How We Pass the Time

Tomorrow will be Snow Day #7, making for an 11-day weekend. We’ve been out on the icy roads once in the last eight days. There’s been a little bit of outdoor play/work every day, but mostly, we’ve been holed up in the part of our homestead that’s NOT -20 degrees--the house. Here’s what we’ve been up do within these four walls:

Tobi:

• sleeping in
• facebook stalking people catching up with family and friends
• Pinning every remotely creative idea known to man
• blogging a little
• blog reading a lot
• prepping vocab cards and unit intro slide shows for the rest of the school year so I survive track season without having a nervous breakdown and/or killing someone
• finding awesome ideas to use in my classroom
• playing board games with the boys (and, before he knew better, Ryan)
• cleaning parts of the house and growling when I realize it’s futile
• organized the pantry
• marveling at how many dishes and articles of clothing we dirty in a day
• writing menu plans and finding new recipes to try; then forgetting to feed my family until 1:00 (lunch) and 7:00 (supper)

Ryan:

• sleeping in
• researching ways to spend all our money on trucks
• writing track workout schedules (we start practice in less than a week!)
• playing Spades on his phone
• yelling at his imaginary Spades partners (or opponents--not really sure), Julie, who always “goes set” and Bob, who’s an idiot
• wrestling so hard with the boys that they have whelps and beard rash
• reading
• finishing the entire series of Friday Night Lights

Munchkins:

• waking up in the wee hours of the morning to watch TV, burn up their technology minutes, and eat 17 breakfasts before they ask mom to make them three more
• talking in weird voices and/or screaming bloody murder all day long
• building a Lego city
• begging Mom to play Heroica with them (the official game, not their made-up version, which I've learned actually wasn't that far from the real game)
• being poor sports when they lose to the ultimate Heroine
• taking “victory laps” around the house, each with a different theme (crab walk, tiger, skip, backwards) after they beat the timer to pick up toys
• simultaneously making similar sound effects (I’m not fluent enough in onomatopoeia to spell these sounds) even while they're all in their own little separate toy worlds
• turning our pillows into potato sacks for a hop race around the house
• begging for more chapters of their latest Wings of Fire books
• having a spank-your-butt-more-times-than-you-spank-mine contest with Mom
• asking to eat all the food, all the time
• pestering each other
• fighting like cats and dogs
• spending a fair amount of time in the time-out chair
• Limbo-ing under a battle axe wedged between hall walls
• inventing new games to destroy the house entertain themselves
• getting whooped up on by Daddy

We may be going a bit stir crazy, and we may be beating the tar out of each other with battle axes, but there’s still time for a few sweet moments. Tonight, Reed and Calvin had were playing some kind of roll-y ball soccer game they’d invented. Max was perched on a stool checking out the situation.

M: Reed, you look awesome! (goes over to awesome-looking brother and hugs him)

R: (to Mom, with a knowing look) Ee’s-hay ying-tray o-tay ind-fay any-hay eason-ray o-tay ive-gay e-may a-hay ug-hay. (translation for those nonfluent in Pig Latin: “He’s trying to find any reason to give me a hug.”)

M: (with a big, sweet smile) Mom, I gave Reed a hug-hay!

Family Game Night

It’s been getting a little hairy up in here lately. As much as I’m loving the break these snow days bring that allow our family to slow down and spend some quality time together, there’s been a little TOO much family togetherness lately. Today was Ash wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Ryan gave up caffeine and spent the day in withdrawal mode. I gave up sweets and felt like the huge tub of Valentine candy on the counter was taunting me all day. The boys have been out to play in the snow daily, but never long enough to burn all of their pent up energy. And there’s still a good foot of snow on the ground, so we won’t be going anywhere soon. So rather than listen to the boys wrestle and break things for another night, I decided we should play a family game instead. 

