Laughter really is the best medicine

Today was a very good day. 

I don't think I have laughed so much in a long time, my abdominal muscles are sore!

Aunt Caite came to visit, and although this happens on a weekly/bi-weekly basis we never get tired of it.

The girls were enthralled with the idea of saying hello to their new cousin.

"Hello in there! We can't wait for you to come out and play with us!"

This is what happens when you poke a pregnant Caite in the tummy. 

This is why my kids adore her so much, she is always willing to be silly and play with them. She also got them to clean up their rooms while I was taking a shower, and they played the best game of Hide and Go Seek ever played. I was in tears I was laughing so hard. I'd tell you about it, but Caitlin laid claim to the story for her daily blog post.

They finished tiling Brian's shower.

Tomorrow they grout, Monday they seal the tiles, Tuesday is flooring and then Wednesday or Thursday is painting! We are so close to the finish line!

And tonight was finally Knit Night, which I sorely needed. 

I love hanging out with those awesome ladies and laughing until we cry.

I love that my husband is awesome about letting me have an escape, and I love that my family is happy to see me when I come home again. 

Yes, it was a very good day.

It's still only Wednesday...

This week is just dragging for me. I was talking to my friend, Myra, yesterday about Knit Night on Thursday and said, "I can't wait to see you guys tomorrow! I really need a break!" She pointed out that it was two days until Thursday, and I was a little bit heart-broken. But the good news is that now I get to see her and get that break tomorrow...

My bathroom is looking more and more user friendly!

I picked the lightest color of tile (ivory) for the hall bath because it's a small room and has no windows. Plus after living with brown fixtures and a brown with gold sparkled floor in the bathrooms I'm all about white and clean looking! (Seriously, brown and yellow in the bathroom... ew!) This tile is darker than I remember the sample being, but I think it's still neutral enough. Anyway, too late now, it's installed. :)

A soap dish and a shelf! Isn't that just cunning?

I find myself thoroughly enchanted with each little touch that moves me closer to moving out of the living room.

Brian's shower. 

His tile color is oak. We thought a warmer color would work well in such a large shower and since the room gets plenty of natural light. I'm excited to see how the colors work with the grout, flooring, etc.

I'm worried that Jake is coming down with what Lila has, at least his symptoms don't seem to be as severe. But I kept him home today in the hope that we could nip it in the bud. Lila was quick to tell him that he needed to "get lots of rest and lots of fluids" so that he could feel better soon. 

Both of my sickies were napping when Evie got home from school, so I let her play on my phone for a little bit. She wanted to talk to her Daddy so I taught her how to text him instead, so that it would be less disruptive to his workday. 

She sent him this picture and a caption that read:

A pixchr to britin your day

Needless to say her messages freak out the auto-correct function on my phone. 

Getting closer...

Today we have become tile central.

Good thing my kids are pretty well trained to stay out of the construction zone.

They are working to get all the tile done this week, because we have flooring and painting scheduled for next week! How exciting is that?

A couple more weeks and we might be put back together!

What did I accomplish today?

I made cookies. 

And finally sewed Jake's wolf patch to his Scout shirt. 

Considering that we are going on day five of playing nursemaid to a sick, cranky four year old who doesn't let me sleep at night, and week four of workmen arriving at eight in the morning, I feel good about that...

An Egg-cellent evening...

By the time Brian got home from work tonight (via my dad's for a bath) I had already fed the children and put them to bed. Being too wiped out to cook a second dinner, I told him he would have to fend for himself. He doesn't mind an occasional dinner of cold cereal, and that's what I expected him to make. Instead he decided that he was craving protein and started to make scrambled eggs. I was hanging out in the kitchen, talking with him about our day and watching him cook.

Brian (trying to fish bits of eggshell out of the pan): Dang it!

Me: That's why I always crack the eggs into a bowl.

Brian: Really? You do?

Me: Yes, and then you can whisk them really good with a fork without scratching the pan.

