Warm Hands, Warm Heart

Cooper's made up differently. When he wakes up and sees snow, he's the first one out the door. He's the last one in the house. Others will come in to warm up, and come back when they're finished, but Cooper's still outside. He has an extra layer or two that keeps him toasty.

This is his newest creation, with his apprentice Sawyer (second giraffe, lion). He titled it Noah's Ark. He was feeling really toasty that day to share his easel with his younger brother. You can see more of his creations here.

We're All Cooped Up!

I love my boys, I love snow, I love winter, I love snowmen and hot chocolate, but I'm feeling a little cooped up. We've been homebound for five days!

Snowmen Through the Years

How do you talk to your snowman?

Use words that are pleasing like freezing and snow.

Iceberg and igloo and blizzard and blow.

Try Arctic, Antarctica. Say: shiver and shake.

But whatever you say, never say, Never say: bake.

Loving Snow Days

We're on our second day of no school, because of snow. It's not a lot, but it's enough here.

There was enough snow for seven boys to build a snowman together.

It's a masterpiece! Good work boys! I love sharing corn chowder and hot chocolate with you, and I love for you to share snowmen with me.

Monday Morning Rituals

I love this contraption! It's used heavily Monday morning as I make the rounds looking for items that have missed morning routines. It speedily sends things from the second floor to the first floor.
You'll always find me home Monday mornings. I like to recover from the weekend, and get caught up on the pile of "male."

Hip Hip Hooray Hunter!

Hooray Hunter! I'm in dragon green today in honor of him being chosen as Fairland Middle School Student of the Week.

Oh Rats!

I've unpacked. But there are a few boxes in the garage that are mostly framed pictures that I'm not hanging. I've been meaning to get them moved. I began working on this project yesterday, and found this! Yuck! Puffy brown paper the movers used to wrap my pictures apparently makes for great nesting material. It's only been 14 degrees here this past month. I guess the little critters were getting cold as well. It's not that I'm afraid of little critters, it's just when they are found and make that mad dash, I do the little critter dance. I hate doing the dance. I'm soooo glad I moved the sleeping bags, boxes of books, and other interesting items that might have their little critter marks on them if they hadn't been moved!

The Twelve Days of Christmas

On the First day of Christmas my true love gave to me gas at a $1.37. Any time you have to travel, even at Christmas, when you see gas for this price, it's so less painful. Filling the tank went from $65 to $25 - what a great present any time of the year.

On the Second Day of Christmas my true love gave to me a White elephant (slash) Yankee Swap. Whatever you call them, this is a fun thing to do with kids, extra items lying around the house and time for a few laughs. This year's hotly contested items included soap on a rope (teenage boys), sparkly cider and anything with the Red Sox logo.

On the Third Day of Christmas my true love gave to me children acting out the nativity. With any age of kids, doing this every year has been priceless. Throw on a few towels and bathrobes, assign a few parts, and you have a sweet memory of how it really happened. Angel Samuel deserved an Emmy, and Hunter as Joseph almost got a sweet kiss from Mary.

On the Fourth Day of Christmas my true love gave to me singing Christmas carols to the neighbors. This was one thing my children were not looking forward to but once we were out and about, they sang loud and clear, were well behaved, and were even rewarded with hot cider. Singing to someone else's neighbors brought to me the spirit of Christmas, as singing any hymn can do. They even got to sing to an 103 year old lady!

On the Fifth Day of Christmas my true love gave to me the sweet sounds of compatability. Nothing better than seeing tables full of kids and adults playing games for days on end. Liars Dice, Carcasonne, Phase Ten, and ping pong tournaments and basketball games just to name a few of my favorite things.

On the Sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me seeing wishes and dreams come true. Whether you wanted a stocking full of balls, a flying turtle, a warm sweater or your family together for Christmas, it's wonderful to see wishes and dreams fulfilled. That's what Christmas is all about.

On the Seventh Day of Christmas my true love gave to me an evening in church on Christmas Eve. I've always loved the tradition of attending church on Christmas Eve, and really enjoyed the quartet playing Christmas hymns, and the reverent singing of Silent Night. This is a new tradition I'd like to continue, as community churches offer sweet programs in the spirit of Christmas.

