Snow Day. And, he's walking. For real this time.

We had the first snowfall of the season today!  And it was a doozy.  We got a little snow overnight - maybe an inch or two - and some ice.  So the cars were frozen shut this morning.  And then it snowed and snowed and snowed.

Before I get too far into talking about the details of the day, I want to open up with the fact that as of today, I'm claiming that Tyler is officially walking more than he is crawling!  That little dude walked like crazy today!  I should have put my pedometer on him. 

 

 The day started with me running the kiddos to the doctor because I was worried that Lily had a UTI.  She was screaming every time she had to pee.  Screaming and shaking like a leaf. 

 

She wouldn't pee in a cup for the doctor so they couldn't run a test to positively confirm the diagnosis.  So they just went with my description of the symptoms and prescribed an antibiotic.

 

While I was in the doctor, the snow had started falling again and I was concerned that the daycare might not be open or might not stay open all day.  I called and they confirmed they were open for the moment but likely to close soon. 

 

So, it really was a snow day for me and the kids. 

 

Since I needed to wait a few minutes before getting Lily's prescription, I killed some time by hitting up the McDonald's drive through so I could get a diet coke.  I got the kiddos some hotcakes and nothing to eat for myself.  Do you even KNOW how hard it was for me to skip the sausage biscuit?  But I did.  And I'm pretty proud of that (42+ pounds lost to date!). 

 

After getting the prescription, we headed home.  I tried to work while the kiddos played.  I got some things done but it wasn't easy.  Kids require a lot of attention, ya know?

 

At one point, Lily had gotten out every single puzzle, card game, matching game and flash card that she owns and put all those individual pieces in one bucket.  It took me FOREVER to sort it all back out (only to have her do it again this evening while I was cooking dinner).  I don't like that game.

 

 

Lily had put this baby doll table clip on seat on this toy and was singing, singing, singing away to Ellie while playing the "piano."  Soooo cute.

 

Lily was begging me all day to go outside in the snow, but I told her she had to wait until after nap when Daddy got home.  Which today happened to be at the exact same time.  As soon as she woke up, she was looking for her "snow clothes."

 

While I love the idea of taking the kids out in the snow, the actual practice of doing it, is torture for me.  Putting all that gear on, to be outside for 5-10 minutes, to come in and now have puddles of wet clothes to deal with.... sigh. 

 

But, look at this face....

 

 

... how could I NOT take them out there?

 

 

20 minutes later and we're all dressed up and ready to play!

 

Three minutes after that, Lily was ready come back inside. 

 

 

Catching snow on her tongue.

 

It was still snowing when we were out there.

 

If I had to guess, I would say there was 7-8 inches out there at 4:00 this afternoon.

 

 

Joel built a massive, 4-tiered snowman.

 

Ok, not really that massive. 

 

It really wasn't great snow for packing.... it all just sort of fell apart when I tried to form a ball.

 

I think we ended up out there for about 20 minutes total. 

 

This afternoon, Lily was playing in my "office" and found my cowboy hat.  She wore it half the evening and called herself a cowgirl.

Here's a girl who's in love with her Daddy.

And sometimes, she likes me too.

 

 Tyler got in on the hat action too.  Howdy pardner.

 

And this face happened because I wouldn't let him have the camera lens cap.  Horribly mean Mama.

 

 

Grateful for my cushy desk job.

Earlier this summer, Joel and I had been contemplating, looking, drooling, discussing, assessing trade offs and compromising on our thoughts and making efforts to look for a new house and/or property for over two years.  We were just not getting anywhere.

 

One day, I asked Joel:  "Are you really that unhappy where we are?"

 

He thought about it for a second and said, "You know, at first I was.  I was ready to be out with more land and more space and less close neighbors but now I've gotten used to this and I think I'm spoiled by being in town and close to everything." (.... or something like that.... I could be taking a few liberties and probably shouldn't be using quotes...but, whatever....)