Brian: Huh.

Me: You didn't put any butter in your pan either.

Brian: What? Why?

Me: Just a little bit of butter to grease the pan so the eggs won't stick and burn.

Brian: You don't even eat eggs!

Me: Yeah, well I can cook them better than that...

Brian: Would you get out of here! If you're not going to cook it for me then stop making comments about how I'm doing it wrong!

So I left...

For a minute...

Me (returning to the kitchen): Your eggs are burning.

Brian: Well someone should have mentioned something about the butter earlier!

A Quiet Sunday

Brian and Jake stayed home from church to take care of Lila today. I was teaching the lesson in Relief Society (yikes!) so I needed to go, and Evie asked to come with me. I love all my children very much, but I have to admit that it was incredibly pleasant to go to church with only one. She sat and colored quietly and I could actually listen to the speakers and review my lesson. It was a lovely, restful feeling. One that I had almost forgotten you can feel during Sacrament meeting.

My lesson went well enough, at least from what I could remember. I was teaching from Pres. Uchtdorf's talk Of Regrets and Resolutions and I felt like his words did most of the work. The hardest part was trying to keep my emotions in check as I suffer from Madsen genetics where our tear ducts are tied to our vocal cords. I had several sisters stop me afterwards to tell me that I did a good job, so I think I must have at least made sense. :)

When we left church it had started snowing in earnest and I thought, "Oh dear, I wish I'd put something in the crock-pot. This is the kind of day you'd like to come home to a warm meal." Imagine my surprise to walk in to Jacob announcing that he had made soup and it was just finished! He had prepared Potato Cheese soup (a dry mix where you add water) all by himself and hadn't burned it or anything else. It was delicious and just the sort of thing you crave on a snowy winter afternoon. He went out of his way today to be helpful and kind to all of us, running and fetching for his father, teaching Evie the finer points of switching over batches of laundry, doing everything in his power to keep Lila calm and happy. He even took it upon himself to clean up most of the mess when Lila got sick after a particularly bad coughing fit. He is a pretty amazing nine year old, and I don't know what we would do without him.

Evie was just as eager to be a helper. She has decided lately that doing laundry is her favorite chore and without being asked will often sort the dirty clothes and bring up the clean ones from the dryer. Sometimes I have to re-sort as I am putting in more to wash and sometimes the ones she brings up aren't quite finished drying. But she never seems to get discouraged by her mistakes and just cheerfully sets about trying to remember to do it better the next time. I adore that characteristic of hers. She too has been so kind and patient with Lila and willing to get her drinks, popsicles, blankets and changes of clothing anytime she is asked. Evie actually started to cry when we had to take Lila to the doctor on Friday night, my tenderhearted girl gets so sad when someone else is hurting.

Lila is doing a little better. She is not fond of the medicines she has to take and cries and begs me not to give them to her, but she doesn't fight me and drinks them right down when it comes to it. She is still feverish off and on, and prone to be a little on the clingy and cranky side especially when she first wakes up. But once the medicines start working she gets so funny and chatty. She's also taken to calling me Chris, which cracks me up even though I don't let her get away with it and insist on being called Mom. (It's probably because she sounds exactly like Brian when she does it.) She told Brian today that she was sad because, "Today has not gone at all how I dreamed it would..."

All in all I thought it was a lovely Sunday. Lots of time laying around and watching movies together, it was a nice and relaxing day. Just what we needed before plunging back into another busy week.

Saturday is a special day....

I cannot begin to tell you just how much I will never take my bathtub for granted again. Saturdays right now mean loading everybody and a change of clothes up, and driving to my dad's to use his bath. Tonight I actually took a turn, and I realized that was the first bath I've had this year! No wonder I'm so short tempered lately. The bathtub is my sanctuary where I would escape to read and relax on an almost nightly basis. I hadn't realized just how tied to my emotional well-being taking a bath was, but I am even more anxious and excited for us to have functioning bathing facilities again!

