Why I Dread Snow…

Well… to begin with… let’s just make it clear that I am not really a “great outdoors” kind of person… at least not in extreme temperatures (I have, indeed come to love the outdoors in the spring and fall). There is way to much background to get into that right now, but I prefer my air conditioning in the summer and my heat, blankets (occasionally warmed in the dryer), and fireplace (we have yet to use) in the winter…

That said, I found my 9 year old daughter… at 8:00 this morning… sitting on the couch dressed in her winter coat, hat, thin gloves, and tennis shoes… proclaiming that she was ready to go play in the snow!

Oh yeah… I really did make that promise that we were going to play outside today right after breakfast, didn’t I?

And since a promise is a promise, I told her to get out of her coat, hat, etc, and that we would have breakfast… Then, I proceeded to explore the great mystery of the basement looking for appropriate winter attire for such a snow… To my delight (or maybe dismay… just really depends on how you look at it), I did, indeed, find everything we would need to enjoy our wintery morning… Our plan was to build seven snowmen today. I questioned whether I had either the energy or the carrots for such a feat…

Now comes the part I dislike…

Once I dragged enough gear up to outfit a pretty good chunk of the United States Army… in Siberia… The real fun began…

Grace and Caleb were ready first, so I threw them out in the snow…

Ian was ready next, so I threw him out, too… with a word to his big sister to keep an eye on him…

Seth had a great deal of difficulty finding gloves, but he was also… finally… vanquished to the snow…

And then I had to dress Miah. Miah did not… in any way… enjoy this process. Since I am pretty much obsessed with little baby hats and hair bows, I thought the hat wouldn’t be a problem (she is used to them, after all)… not today. And I thought she was just going to absolutely lose it when I tried to stuff her hands inside the glove like things that are attached to her snowsuit. On this point, I conceded, and just got our her little owl gloves (that, of course, match her hat), which were a slightly easier sell, as long as I kept tweeting like a bird the entire time I was putting them on. It occurred to me later that owls don’t really “tweet”… rather, they “who”… Oh well… I guess I’ll have to re-teach that one when we do animal sounds…

Somewhere during the “dress Miah like an Eskimo” adventure, Grace started screaming at the door that the snow wasn’t “packing snow”… How this was my fault, I don’t know. I guess I didn’t put my order in early enough for packing snow to have it delivered by today. I told her… through clenched teeth… that she had whined for two days to go outside… now she was there… and she’d better have fun or we were never going outside again!

I ran Miah outside and sat her down in the snow, immediately, hoping to snap a couple of good pictures before she started howling. To my surprise, she started looking around in amazement and smiling… I think she likes snow…

It was just about at this point that I was summoned by Grace to look at her snow angel (at least she found something fun to do, after all), by Seth to look at his snow volcano, and by Ian who was under the trampoline… freaking out because his hats (both of them) had been knocked off his head by Caleb. It was very difficult to take care of all of these requests simultaneously, but I think everyone was satisfied… eventually… until someone walked on the snow angel that Ian had created (and none of us knew was there) at which point the distress began all over again…

At which point, Seth was too cold to stay outside anymore…

And Miah’s face was turning pink…

So I sent Seth in with specific directions as to where he should put all of his snow covered things (which he followed… go figure…)

And I brought Miah in and proceeded to pull all of the snowy clothing items off of her, as well.

Many, many requests for hot chocolate were interjected in this process…

Just as I got ready to make the hot chocolate; Grace was at the door freezing to death in the way that only my little drama princess can, so I looked at her and called Ian inside. This sounds cruel but makes sense if you understand that Ian cannot be left outside without an adult or at the very least Seth or Grace!

After that, I called Caleb inside… who was quite distraught that our outdoor time was over (I think he must be our Boy Scout)…

And finally Grace came in…

And now everyone was begging for hot chocolate, so I made it very clear that they needed to play in the living room long enough for me to warm some water up, and I made it… finally… and let me tell you, I needed it, too, because I experienced this whole adventure in two pairs of sweatpants, a sweatshirt, and tennis shoes!

It seriously took us over an hour to get outside!

I think we played for 20 minutes… maybe!

And they want to do this again?

Well… let’s at least hope for some good packing snow and maybe a napping baby?

Lisa

Pumpkin Patch Fun...

... At it's best!

The kids and I finally made it to the pumpkin patch today! It has been a long time coming... and we already canceled twice due to being sick... but I figured today was really our last shot if we wanted pumpkins before Halloween!

I hate driving in Indy! I got pretty severely lost, per normal, as every road in Indy has at least 17 different names, and the name on the map might not be the name on the directions, and even if it is, it might not be the name on the street sign! But I digress... I am thankful for my GPS (AKA Phil, who talked me through the whole reroute over the phone)...

