Let it Snow

It has been two weeks now since you have heard from me.  Things have been a little crazy around here.  Last weekend we moved and ever since we have been trying to dig our way out of boxes, set up for Christmas, finish installing parts of our kitchen so that we can have running water, and getting ready for family who starts arriving on Tuesday.  On top of all this, apparently my body decided this was as good of a time as any to get sick.  Oh...and I slammed by hand in the car door and possibly (but unlikely at this point) broke something in my wrist.  Fun times around here!   To add to the excitement, we had our first snow.

Last Thursday school was cancelled in anticipation of a big storm.  The storm did come, just not until later in the day.  It turns out that the snow was not as bad as they had thought, but by Friday things were very icy so school had to be cancelled again.  There was not really enough snow, but the kids got in their first sled of the season.

Then this past Wednesday the scenario replayed itself.  Snow was scheduled to start around noon.  They didn't cancel school because of their previous overreaction.  About 1pm the snow really started to fall.  Since schools start getting out just after 2 here they decided not to release early.  Big mistake.  When the snow started it fell hard and fast.  Merrick made it off the bus and before the bus could make it to the next stop it got stuck.  Eventually they had to call parents to come get the kids off the bus and chain up the bus.  They were the lucky ones though.  A bus slid and crashed into a tree.  Kids got stuck at school for hours and hours with no way to get home.  I finally convinced Jeremy to leave work at 3.  Over 5 hours later, just after 8pm he finally walked in the door.

Once everyone was safe at home and we could relax the next day, we had fun sledding with the neighbors and Merrick discovered that when the rest of us were done sledding and he still felt the itch, he could sled in our backyard (and I could watch from the comfort of our warm house).  School ended up being cancelled on Thursday and Friday and we are now officially on winter break.  Now I just need the snow to melt and for me to get feeling better so I can actually get something done.

Christmas in the Mix

A couple of weeks ago I was commenting to a friend about my crazy high stress level over the past couple of months.  We have taken the average, everyday stresses of life and then compound them with remodeling and moving.  Now we have decided to ramp things up another notch and add Christmas into the mix.  I realize that regardless of the fact that life is about as much as I can handle right now, it is not fair of me to spoil Christmas for the kids.  So somehow we will carve out time and make room to celebrate the season.

On Friday, after Merrick went off to school, I found out that Santa and some of his reindeer were stopping by a local nursery that day.  I decided to grab Merrick right after school and head over.  Lines were long but the rain stayed away and the kids got to see Santa and Vixen and pet Joy (Vixen's baby who is not yet ready for sleigh duty).

Yesterday we had planned to spend the day at the new house.  We had a list of thing that needed to get done before we move in (hopefully next weekend).  We worked away all morning and when we finally got ready to break for lunch about 3pm we noticed that even though it was supposed to start raining in the afternoon, the rain had not yet come.  We decided to make a break for it and go get a Christmas tree.  As we drove to "The Farm" it sprinkled off and on and dark clouds began to build but we made it, found our tree, chopped it down, bailed it, loaded it, and headed off before the rain really came.  Unfortunately we weren't really prepared for the tree in our house so for now it sits in a bucket of water in the garage.  Hopefully today we will be able to rectify that situation because the kids are anxious to decorate.

Thanksgiving 2016

This week we celebrated Thanksgiving and, as always, we have much to be thankful for.  First and foremost I am thankful for my family and all the extra time we were able to spend together.  The kids and I were all off work and school all week and Jeremy had Thursday and Friday off.

On Wednesday we started things off right with a trip to zoolights.  This year we got to go to the member preview night and let me tell you, that perk is worth the cost of membership.  There were only a small fraction of the crowds you normally see at zoolights.  Walking around I was enjoying myself so much and it occurred to me that that was the first time since we started house hunting/buying/remodeling that I felt totally relaxed and stress free.

Thursday we celebrated Thanksgiving with dinner with my parents and Brendon and Rachel's family.  We had delicious food and a dance party.  What could be better?

The rest of the weekend we spent moving.  We cleared out my parent's two storage units and moved all the furniture from our house to the new house.  Now we just have the small things to slowly transition over (still a lot of work though).

We are excited to celebrate the upcoming holidays, excited to finally finish moving into our house, and excited to soon have our first house guests (Jeremy's parents and grandma are coming for Christmas!!!).  So much to be grateful for and so much to look forward to!  Oh! And Merrick lost another tooth this weekend too so that's fun too!

Kiddo Catch Up

Over the last several weeks with the funeral and traveling, I have neglected to report on all kinds of fun things with the kids.  Today is my attempt to correct that.

First off, at the end of October, Merrick wrapped up another successful soccer season.  He worked really hard this year and really improved.  After the last game, his coach commented on how he could always count on Merrick both offensively and defensively.  I think it is easier to play defense when you tower over everyone else.  One of the biggest highlights of the season was the t-shirts Coach Gregg had made for the team with the team name, "Our Game Is On Fire".

Next up was Halloween.  Merrick was "Captain America" this year and Carrigan was "Cheer Bear" (otherwise known as the pink Carebear).  I obviously didn't do a good job of getting a picture of Merrick in his costume, but I did capture him on the bus on Halloween with his bus driver's Halloween trick.

Lastly, I wanted to mention Carrigan's new obsession with picking out an entire ensemble to wear to preschool (even down to the mismatched socks).  Here are her ensembles from a week or so ago.  The first one was her "Handsome Prince-um" outfit and the second was her "Fancy Dancy" outfit.

I think that at least catches us up on the highlights just in time for the upcoming holiday this week.

Grampy's Funeral

You may have noticed the lack of blog for last week.  We spent the day in the airport traveling back from Grampy's Funeral with delays and changed flights.  It was a brutal end to a very wonderful weekend spending time with family and celebrating Grampy.

What do you say about funerals?  It was wonderful and the spirit was so strong.  All the children spoke and shared memories and we had some very powerful musical numbers.  As funerals go it was amazing.  Not only that but after the funeral, Grammy's neighbor came by will his tractor to pull the the kids on a train ride and brought cotton candy for everyone.  The kids spent over an hour riding around and then overdosed on cotton candy.  We joked that we set the bar a little too high for future funerals.