I'm so grateful that my dad has been willing to let us invade his space on a bi/tri-weekly basis. Most nights he feeds too! Tonight he went above and beyond and built a ramp over the garage stairs for Brian. It means so much to me, every gesture like that, that makes it easier to spend time with our families. We are so grateful for my Dad and all he does for us.

I need a break!

I made a command decision that today the children and I were staying home for a mental health day. They started the schools two hours late because of the icy roads, and with it being an early out day anyway I just couldn't get motivated to take them to school for 2 1/2 hours. They were all feeling anxious over my accident yesterday, the poor things have all inherited their father's ability to worry.

Plus Lila had kept Brian and I up most of the night with a raging fever. She kept waking up screaming about our family being covered in blood. It was really disconcerting. She wasn't doing much better for the rest of the day, high fever that the medicine didn't seem to be bringing down, sleeping fitfully, not eating. Tonight as we were getting her ready for bed, Brian picked her up and exclaimed that she was burning up. 103.3 degree fever, no bueno.

I rushed her over to Kid's Care before they closed and we were pleasantly surprised to see Dinee working. We were not surprised when she was diagnosed with pneumonia and influenza. I hope the medicines start working as quickly as this illness has come on. She started crying on the way home that the snow was turning black. I hate seeing her delirious and so scared. 

On a lighter note Miss Evie lost another tooth tonight! We are starting to call her Toothless like in How to Train Your Dragon. She can't wait to go back to school on Monday and do the lost tooth chant with her class.

It's a long story...

See? It even has chapters.

Chapter 1: 

In which I tangle with a street light and the street light loses.

This winter is sure showing us some crazy weather! I've lived here my whole life and I don't ever remember seeing freezing rain before, or at least since I started driving mumble mumble many years ago. Brian asked if I would drive the kids so that he could leave a few minutes early because he'd heard the commute was looking pretty bad. Sure, no problem. Until I left the house to discover my car was completely encased in ice. Grrr. It took fifteen minutes to chisel the windows clear enough so I could see to drive. 

We were already running late so I, cautious (i.e. paranoid) driver that I am, decided to take things nice and easy on the icy roads. I dropped everybody off just fine and the roads were slick, but manageable. Until we got to Lila's preschool which is in a cul-de-sac that could have doubled for a hockey rink. Even going slowly I still fishtailed a few times, so believe me I was very much aware of the road conditions.

 I made my way down the road and as I came to the intersection there was a car stopped and waiting for traffic. I gently applied the brake, and nothing! I knew enough to know if I stomped on it I would fishtail on the ice and lose control. It was one of those horrible moments where time seems to slow down as I realized I was either going to hit the car in front of me or go off the road. I opted for the snowbank. Unfortunately the snow bank held a street sign, a street light, and a fire hydrant. I hit the street light and then watched as it toppled over in slow motion onto someones snow covered lawn. 

I got out and went to inspect the damage. Nothing to my car, not even a scratch! The only way you could see where I had hit it was the ice on my bumper had cracked. The worst part was sitting around for an hour or so while the police and city workers arrived to inspect the damage. It's probably very petty of me, but I felt slightly vindicated watching as one after another stepped out of their cars and just about went down on their butts. That road was pure ice! I still got a citation for traveling too fast for existing conditions. Sigh... I can't complain. It could have been so much worse. 

It was unsettling to have an accident and have to call the insurance company and all of that. I haven't had a car accident in over fifteen years, probably because that time I totaled that car and it knocked the cockiness right out of me. I'm definitely going to have to try to beat that record and try for at least sixteen years before I have another one.

Chapter Two:

In which the work on the house progresses.

The tile guy was here today prepping the walls in the shower and bathtub.

And the floor for the roll in shower.

I'm excited to see the tile go in. It will be the first of our choices being installed and I'm anxious to see how the colors work in a big area instead of just a sample.

