Christmas at the T's on Saturday and on Sunday J gave his homecoming talk. It was a very good talk, of course. My dad talked, too, and got to quote a lot of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. He doesn't quite have the same awesome voice as MLK, Jr. did, but it was a pretty good rendition just the same.

And then all the relatives left, basically, except me and the kids and J. So I stayed up a lot of nights talking to my brother that I hadn't seen in 2 years and found out that he's really easy to talk to now, as well as quick to apologize. It was a pleasure to have that time with him and to find out that I really like him! Yea for missions! Everyone go on a mission (oh wait, I already said that)! :)

We spent a wonderful week down in B with B and his two oldest boys, X and R. Which ended up being really great because it broke up the time I spent in H and made me feel useful, too. It was nice to have a time when Miciah and X could play together without D. D and X are good friends, and D and Miciah are good friends, but the three of them haven't played together real well yet. It seems to get better as they get older, but it was nice to have a chance to see if Miciah and X could be friends. And they played really well and seemed to enjoy each other, so I'll chalk that up as a success.

The Trip Home and My Cold--Bad Combination

The last day I was in CA I got the cold D had had for a few weeks. I was not sympathetic when she had it. I thought she was playing it up to get attention. And maybe she was, but when I got it I wanted to die. Okay, a little overly dramatic, but not much. I couldn't sleep, I was achy, and I woke up on the day we were to travel home feeling like crap. I would have paid money to leave another day. So I was pretty cranky the whole trip, especially the second flight. I was really tired and took a short cat nap which helped (my Mom took care of the kids, thankfully, which is why they are still alive), but then we started landing and my ears went crazy. I know why kids cry when that happens to them cause I'm an adult and I was whimpering. Finally down on the ground my ears went back to normal, but I still have been hanging on to this cold. Today is one of the first days when I'm feeling really better. I feel pretty rested and my ears and sinuses aren't bugging me. I can't feel the fluid sloshing around in my ears, and that's nice.

We got to Baggage where Rob was waiting and the kids ran to him (all except Teancom, of course, but he was really excited, too). Elijah talked his ears off. It actually was a little annoying in the car cause Elijah was NON-STOP. It was cute, though, to see how excited he was to see his daddy again.

It is nice to be home. And it's been really nice to have my Mom here, cause it's eased the transition back to real life. I am still getting used to the fact that there are more things to do than I could possibly do here (in CA I did nothing most the time and absolutely loved the time off), but I'm feeling like I can do all the things that I have to do. And that's good since Mom leaves tomorrow to go back home.

Weather in CA and OH

That is, if the weather cooperates. We're supposed to be seeing a lot of snow in the next few days. It was funny, when we got into CA a woman came over the loud speaker and at the end of the announcement she added, "And stay warm out there cause it's super cold." Super cold is an exact quote. It was like 45 degrees or something. Cry me a river. Then we come home and it's really actually super cold! When we left Ohio at the beginning of Jan. it was like in the 60's. We got back and it was in the teens. Let me tell you, 8 degrees is COLD! Today it feels really warm and it's still only 32 degrees. Yikes. Last week we got an awesome snow storm. It seemed like just flurries, but it gave 4 - 6 inches all over the Cincy area, and caused a headache on the roads. It was the day of Miciah's doctor's appointment. It takes usually 20 minutes to get home and I got home in an hour and a half with Miciah crying the whole time: "I hate snow storms!" and "I'm so mad at this snow storm!" I told her to hate it, but don't bother getting mad, cause Mother Nature always wins. :) I don't think she got it.

Miciah's Rash

We took Miciah in to the doctor last week (as I mentioned) about the rash she has. It's myluscum contagiouso or whatever it is. We knew that's what it was, but they had told us to wait it out and we've been waiting since May of last year. That's quite a while. So we went in again and the doctor gave us a prescription to use topically for her. So at least we're doing something. He also gave us a referral to a dermatologist. Of course, they can't get her in until July. ... Hopefully the cream takes care of it, cause I'm really tired of her neck looking awful.