 

And I said, in a house like we have now, we could have it paid off before Lily's in middle school.  Think about that.  No house payment by the time we're 45 (or earlier, really)?  There's something to be said for that.

 

Now will we really stay here FOREVER? I don't know.  But we are going to stay for a while and so then Joel said, let's do some upgrades!

 

So we decided to start with the kitchen.  Unfortunately, I don't have a very good before shot but below is the best I've got and it's from when we started the first project - added cabinet pulls.  So excuse the mess....Joel will probably faint at the thought of me putting these pictures on the Internet.  The house is never that messy cause he's a neat freak.

Anyhow, between these various pictures, you can see all the aspects of the kitchen as it was before.

 

Greenish Formica counter tops. 

 

 

White appliances.  Gas Range.

 

No real back splash. Except the green Formica one.

 

Goofy (albeit extremely handsome) husband.

I've had a dream of running a gas line to the kitchen so I could have a gas range since the day I bought this house 7.5 years ago.  Earlier this fall, that goofy, handsome husband of mine made it happen.  Have I ever mentioned how talented and handy he is?

After some debate, one Craigslist bust and one successful Craigslist purchase, we had a plan on the appliances.  We went with stainless steel!  We purchased the fridge used from Craigslist.

**** Insert Interesting Side Story Here****

Joel went to pick up the fridge from the seller who lived somewhere in Brown County.  He gets to the fella's house and walks in to the garage and sees one of his old Mustangs!  He says to the guy, "Hey, that's my old car!" 

Guy says, "Oh, you used to have a car like this?"

Joel:  "No, I used to have THAT car!" 

Crazy small world, eh?

********

After some searching and price comparing, we bought the range, a new dishwasher and hood from Lowes.  And let me say, we actually just replaced our dishwasher earlier in the summer but had bought a white one.  Now we needed stainless steel.  Doh.

However, thank you Craigslist, we were able to sell our old stove/hood and not so old dishwasher so that did help offset the cost of new stuff.

We also bought new quartz counter tops and those were installed about 3 weeks ago.  It was really starting to come together!  The final piece was the back splash.....which we wanted to tile....ourselves.

And that brings me to the subject line of this post.  Even now, I feel too tired to go in to all the gory details, trials and tribulations of getting the project done. 

We worked our tails off over Thanksgiving week.  Long days, aching backs, sore hands.  But we did get it done.  And it looks amazing.

Except outlet covers aren't done. But after the outlet covers, THEN we're done.

Giving Thanks.

Lily's class worked on a project for Thanksgiving about what they are thankful for. 

Here's Lily's:

She's thankful for: 

"Mommy and Daddy, my brother, my 2 dogs, toys, my couch, my baby dolls, my carpet, my corn, my Mommy and Daddy's phone."

I wasn't aware we had 2 dogs.  I also didn't know how much Lily appreciated carpet or our couch and thankful for corn?  Really?  The kid who we have to bribe and beg to eat corn, is thankful for it? What?  I love three-year-old innocence!

Tyler also came home with some pretty cute projects.  I love, love, love these projects where they incorporate hand (or foot) prints.  I have kept them all and the binder they are in is busting at the seams and the kids have only been in daycare for a little over a year.  (I did finally make myself throw away anything that's just a photocopy picture of marker scribbles to cut down the collection...)

On Thanksgiving, we went to our friends' house for dinner after a looooong day of working in the kitchen (more on that in a later post).  We got there in time to partake in an incredible spread of everything that should be in a Thanksgiving buffet. YUM-O. 

After that, we spent some time with Josh and Marie and the girls.  The kids looooooove their Auntie Ree, but they are terrified of their Uncle Josh.  Actually, I think they are terrified of their Uncle Josh's beard but it's hard for them to separate one thing from the other.  Haha!

On Friday we headed up to Jenny and Josh's.  The kids did ok in the car but were definitely ready to be out of the car when were still an hour away. 

When we got there, the kids played and had great fun.  Jackson and Lily were playing hide and seek and it went a little something like this:

Jackson:  Liliana, you hide right here and I'll go count and then I'll find you. 