Chapter 3:

In which I accomplish my goals.

Even with as crazy as my day started off, I knew there would be someone out there just waiting to see if I did my three simple goals. It helped me not slack off and come up with excuses not to do them.

#2 

Change the light bulbs. 

I didn't get to all of them, but I did get the ones at the top of the stair that have been burnt out for three years. Yay me! I also dusted the light and that corner which had been accumulating quite the impressive collection of cobwebs which became visible once there was light. So that's worth like a double check on my list.

#1 and 3 

Clean sink and finished dishcloth. 

Artistically draped even...

Overall, I feel much better about today. Even with the lows, there were some pretty great highs. I got to hang out with Caite and her friend Kaylee, we went to lunch at Kneader's, and I still met my goals for the day.

Isn't amazing that having a clean kitchen sink trumps car accident?

Letting off some steam...

Be forewarned, this is a venting post so feel free to skip it if you want to.

Living through a remodel is like taking the worst parts of camping, staying in a hotel, and moving, and mashing them all together.

Camping: Inadequate bathroom facilities
Staying in a hotel: You're in an unfamiliar space, and you bump into things in the night if you get up to use the bathroom.
Moving: Half your stuff is in boxes and you can't find anything!

Add to that the mess and the noise and it's no wonder people go slightly crazy when doing this. We are at the stage where the Sheetrock guys are mudding and taping, and sanding, and mudding again. Sheetrock mud stinks. My whole house just smells dank and chemically, and gross. My sense of entropy is growing. It feels like anything I do to combat the chaos is a drop in the bucket to what needs to be done, and since I'm on someone else's timetable right now there is also a distinct feeling of helplessness. (Apparently I'm more of a control freak than I'd like to admit to being.) Today was definitely a throw in the towel kind of day, I didn't accomplish anything.

Okay, here's where I work on my word of the year and take back some control over myself and tomorrow. I will set three, small, very reasonable goals for me to accomplish tomorrow. Things that don't require anyone else's participation.

1) I will do the dishes.
I know I always feel better when my kitchen is clean and I am able to function in it if the mood to cook strikes.

2) I will change the burnt out light bulbs. Especially the one at the top of the stairs that has been burnt out for three years now. 
It's a small chore and one that will help "brighten" my mood. (Hahahaha, you see what I did there?)

3) I will finish knitting myself a dishcloth.
I like to knit, I'm almost done with it, and a little something new is always a mood elevator. It will probably help inspire me to finish my dishes so I can photograph it artistically draped in the sink.

Yes, I think tomorrow will be better. I will work on letting the chaos flow around me instead of dragging me down.

Thanks for letting me vent...

Learning the hard way...

That you can't put plastic bowls on a still warm burner.

Poor Jake, he has been trying so hard all day to be helpful. He wanted to make lunch and was very disappointed when I beat him to it. He begged me to let him make some dinner for himself and the girls, since he is really very responsible in the kitchen and loves to cook I agreed. I made him promise to read through all the instructions before he started and to come get me if there was any questions, then I made myself stop hovering and go sit in the other room. That's something I struggle with as a mother, stepping back and letting my children learn through trial and error sometimes.

He had no problems with the actual cooking, but then he forgot that the burner was still going to be hot for awhile even after you shut it off. I think he was really worried that I was going to be mad at him, but I was very calm and just used it as a teaching moment about how you have to continually pay attention in the kitchen. 

Besides I got these bowls at Walmart, four for a quarter. 

That means I'm out all of six cents.

P.S. Anyone know how to clean melted plastic off a stove?

My laundry system...

There seems to be a lot of writing about laundry in my life lately. My posts, my family and friends blogging, posting and tweeting. (I don't have twitter, so that last one is just an educated guess.) But that's pretty much what we did today on this holiday. Stayed in our jammies and tried to get caught up on the laundry.