We pulled out Scooby Doo Mystery Mine and got ready for an evening of family fun. The game has the members of Mystery Inc. climbing precariously up a mine shaft in search of clues. The goal is to get to the top of the mine and name the guilty suspect.  Every once in a while a mine car is released and you risk getting knocked off of certain danger spots on the track. Or, you might get lucky when the mine car gets stuck and you’re safe. 

Unless an overzealous Scooby shoves the mine car down the rest of the track just for grins and giggles. Then we all had to reset all the game pieces again. And again every time a super-coordinated Shaggy would try to squeeze himself past Velma and send the whole mine teetering. And again every. single. time. someone would bump into the coffee table and knock all the members off the track. Velma was getting a bit perturbed only halfway through solving the case. “She” even had to walk away to calm down at one point. Daphne started out frustrated, but eventually had to give up and just laugh and try to take pictures of the craziness for her blog. 

Even after passing a strict “DO NOT TOUCH THE COFFEE TABLE!” rule, the gang plummeted from the mine shaft at least a half a dozen more times. Fred, Scooby, and Shaggy thought the game was awesome and wanted to try to solve a new mystery. But both of the Mystery Inc. “girls” agreed that they will probably never be playing that game again. Zoinks!

Four

The Squiggy Squiggs officially turned four. We were home for snow day #2 on his big day, so we celebrated with sleeping in (ok, Mommy and Daddy slept in. The Squiggs and his brothers watched a movie), opening presents, playing in the snow,

drinking hot chocolate, and sneaking a take-to-daycare cookie out of the freezer for each person to eat. His party won't be for several days, so we ended the night with birthday sundaes instead of cake.

Not a bad way to celebrate four years of awesomeness.

At this age, the birthday boy:

• Wants to do whatever his brothers are doing
• Is into Lego Ninjago (see above) and race cars

• Is starting to notice letter sounds. Ball starts with “b, ”dog starts with “d,” frog starts with “fee,” Squiggy starts with “Squee”
• Equates “hungry” with “desire to eat” - ie. I’m full. Oh wait, we’re having dessert? I’m hungry!
• Is shaping up to be quite a little athlete
• Still has that scratchy voice we adore
• Has mostly given up his nightly request for a "regular, bonus, and tada moose" kiss, but is still spontaneously affectionate - “I love you...so...can I give you a hug?  Two hugs? Two kisses?” and "I'll trade you a hug for a kiss!"

Tonight, he told us he wished that, instead of four, he was “Ninety...seven, so I can go to heaven!” But I’m sure enjoying four so far. Let’s not rush to 97--or heaven--too quickly!

Romance Is...

Romance Is…

...An early gift--made by two high school chemistry students on behalf of your husband (but with a sweet note inside written just by him)

...Spending Valentine’s Day playing dodgeball for a high school fundraiser.

...Going out to a quiet lunch at a Hibachi grill. In your sweats. With five other adults. And all of your/their children.

...Watching basketball, playing air hockey, shooting hoops, and testing out an elliptical.

...Getting home after dark and going for a moonlit stroll together. To load a wheelbarrow with firewood for the night and wrestle it back to the house.

...Falling asleep watching a movie together.

...Waking up early before church for another jaunt to the clearing to load the truck up with wood for the upcoming storm. Then making yet another trip after church when the forecast sounds like it’s about to get real.

...Not doing lesson plans, instead staying up super late to wait for the snow to start.

...Sleeping with the outside light on and waking up every hour or so to watch the flakes fall.

...Waking up to a foot of snow and the sweet promise of a week at home together!

Barf Etiquette

My dear, sweet children,


While it pains me that all three of you have been under the weather in the last week, it has also come to my attention that I've failed to teach you the ins and outs of being sick. Here are a few tips on how to barf without making mom and dad have to go to the (mental) hospital.

Timing:

It would be good if you could get together with your brothers and work out a suitable schedule. Thank you for spacing Reed out a week before Calvin and Max this go-around. And sandwiching your ralphs around five snow days was a good move too. However, barfing events on the eve of a bonfire party and a child's birthday party is not great -- especially when you are running around like it never happened the day of the events and the healthy siblings and I have to sneak out of the house without you.