Lily:  Oh-KAY!!

(Jackson runs around the corner, pauses for approximately 0.5 seconds, and then runs back to Lily)

Jackson:  GAH!!!  I FOUND YOU!!  HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Lily:  (laughing hysterically) Ok!  Now you hide and I'll find you!

And then Jackson hides in the same place that Lily was in and the exact scene plays out again with the roles reversed.  And they kept doing that for like 20+ minutes until we finally had to put an end to it because with each go round, they were getting louder and louder and louder.  Hysterical!

Bed time was not amazing but not that bad with the kiddos.  Tyler screamed his head off for a good while before finally giving in and falling asleep.  Lily and Jackson stayed up "reading" to each other until after 9:00.  But it was pretty cute.  I have a random memory or two of late night giggles with my cousins so I'm glad my kids will have that too.

And then, things went sideways.  Joel and I went to bed around 10.  At 1:00, I was still awake (even after having taken Tylenol PM).  And then Tyler woke up (who had been sleeping in a pack n play in the same room as us).  And he cried and cried and cried and that went on for 20 or more minutes so I finally gave up and brought him to bed with me (Joel was sleeping on a different mattress on the floor).  Tyler sat there and stared at me, laid down, wallered around, sat up, laid on my head, etc and so on for the next 2.5 hours. 

Finally at 3:30am, I couldn't take it anymore and took him back to his crib.  Where he proceeded to scream his head off.  So I put him in bed with Joel because I was getting a little nutso from the lack of sleep.  Since Joel's mattress was on the floor, Tyler could escape.  And he did.  And came back to my futon bed. 

So, I drug Tyler's crib into the utility room, plugged in a space heater, found a night light and set that up then gave him his pacifier, shut the door, put in my earplugs and let him cry it out. 

Five minutes later he was asleep and I was kicking myself for not thinking to do that THREE HOURS BEFORE when he first woke up.  Cause now it's 4am and I'm so tired that everything hurts and I still can't fall asleep.  Sigh.

Thanksgiving Day was wonderful - the kids had a great time playing and got along so well.  We got a few pictures snapped off, ate an awesome meal, enjoyed family - all the right ingredients for a good day!

Don't look at the poop.

Ever feel like you're getting so far behind that you don't even know where to begin to catch up?  That's how I feel right now.  With this blog, with work, with knitting projects, with Christmas shopping, with the blog book... and on and on and on.  Just not enough time in the days to accomplish all I want/need/desire to complete.  So, I'll just mention some random things and do my best to catch up over the next few days.

I'll start with a funny story.  In the last several weeks, Lily has become obsessed with making sure that no one looks in the toilet when she poops.  "Don't look at the poop.  Look over there.  We don't look at poop.  We only look at pee."  I have no idea if she made this up herself or if it came from daycare.  I'm envisioning a bunch of near 3 year olds standing around a toilet checking out someone's poop and one of the teachers saying, "We don't look at the poop!" Sometimes the conversation takes this turn:  "Mommy, you don't like poop?  You only like pee?  Daddy likes poop."  This child cracks me up.

 

Isn't she beautiful?

As of this week, I want to say that Tyler is really starting to walk more and more.  He's not walking huge distances, but he's choosing to at least try to walk the few steps from one thing to another rather than immediately plop down and crawl.  I give him another month or so and then maybe he'll be ready to walk full time.

 

He does like walking behind things, like Lily's baby stroller.  He also likes climbing up in to Lily's baby stroller.  Crazy dude.

Lily made me a bracelet a week or two ago.  She makes the funniest faces for pictures.

Meanwhile, Joel was distracting Tyler from the colorful tiny choking hazards, I mean beads, by playing with him on the couch.  Which caused his hair to get a little static-y.

 

 

Speaking of funny face Lily pictures....

 

 

And one more for tonight.  My happy, handsome son.  I'm one lucky Mama.