Toddler

Oh my!

I'm not sure if I forgot or if toddler 4.0 is just a bit more challenging--due to her personality and the ages of the sibs.

I am so grateful that we have older kids, as they can be so helpful, but of course they have many more breakable things, and teeny tiny choking hazard things, and more school work to do this time around.  It is just a different animal having a one year old with a nine year old than it is a one year old with a three year old.

We've actually taken to removing all the chairs from the dining room.  Every time an assignment is complete or a meal is finished all of the chairs have to be taken out so that Ellie doesn't climb on top of the table.  Nate did his fair share of climbing, but he could at least get back down.  Not Elle.  She just falls off.  Yikes!  We've gotten pretty good at catching her.

The garbage can sits on a chair to keep her from dumping the contents.  She's been known to just shove it out of the chair, dumping it, but that only happened once and the digging was averaging more than once an hour, so we'll say we're winning for the moment!

She is busy, active, and learning so much about the world around her.  But if you need me, I'll be rescuing her or something for the next year or so!

Friday Funny

Nate: I think that that star is the sun's evil twin.

Kate: You have watched too many documentaries.

Nate: That's it!

Winter Wonderland

The world around us has gotten rather cooler than usual.  We spent several days watching the forecast seeing the expected totals of snow and ice oscillate between 1" and 11" and back again.

By Sunday afternoon, we decided we were actually going to get some snow.  Justin ran out with Kate for a sled.  They couldn't find any, but they did find a river tube.

We woke Monday with a bit of a disappointment.  Justin checked and his school was still listed as open.  By the time he was out of the shower, the situation had changed and he was home for the day. 

Someone missed out!

 

We had two days home with him.

 

The second day he and some neighbors cleared out the street and people's driveways.

This morning we wake to snow falling on top of our ice.  He had a delay, and couldn't get out on his first attempt up the hill with the fresh snow, but got to go in to work a little later than his normal start time.  The rest of us are safely home.  My normal shopping day is Monday, so we've made do with odds and ends of food we keep around and are emptying out our pantry.  We'll do a good restock in a few days when the temperatures melt the mess.

We have been so thankful to have kept our electricity, despite the ice, and that we have food and supplies to keep us comfortable.  We are awfully blessed!

Friday Funny

Justin (to Nate): You're football is a little deflated.

Nate: You can use your flater.

 

Friday Funnies

Kate pulled out one of the very old books that I inherited when my grandmother passed away (it was actually her father's book, so it is 94 years old) for story time, "I want to read Megadeth."

Macbeth.  Macbeth.  I think the bard might be spinning.  And we didn't read Macbeth for story time.

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Kool-aid?  Who is Kool-aid? -Nate

I count that as a win.