Don't tell your dad I said this, Max, but way to go blowing your chunks while mommy was running errands. Calvin, you could learn something from your brother. For example, don't wait until Dad goes outside to feed the animals and mom is about to get home. If you do, please act sick and lay down near your puke or go ahead and start cleaning up instead of going back to watching your movie with puke on your sleeve, m-kay?

Location:

Here is a list of acceptable barf targets:

- toilet
- standard-issue barf bucket
- outside

Please refrain from using these spots again:

- All over 2 pillows and the 7 million blankets you insist on being covered up with at night.
- Your almost-asleep baby brother
- The couch cushions, blanket, pillows and all other semi-permeable surfaces in the living room
- Corny Cornopolis, our beloved (so much so that we named him and wrote a song about him) corn pillow, whom we heated up to soothe your belly
- The carpet right outside the room where you left your barf bucket, particularly if that location is within easy shooting distance of the toilet
- The carpet right inside the room where you think Dad is, even though he most assuredly told you (while you were in a movie-induced stupor) that he was going outside to do chores

You all seem fine today, what with your bouncing around on the butt trampoline barf catcher couch playing Mario, but I never would have guessed that the last spew would occur mere hours after you were chasing each other around the house with battle axes. So, if there are more chunks in our future, know that I love you and feel for you, but PLEASE, PLEASE hit the toilet!

Love,
   Mom

Snow Day Surprise

On snow day #20 (I learned the official count last night), we decided to get the heck outta Dodge! We told the boys we had a surprise for them. Of course the pestering was incessant, but it was kind of fun driving them nuts! We decided to eat at McD's to save time and, since we were spending gift cards for the meal, we let them get Happy Meals. Reed asked, "Is this the surprise?"

This is a rare treat, as we are usually dolla menu kinda tightwads, but, no, that wasn't the surprise. Then, we headed to the big city. At this point, we asked the boys for their guesses. Reed thought we were going to Le Bounce (a bounce house heaven). Max had no idea what was going on, he was just along for the ride. Calvin decided someone had a "whole bunch of Legos and they're gonna give them to us for free." Sorry, bud, but you're closer than you might think...

We were going to THE LEGO MOVIE! But first, we passed up the theater to get candy. The surprise? No, but I was starting to think we could sure get off cheap with our surprises if all they were expecting was Happy Meals and candy...and a bunch of Legos. Ok, maybe not. Legos are most certainly NOT cheap! When we turned around from the candy joint and headed back toward the theater, the boys figured out that we were going to a movie, and they were excited. But they thought they were going to see Frozen, which their aunt and uncle had taken them to see recently (and then kept them overnight - HALLELUJAH!) It wasn't until I purchased the tickets that they knew what they were in for. I had hoped for a great response, and I wasn't disappointed. "Oh thank you thank you thank you thank you!!" Reed proclaimed. Calvin made similar exclamations. Max was giddy, and kept bouncing around while we made our pre-movie drainage trip to the bathroom. When I showed him to a stall, he said, "You give me some privacy," and loudly added, "and den we're gonna see the LEgo Movie!"

The movie was adorable. Since we practically live in Lego Land, Ryan and I got a kick out of several of the little "inside" jokes. The two bigs were so into the movie, they hardly touched the candy. Max and I totally made up for them in that department.

After the show, Reed said, "Thaaank you, Mom and Dad! How can we ever repay you?" I totally should've taken advantage of that question, but their reactions were payment enough.

When the Cats Are Away...

I was just thinking the other day how great it is that I can now leave the boys in the house alone for a little while to help Ryan outside. We've had to make a few trips into the pasture this winter to load and unload hay or get firewood and every time the boys have quietly played (or napped) inside, hardly noticing we were gone.

Today? Not so much.