On the Eighth Day of Christmas my true love gave to me one really big dog getting along with two really little dogs. Enough said. Even dogs can find peace during the Christmas season, and learn to get a long in site of their differences, size, and bite. Our host was very generous in forgiving Ranger for all his doggie faults.

On the Ninth Day of Christmas my true love gave to me his yearly Yuletide Log Sandwich. This is a great tradition on Christmas Eve, making big sandwiches in the spirit of cooperation and breaking bread together. Every year we seem to add a new ingredient, and this year's new addition was homemade onion rings.

On the Tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me a boy who was missing his front teeth. Ever since I've had boys and boys missing front teeth, I really want them to be missing the front teeth at Christmas time. I love singing "All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth to them, and this year, Sawyer's timing was impeccable. The last tooth came out two days before Christmas while eating spaghetti in Texas. He thought it was a rock, but he swallowed it anyway.

On the Eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me time to be outside with my boys doing the nature thing. I don't get to do this very often except on vacations. This year we went on a hike to the bamboo forest. Every time we visit this particular oddity in Texas, planted behind a massive subdivision, I can't get over how invasive it is, and how big it's getting. You can't stop its growth, but a herd of boys (or is it a gaggle) can inflict a little damage, mostly as they're trying to get themselves and their bamboo back out of the jungle.

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas my true love gave to me...a mystery! I left these important items in Ohio, and drove to Texas. Somewhere in the middle I determined we'd have to do without them. We managed, we distracted, we packed up quickly. But upon our return home, they were down, hidden and stuffed. Ho, Ho, Ho, Merry Christmas Memories!

Happy Birthday Porter!

Nothing like a true friend to snuggle with you on your special day! (I hate when this happens - means I'll be doing a lot of wash!)

His favorite present? A half eaten container of Jelly Belly jelly beans!

You've got to love boys and the bite - they stick their face in wholeheartedly, and always come up smiling!

Happy 11th Birthday Porter! He worked really hard to go out with a bang in the Cub Scout program, and earned all 21 activity badges, and his Arrow of Light.

Having a Sense of Humor

Church was cancelled today due to the possibility of black ice. My family and I are snuggled in our house, tight quarters for six rambunctious boys, a big dog, and keeping the Sabbath Day Holy. I've determined that humor will always help me have a better day.

Such an Inconvenience!

I would venture to say that of all the modern conveniences we enjoy, hot water coming out of the tap has to be top on my list. We woke up this morning with no water coming out of the hot water taps. Cold water came out just fine. No hot water means moaning teenagers who want to take a shower, moaning teenagers who can't figure out how to wash their hair, heating hot water in pots for the bath tub for the moaning teenagers, being unable to wash dishes or start the dishwasher...and no shower for me. I don't like when my day starts out this way. Life could definitely be worse. I harken back to pioneer days and camping in frigid weather and traveling in a bumpy wagon in frigid weather and I'm okay for one day without my shower. As long as you know I didn't choose to look this way!

Nice Knit

Amazing work, ShirlGirl. The boys hats and mittens are amazing! Perfect fit, perfect style, perfect color (brown for little boys who play in dirty snow were a perfect choice). We've been a little low on winter attire after living in Texas for five years, and feel like we're finally stocked! Thank you, thank you.

Birthday Wishes

I've known for a couple of years that my mother's daily request from my father is a game of Scrabble - usually played at breakfast. " All I want is one game." This picture is on her birthday, and was one of her gifts.

But I did not know that when my mother was a little girl, her yearly wish was to have a snowstorm so school would be cancelled. Having a birthday in January makes that highly probable.

This is all because what she wanted on her birthday was to build a snowman.

It wasn't easy finding the snow, but her wish came true. School was cancelled and she got to build a snowman. Even before breakfast.

Finding Contentment

I'm happy to report a general consensus was reached between Ranger and Dad. Hanging around the house all day provided Ranger with another playmate, and he chose Dad. Ball after ball would be dropped in his lap, or on the kitchen table, or at his feet, in hopes that Dad would play ball with him. It didn't work all the time, but a few balls were batted and a few more were thrown, and in the end, they were both good. At the end of the day, what makes you content?