I must say I have an awesome system going right now. I had the kids gather up all the dirties and bring them down. While I sorted and switched over the first batch Brian folded the clean ones. Then we had Jake put away all the kids clothing and towels, and carry mine downstairs. After that first batch Jake took over the role of switching the laundry over and bring the clean stuff upstairs for Brian to fold.

 Me, I supervised. 

It. was. AWESOME! Those boys of mine do good work! 

We had a funny moment when Jake was moving a batch of jeans out of the dryer. He came up with a highly offended look on his face, held up a quarter and said, "I was emptying the lint trap and as I pulled it out this quarter flew out and hit me in the crotch! So I am claiming it." We assured him that he had more than earned it for his trouble. I just hope this doesn't affect his enthusiasm for helping me with the laundry tomorrow...

We didn't expect anyone to come work on the house today, or at least not to show up bright and early. So we stayed up way late and had friends over the night before. We finally went to bed around 2 a.m., and at 8:30 there were the guys knocking on the door. Sigh... and you can't even be upset to be awoken for such a reason.

They applied the first layer of the mud. Our walls now have corners! They said it has to dry until Wednesday, so I don't anticipate anyone showing up tomorrow. But still, I've learned my lesson. No more leaving my bra downstairs, you never know when you have to be decent enough to answer the door.

Argh! Curse word!

That's how you can tell the people with children from the ones without, or at least the ones whose children can talk...

Poor Brian was attempting to make cookies (I was letting him because I like to encourage that kind of independence.) when suddenly the butter he was melting exploded all over the microwave. He yelled, "Crap! Stink! Are you freaking kidding me?!"

I looked up and calmly said, "Butter should be melted in ten second increments."

Brian yelled back, "That would have been nice to know thirty seconds ago!"

Oh well, the microwave needed a good scrubbing. Of course, I knew that thirty seconds ago too... ;)

Twelve years

The best anniversary gift I got today was this poem written by my son, for the express purpose of "so you don't have to take the time the blog tonight". Isn't he thoughtful? :)

By Jake (age 9)

My parents have been married twelve years.
Here are twelve reasons why I care:
I'd probably be stuck in heaven, instead of way down here.
I can play with my siblings, every day all year,
I can laugh when my mom runs away from deer.
I can hug them for comfort,
I can get rid of my fear,
I can travel with my parents to places far and near.
I have a mom who knits cool stuff,
And a dad who tells bad jokes.
Without guardians who were up to snuff I'd kick and punch and poke!
I have a grandpa who plays cards with me,
And another in Denmark,
Without their strength my whole life would really miss the mark.
Whew, twelve reasons to love my mom and dad, I'm kind of tuckered out.
Twelve ways to love my parents,
Who I love without a doubt!

More than grateful

The past couple of weeks have been trying, emotionally, mentally, physically, financially... pretty much every which way you can be tried. Every which way but spiritually, because we have faith that all the stress and discomfort and sacrifice we make now will be rewarded by the final product. We know that everyone who has a hand in this project is giving it their all to move things along as fast as humanly possible. We feel again and again how blessed we are to have so many people in our lives who are willing to help us and care about us and are every bit as excited as we are to see things changing and taking shape. I must apologize if I have seemed to be complaining and focusing on the negative. We truly do know what an amazing gift this is, not only for Brian, but for our whole family.

Today we received another amazingly generous gift. I got a call this afternoon from a number that I didn't recognize, but with all the different people coming to work in the house right now that isn't so unusual, so I answered it.

"Hello?"

"Is this Chrissy?"

"Yes it is."

"This is so-and-so from such-and-such appliance business."

"Okay..." (Frantically wracking my brain trying to think why they could be calling.)

"This is a bit of an unusual phone call, so bear with me for a minute."

"Okay..."

"You have a very kind, generous neighbor who has come in and purchased for you a front-loading washer and dryer set."


Stunned silence....
"Uh... um... are you serious?" (I was shaking and crying by this point.)