We picked Spencer Farm, because we wanted a pumpkin patch experience in which the kids could actually go to the pumpkin patch and pick their pumpkins (novel idea, I know). They also offer free hay rides on Saturdays in October, and even though I am severely allergic to hay, I took the kids anyway... perhaps not smart, but fun!


The pumpkins were very reasonably priced (I told the kids if they could carry it, Mommy could buy it), and we also picked up some cinnamon coffee cake mix, cherry jelly, fudge, taffy, and a caramel apple (for the baby, of course). This is likely going to become a yearly tradition!

Since the kids love Old Country Buffet, we ate there afterward. I got mashed potatoes in my hair... a fact that I am only willing to share with you, my faithful readers, and anyone who googled, "mashed potatoes in my hair", because if you googled that, you deserve to know!

Of course, it was very difficult for me to deal with the fact that Chick-Fil-A shares a parking lot with Old Country Buffet. So... I bought my lunch for tomorrow...

When we got back to town, we took some Fall pictures in the beautiful fallen leaves! Actually, we tried to do this in the morning... in the wind and rain... but really, I should know better than that. Take two was much more productive!


Great day... Great kids... I love fall!

Lisa

So Much For Frosty...

... It wasn't packing snow!

However, the kids and I did manage to roll around in the white, fluffy stuff for about 1/2 an hour this afternoon, because the temperature broke 30 degrees!

I remember really liking snow as a kid. I remember spending hours and hours just playing in it. But surely that can't be right... Didn't I get cold?

After a few snowballs in the face, everyone was ready to go inside for hot chocolate... except for Ian, but it was pretty much mandatory at that point, because he kept losing his shoes and socks... ooh... frozen little toes! Funny thing is, though, as much as I was freaking out about it, it didn't seem to bother him one bit!

Here are some pics. of our winter wonderland adventure. I think I am ready for Spring now, but you know... we always want what we don't have!

Lisa

Snow Day...

... Oh, yeah!

Although I am honestly disappointed that Grace and Caleb will not have music class today, I am also terribly happy that I now have absolutely nothing on my schedule that requires me to leave this house until Friday evening! How pathetic is that?

It's funny, because just a few months ago I was sometimes frustrated because I was "stuck" in the house all the time. I think this is a pretty normal feeling for stay at home moms from time to time. It seemed like I woke up... stayed in my PJS... and never had a conversation above 8 year old level... day after day after day!

However, we have finally fallen into some sort of routine with our comings and goings (actually establishing routines at home has a long was to go yet). I love knowing that when I wake up in the morning we have something productive to do. I love getting to know this community. I am enjoying life as a "library mom"... (the soccer mom thing didn't really work out all that well for me).

But for today I am simply going to clean my somewhat neglected house... while the kids have an abbreviated school day (puttin' us one up on the public schools... sort of... we did have that "little" vacation)... And then I am going to do my school work, because when you take classes on-line, you don't get snow days!

If it warms up enough, we might even build a snowman!

Lisa

Happy Spring...

... Finally!!!

Well, on this first day of Spring, I can't say it's amazingly warm. Actually, there's still frost... ugh... But we must be getting closer to nice weather... I hope...

It's time for some home improvement... ahhh...

I am just about jumping out of my skin over the excitement of painting! Ask me if I still feel that way after a couple of rooms... See, here's the deal... For the past several years, we have been living in rentals with all white/cream colored walls. I am so sick of boring rooms! Our new house has plenty of color already, but I want it to be my colors... For example, the pepto pink living room walls have got to go... quickly... I am looking forward to painting multiple tones of purple in Grace's room, clouds and airplanes in the boys' bedroom, and dark blues and reds to go with the sports theme in Seth's playroom. This is probably going to take me all Spring... and maybe Summer... and perhaps Fall...

I am also getting ready to undertake a huge outdoor project. I'm putting in a fence... well, if I can ever manage to reach anyone at the office that's supposed to be able to tell me about permits and such... Then I plan to put up a new trampoline with an enclosure (am garage-saleing the one that came with the house, after finding that it cannot be enclosed)... and maybe a big play fort/swingset if I can "swing" it... yeah, pathetic pun intended... After that, I'd like to plant a garden, but I don't know anything about gardening, so I may have to wait until next year if I can't find anyone to help me...

All of these "plans" kind of hit me the other day, and I realized that I am never going to be satisfied with what I have...

Just a few months ago, I was crying (tears of joy), because we were going to be able to buy a house at all. We ended up with the closest thing to my dream house that I ever could have imagined, without building, and now I have to "improve"...

I don't really feel badly about wanting to do all of this. Maybe I should, but I don't. What I do feel badly about is that I know when I've completed it, there will just be something else I want.

Lisa