The Kids

Miciah gets more and more pleasant as she gets older. She rarely needs disciplined any more, and that's lovely. Especially as Elijah moves into Attitude stage. Since we've been home he's been a pain in the butt, though a cute one. It's still funny to me when he's angry cause he's just not a naturally angry person, so when he gets mad it just makes me want to laugh. I don't laugh in his presence so as not to encourage him, but once he's in his room for a time out I chuckle about it. He'll get upset and swing his arms in my direction or point his finger at me like he's casting a spell on me or he'll spit at me or stick his tongue out (he's oh so rebellious, eh?). My personal favorite is when he Care Bear Stares me. It cracks me up to have to say, "No Care Bear Staring Mommy!" :) The last few days have seemed to help with his attitude, as he's been easing back into normal life here.

Teancom went to the doctor this last week, too. He is 17 lbs. and I don't know how long, but he's following the same growth lines, so they like to see that. We started him on solids a little over a week ago, and he loves it. He's had rice cereal mixed with apple juice (cause I can't stand giving my kids straight rice cereal--eww!), which Elijah calls applesauce (he ate about half of Teancom's bowl the other night and loved it). And he's had carrots and bananas. Now if he sees a spoon coming his direction he'll open his mouth like a little bird. He's a good eater. I also decided that yesterday was my last day of breastfeeding, so we're done with that. Teancom is taking formula just fine, and I'm enjoying saying I'm done! On vacation Teancom had gone back to not sleeping as well through the night. We were all in the same room, so if I let him cry he'd wake up Elijah and Elijah would then point out to me that Teancom was crying. Not helpful. Teancom also got a cold, so it was hard all the way around. But he's back to sleeping through the night in long stretches. We haven't moved him into a crib or into the room with his siblings yet, but the crib's all set up to do it when he's ready.

Teancom is a little behind developmentally, but we are not yet concerned. He's a happy healthy baby, but he isn't particularly interested in moving. He rarely rolls over and no one's seen him roll from his back to his tummy yet. He can't sit up on his own and he doesn't move toys from one hand to the other like they say he should be able to. At this point, I'm not bugged that he doesn't move much. It's nice to not have to worry about what he's getting into or whatnot. He's just a content little kid. He's still relatively quiet, though this last month he has started jabbering quite a bit. And I can leave him in his swing for over an hour and he'll be happy sucking away on his fingers, and occasionally I'll even "forget" about him until he makes a sound. I have no complaints. :)

Rob and The Committee

Rob today is giving a presentation to his dissertation committee about the changes he's making in his project. His project is working, but not the way he thought it would, so he tweaked it a little and gave it a new direction. It'll be nice that he'll be able to keep all his data and not move on entirely. It's also nice that he now knows his direction, cause it was stressing him out not to know. If you want to know more about it, you'll have to ask him cause I don't know much about it.

Rob, The Kids, The Snow, and the Laundry Basket

Rob also ate up playing in the snow with his kids. We don't have a sled, so Rob jerryrigged our laundry basket with some rope and pulled the kids around like he was a sled dog! Very cool. I'll attach a few photos. Miciah even let Rob bury her in the snow. She thought that was great! Crazy kid.

Fixing Up the Craft Room

And I am just me being the same old mother of 3. No new projects or anything. ... We are in process of re-doing our craft room downstairs. We moved the desk and the computer upstairs so it's no longer an office/craft/whatever room, it's just a craft/whatever room, and that makes it much more useable. This week we'll put quite a bit of work into it and a little bit of money (better than a lot of money and a little work, in my opinion), and fix it up a little. We weren't going to, but the old wordshop stuff was really getting on my nerves. I had this fabulous idea of newspapering the walls, but no one liked that idea. So I convinced Rob to do what I would rather see happen: put up dry wall and then we'll paint it one of these days. I'm still excited about the newspaper idea, though, so I'm going to incorporate that somehow. Maybe I'll cover the awful countertops with it. That could work.

That's life here. I'm sure I've missed a lot of stories and stuff along the way, sorry about that. I guess that's what happens when you wait so long to do another update. :)

Funny Stories

Oh, a funny story for you. I had Miciah and Jake in the backseat of the van. Jake is the little boy we carpool with to pre-school. I was listening to Phantom of the Opera and they both liked the songs. Jake pipes up with, "I think the Phantom of the Opera has some special powers." "Like what?" I asked. "I don't remember." Miciah said, "Maybe he has evil powers." Jake then said, "Yeah. I think lazers come out of his eyes." Who knew? :)

And Elijah declared to us last week that he was a girl and not a boy. So we got a wonderfully cute video of him shouting at us, "No! I GUIRL!" Cute. Later, when questioned on whether he was a boy or a girl, he said, "No, I princess." :) We'll have to work on that.

Tamra and family