"Yes. We understand you are having some remodeling and painting done and so we just need to know when we would be able to schedule the delivery."

"Um... Uh... I... I'm not entirely sure. I would have to check with the builder. Maybe in two or three weeks?" (Freaking out my children who were wondering what was wrong because I was in shock and crying!)

"Okay, we will keep them in the warehouse and you'll just need to call to schedule the delivery when you are ready for them."

"I can't believe this! Thank you so much!"

"You don't need to thank me. You have a very kind neighbor who cares very much about you."

"This is too incredible! Can I ask who I should thank?"

"No, they've asked to remain anonymous."

"Then I won't ask. But oh my, thank you again!"

Dear Anonymous-

I don't know who you are and I will respect your anonymity. All I can say is that I hope from the bottom of my heart that you read this blog and know how humbled and grateful we are at your generous and beautiful gift. It is such surprise, we are completely overwhelmed! There has to be a word that means more than gratitude, more than appreciation, more than thankfulness. Such a selfless, charitable service is a perfect example of "Loving thy neighbor" and from me and my little family thank you a thousand times over!

P.S. I was seriously in so much shock after that phone call that when I called Brian to tell him what has happened the first words out of my mouth were, "Are you sitting down?"

Blogging? There's an app for that...

I finally figured out how to blog from my phone! Do you know what this means?! No more sitting at the computer, cudgeling my brain trying to remember the hilarious things my kids said during the day! No more missing posts when I'm out of town or away from the computer! More in-depth and insightful reporting of my day to day life! (Okay, I'm just kidding about that last one.) But this is still an exciting development. :)

I'm sure it will take me a little while to figure out exactly how to do everything, like post pictures, but I'll get there. I'm just so tickled that I couldn't wait to share my new discovery. And no comments from the peanut gallery, thank you. Just because I'm late to the party doesn't mean that it's any less special that I figured it out for myself.

Oh look, I figured out the picture thing too... I am on fire today!

Sheetrock On!

We've got walls!

Woot Woot!

Can't see the bathrooms anymore.

 Laundry alcove.

Brian's shower.

The specks are the camera flash catching the dust in the air as there is no lighting back here yet. 

No more holes in the ceiling with insulation falling on our heads. The whole house already feels warmer.

Two weeks, all this has happened in just two weeks!

 That's incredible.

The contractor said he hoped to be done by the end of the month, and I didn't think that was at all possible, but if they keep working at this rate they just might reach that goal!

Horsey-ing Around

Lila loves to play with her Aunt Caite. 

She said, "Let's play horsey!" so Caite obliged her...

Although I don't think this was quite what she had in mind. 

She crawled about three steps and collapsed, just about taking Caite down on top of her. 

Once they got up Lila grabbed Caite's shirt and said, "Okay, this time I'm the cowboy and you're the horse!"

Caitlin replied, "Your horse?"

Lila, "No! You're the horse!'

Caitlin,"Right, your horse."

Lila, long pause, "Caite! You're the horse."

Caitlin, "I know, your horse."

Lila, "Grrr! No! YOU'RE the horse!"

It was like a preschool version of "Who's on First?"

So I started shouting, "My kingdom for an apostrophe!"

Grammar humor always gets me. 

The other day I sent a text that said, "I'll be running around with a headless chicken." instead of "...like a headless chicken." 

The wrong preposition just takes it to a whole other level of crazy.

 Psychotic as opposed to merely harried or stressed. 

On the construction front:

Today we had (and I'm assuming we passed, since no one told me differently) an inspection. Now we have a this lovely pile of sheet rock that will start being installed tomorrow. We could have bathroom walls again by tomorrow night! Just ignore the toilet in the background. I'm not sure why it's still there, but I have complete faith in my contractor and I'm sure it will be moved at the appropriate time. 

They finished installing the dryer vent. 

