2-27-2011 Spring into Spring

Wonderful day today. Warm. Sunny. Bright. We all went on a nature walk and looked for signs of spring. So excited to find lots of little buds on the trees, pussy willows opening up, tulip leaves pushing thru. There are a few clusters of flowering plants I call "snowdrops" actually blooming along the driveway. It was great for our spirits to be outdoors enjoying our property.

There's a cute little snake living under the concrete close to the cat house. Luke spotted it the other day. Well, it was out enjoying the sunshine today just like us. Half-tail is completely oblivious to the darn thing. she all-but stepped on it and didn't even notice!

2-22-2011

Had an inch or two of snow last night. No delay for the kids. Charlie did fire up the snowblower and do a quick sweep of the slate and driveway. Once the sun came out, all in reach of it's warming rays melted away.

We are possibly getting a bit of snow Friday morning as well. Winter is still with us.

For supper last night we had beef stew I'd frozen a few months ago and fresh roasted potatoes. Perfect winter comfort food.

I brought home fresh strawberries from Sam's Club for the kids today as an after school treat. They gobbled them right up!

Waiting for Charlie to get home from work. Think we'll have leftovers for supper tonight since the 'fridge is full of a little bit of this and a serving of that.

2-17-2011 Being A Patient

Since around November I've been having lower right quadrant pain. For a while I thought it was from doing sit ups and weight lifting with Charlie. But about a month ago, I started having problems with backache and stopped doing the weight lifting and sit ups. But, the abdominal discomfort has persisted. So....today I went to see our family doctor. She did a thorough exam and doesn't really know what the problem is. So, next Thursday I will go for lab work and an abdominal/pelvic ultrasound. I had to make an appt. for the ultrasound and need to go there with a full bladder. Should be a hoot.

Today was a gorgeous, spring-like day. Lots of sunshine. Temp. in the low 60's. Gave us all a taste of spring. There's still a bit of snow on the ground. But it's rapidly diminishing. Unfortunately, the forecast for next week does include snow. So today was just a teaser. But it still was awfully nice!

2-14-2011 Valentine's Day

Sorta celebrated V-day yesterday since it was Sunday. I baked chocolate cherry cupcakes. And made pretzels with  a melted Hershey Kiss and M&M on top to take in as treats for teachers and at work. Had hamburgers for lunch since it's a favorite with Charlie and the kids.

Today Mom & Dad came down to gett the kids to school since I had work and Charlie needed to start on time. They brought Luke a Harry Potter Wii game for his birthday.

 I had gotten Harry Potter cards for Luke to take in for his class. He refused to sign them, so I let Lily take them for her class. She aslo took the cards she'd made from scratch during the ice storm last week.

Nine years ago when Charlie proposed to me on Valentine's Day we attempted to go out to eat. But it was too long of a wait. So...we went to the grocery store and bought all kinds of goodies to make ice cream sundaes. That's been our traditional Valentine's Day supper every year since. Lily was extremely impressed with the whole idea of ice cream for supper.

Charlie left after supper to go to a high school basketball play-off game. The kids are playing Wii. Quiet night for me I suppose.

2-13-2011

2-5-2011 Little Luke is Officially 8!

Luke turned 8 yesterday. I gave him updates through out the day on how it was 8 years ago when I was in labor for 23 hours. He seemed interested.

When Luke woke up we gave him his gift from us...a goalie hockey set with mask and pads. To play hockey out in the barn with Charlie and Lily. We also gave him a mystery gadget I found at Sal. Val. Charlie thinks he figured out this morning that it caps bottles. Luke loves gadgets and is always up for a mystery to solve!

I only had to work until noon, so came home and baked a chocolate Kahlua cake with chocolate icing. It looked too brown and plain, so I put a big 8 on it made out of M&M's.

Charlie picked up decent hockey sticks and a plastic sled on his way home for gifts. We also got pizza and cheese steak from Mimmo's. I remembered after we'd placed our take out order for Charlie to pick up that Mimmo's is where our baby shower was held 8 years ago. How appropriate!

After supper, Charlie and the kids went up to the barn and played a bit of hockey with the new gear. The evening ended with us snuggled up watching a video.

It should be said , that we asked Luke several times in the weeks leading up to his birthday what he wanted to do for his b-day. Each time he'd answer, "Nothing." So, we kept it low key per his request. He's that kind of guy.



Today was an icy nightmare! Roads were closed and lots of people were stranded for hours. Thank God, Thank God, Thank God I did not need to work today. One of the best things about my job is that we have delays and snow days. Not many nurses can say that!

Charlie skated down to the mailbox this morning to get the newspaper. He looked like a professional snow boarder. Later in the morning, he ventured to the barn and brought down a wagon load of stuff from the barn 'fridge.

The kids were out for a bit trying out the new sled on the ice. Slid great...I think anything would have at that point.

One of the highlights of the morning was watching geese WALK down the frozen river. We've never seen that before! Guess everyone had to use alternate transportation to get around!

So very thankful for a warm house stocked full of groceries and all of us safe and sound at home. Life is good!

2-2-2011 Ice

2-1-2011 Good Day to Just Stay Home

Poor little Lily-bell woke up around midnight last night with a terrible earache. Charlie moved over to the uncomfortable bed in our room and Lily snuggle in with me. I gave her tylenol and the heating pad, but she couldn't settle down. So I tried reading to her, but could barely keep my eyes open after a while. So we put a video in the VCR. she watched all of Princess Diaries and was STILL awake. So, we put in Cinderella. She did finally settle down and fall asleep.

Then the superintendent called to let us know school was closed due to the snow,sleet, freezing rain that had been coming down for a few hours and was expected through out much of the day.

Luke complained last night at bedtime that his throat was sore and scratchy. he's been running a fever off and on all day today and doing a whole lot of nothing. Just laying around playing Wii or watching videos.

I, of course, am exhausted from the all nighter with Lily. I didn't even make Charlie cookies after he ran the snowblower. He had to make his own! 

The weather forecast people seem to feel fairly confident that we're going to get a good amount of ice overnight and into the morning. they're warning of "widespread power outages." Charlie fired up a few generaters and made sure we have plenty of fuel. Luke filled the tub with water in case we need it for toilet flushing. I filled all our drink pitchers with water in case we need that for cooking/cleaning/drinking. Guess we're as set as we're gonna be.

Right now Charlie and the kids are up in the barn playing deck hockey. I feel like I'm fighting a cold...probably because 2 sick kids hung on me quite a bit in the past 24 hours and I barely got any sleep. Praying for a good night's sleep tonight and no work tomorrow!