I was walking back to the house when I heard outside voices. Calvin and Max were banging away at their favorite root ball with their favorite stick weapons. When I asked who gave them permission to come outside, Calvin informed me that he just came out to get Max inside. Apparently. Then, he began to tattle on Max for his other transgression: breaking Daddy's hunting light. Then, it slowly came out that Calvin maaaaay have "been a part of it" because he was pulling on the cord to get it away from Max. While hashing out the details, big brother pushed open a window to holler out what he'd been up to.

A few months ago my mom passed us down a cool, divided hamper. Now, may it R.I.P. cuz it totally did when Reed decided it would make a great hide-and-seek spot. He'd been using his engineering skills to put the PVC-type construction back together. He'd done pretty decent job, though two of the wheels were on top. But the cloth lining was torn beyond repair and one of the rods was bent, so the offender now has to use his hard-earned allowance money to pay for a replacement. His little brother coughed up $1 "and two of those circle moneys that aren't a dollar, but four of them make a dollar" so Reed wouldn't have to use all of his money. How can I want to kill them and kiss them at the same time!

This chain of events follows a supremely frustrating church excursion wherein Max had a screaming time-out in the bathroom alcove and Calvin earned five post-church spankings.

I just got a text. We have another snow day tomorrow. I may be R.I.P.ing before the day's over.

Keepin' it Real

Lest you think we're the most perfect family in the whole wide world, what with our balance of athleticism and academics of late, let's keep it real by discussing today.

Basically, I wanted to kill everyone all day.

Reasons (OK - I realize the only real reason is my crap-bag attitude today, but indulge me, m-kay?):

- I slept in (again) and only crawled out of bed to break of a screaming fight over some random toy. This was the first of many such fights.
- Calvin's mystery "dry patch" multiplied and looks suspiciously like ring worm. He squirmed through the fungicide and band-aid application.
- Reed acted like Calvin had leprosy half the day.
- Max reverted back to his early twos, jumping and crying about anything that didn't go his way.
- I paid bills.
- I still, after four days and a weekend, have papers to grade.
- When I fell asleep on the couch reading a book (I know, rough life!) Ryan awoke me with a lion's growl (it's a book with gladiators). Then, Calvin and Reed kept me awake by "snuggling" me with their ice cold fingers and toes.
- After supper, Ryan decided to research the benefits of brown rice vs. white rice (we had white rice for supper - it's clearly nutritionally inferior, blah, blah) and go on and on and on about the benefits of various whole grains and all their nutritional facts and how we should start incorporating more of them into our diet and making suggestions for how. Then, when I told him to make a menu (basically to shut him up), he did. Then, the menu ticked me off. I didn't like him telling me how to do my job. I likened it to me telling him what shape of wood I wanted him to burn in the fire that keeps us warm. He said that analogy would only work if the shape of wood I preferred was going to make our whole family healthy. Touche'. Also, bite me. I'm whole grain.
- I thought we were going to get groceries and movies, but someone decided our road is still too icy.
- We're off again tomorrow.
- Saturday and Sunday are after that.
- There's snow in the forecast for next week.

Life's a roller coaster.

Jocks and Nerds

We're on snow day # - Oh! Who am I kidding? I've literally lost count. And if what the boys did on the grass today is any indication of slickness of the roads, we aren't going anywhere for a while. So how do you pass the time with a houseful of rowdy boys? (Besides playing the most complicated board game ever?) Well, if you're Ryan, you resurrect P.E. Here was today's line up:

Upside-down sit-ups:

Push-up position hold contest:

(Some lasted longer than others)

Resistance band work-out:

It was this point that Ryan wished he would've required protective gear - for himself. It's all fun and games 'till someone gets hit in the sweet spot. 

After supper, the Layton Olympics took a more academic turn, with math races.

The winner of each round (and Max - and the loser, if he snuck off fast enough) got to take a victory lap.

We rounded out the evening with family Zumba and our post-Zumba treat: strawberry puppy chow!

I say bring on the snow! I'm loving the together time with my little mathletes!