I smile every time I walk past this part of my house, imagining the joy of not lugging baskets of laundry up and down the stairs. The soothing, white noise of the dryer running as I fall asleep at night... so lovely.

One random section of insulation was installed. I understand why they had to do this, to meet today's code they have to put in insulation where ever the outer walls were taken down to the studs. Which means we now have insulation in Brian's shower, and this one strip on the south end of our house. The absurdity of it just makes me chuckle.

The unvarnished truth

I am grouchy.

The last thing I want to do tonight is blog and spread my grouchiness further, but I'm not giving up less than a month in.

Tonight I told the kids they'd better be on their best behavior as their father wasn't home to protect them from my bad mood.

They took me seriously.

I am tired and achy, and all I want is my bathtub.

It's sitting there, installed and with plumbing, but no handles yet.... just mocking me.

It's 8 p.m.

The kids are already in bed.

It's safer for all of us.

I'm going to go pout at my bathtub some more, then sigh in defeat and crawl into bed.

The Dinner Table

One area that I feel like we do pretty well in at our house is sitting down to dinner together. Granted some nights that means eating later or even that every person is eating something different because we have too many leftovers. But we are gathered around the table, sharing a meal as a family, talking about our day, and gently (and sometimes not so gently) instructing our children in etiquette and table manners. 

Tonight we went fancy and had place cards courtesy of Evie. She also set the table and payed particular attention to making sure the silverware was in the appropriate place and lined up just so.  She is a great helper and loves to be in the kitchen with me. 

Jake has reached an age where he is just excited to eat.

(I'm thinking it's another growth spurt...)

Lila didn't join us for awhile tonight. She woke up from an nap and was extremely grouchy. The only thing to do when she gets that way is to ignore her until she decides she's bored with her own company. She finally came into the kitchen, but made it abundantly clear that she would only be eating under duress. Not willing to fight that battle I asked her if she would like to try a baby portion of each food, and the novelty of super small helpings made her forget she was supposed to be being ornery.

She spent the rest of the meal cracking us up as she got all precise and anal about loading a pea on each tine of her fork.

 Doesn't that face just say, "I dare you to try and make me be happy if I don't feel like it."

I do love meals that end with laughter instead of tears.

It takes a village...

One thing that makes our family very lucky is having people that are willing (and able) to do the things that Brian and I can't (or won't) do with our kids, like play in the snow.

 (Brian can't, I won't.)

Caite and Patrick came down today just to play in the snow with my kids and build an awesome fort. 

We don't even own enough proper snow gear to outfit all three of them, but with some borrowing and making do we managed to keep anyone from getting hypothermia.

The awesome and manly snow fort

complete with tunnel entrance 

and other features.

After playing as long as their little bodies could tolerate the cold (which was nowhere near as long as they wanted to be out there) we had some toast and watched Doc McStuffins while waiting for Lila's hands to thaw out.

Since tomorrow is Sunday and we don't really have bathing facilities at our place right now, we loaded up and went to Pa Dave's to make use of his bathroom. The kids were pretty tired by this point but fighting to stay awake and watch their movie on the way home. I must admit the DVD player in Brian's van is a pretty sweet feature, it keeps the kids quiet even on ten minute drives to the store or visiting relatives. 

Of course the second we got back to our house everyone was starving again, so while I fixed some mac n' cheese the girls tried on the new gloves Brian got for them. 

Evie's came with a pair of finger less mitts to wear under her gloves, and she LURVES them. She refuses to take them off. She's even worn them to bed and fully plans on wearing them to church tomorrow. 

Here she is having an 80's pop-star moment. 

Lila was not pleased that her gloves didn't come with similar mitts, and I caught her in the nick of time from taking the scissors to hers and trying to recreate the look. Sheesh, I have to watch this one every minute!

Thanks again Caite and Patrick for being the cool, fun, playing in the snow kind of aunt and uncle. You make our children's lives fuller and we appreciate it... even if you did throw a snowball and hit me in the butt with it.