EIGHT?!

REALLY? EIGHTH winter storm?? Here's how my drive home went on Thursday night....

Attempt 1: Started out in the usual fashion, about 1 mile down the highway I realized that was a no go- 4 cars sideways trying to get on 35 from 71....

Attempt 2: Exited on 670 and then on Broadway. Made it down to 169 and thought- there are ZERO exits on 169 so if I get on there and there's a wreck I'll be stuck....maybe for hours. Turned around downtown and went over to 9 highway- finally got there after having to back down a few hills. Made it through NKC with success. Decided to try to take 169 up to 152 or somewhere around there. Before exiting on 169 I saw tail lights. a LOT of them. Everyone stopped.....turned around.

Attempt 3: Decided to try my luck at getting up North Oak. There was a sideways truck in the middle of the hill but I got a good headstart. I failed. Trying to go around the truck my tire it a snow bank and I got stuck. I was able to get around the truck but any forward motion was not happening. Went back down into NKC.

Attempt 4: Drove down Armor 210 and decided to just take 210 over to the 435 north entrance. 210 is very flat so I figured it was a good bet. Got all the way over to 435 and no go. The entrance was completely blocked by several trucks. Couldn't get under the overpass to get to Ameristar (for a hotel room) or north on 435. They wanted to send me SOUTH on 435. Ummm...NO. Turned around.

Attempt 5: Headed all the way back to the I-35 N exit from 210. I didn't try this before because it was such a mess just a few miles south so I didn't have much hope for it. The entrance on the other side was a big circle I could have gotten completely trapped in so that's why I didn't try it going east. It was my last hope and if it didn't work I was going to Harrah's for a hotel room. Heading west the exit is a straight shot and I was able to make it just fine. It was actually very uneventful from there I think the real issue was just getting over the river.

Attempt 6: Stuck in the driveway. I anticipated it being difficult to get through the subdivision, but I got all the way in the driveway and the van was done too. No moving. The snow was drifted up so much that there were probably over 6 inches. B went out and shoveled it out and was able to get it in.

In all 1 hour 45 minutes. I live TWELVE MILES from work. Blah. I am SO OVER winter. My family is lucky I married who I did because if we weren't married I'd be out of here so fast heads would spin.

On a happy note....the baby's blankies came!!! Of course if you know us well you know blankies are a big deal around here.....I looked for HOURS trying to find something I was satisfied with and eventually just had them custom made from a lady on etsy with navy satin and soft circle fabric. They are superb quality. The satin is super thick and great quality and the sewing is perfect. I think they'll last forever! Best part- I didn't have to make them. There were tons of people trying to sell these little handmade blankies for 30 bucks a piece. Uh I can make them and they aren't worth that! If you're in the market- check out London Lane on Etsy. She is GREAT! She ordered both of the fabrics just for me!
Here's my little stack of 2 big blankies and 4 loveys. YAY!!!
There really isn't anything else I NEED for the baby. We do still have to get him some bedding I suppose. I am probably going to get that this week. Mom usually makes it all, but with what's happened with Charlie and the short amount of time we have, we're just going to buy it. She's working on his afghan. I really want a maya ring sling to carry him around and a couple of more diaper covers. I have all of his cloth diapers that I need but I need to get them washed up. Anything else I get him is just for fun - because every kid needs some new stuff of their own :)

Our Charlie is sick :(

So on Sunday evening our Grandpa Charlie was in a very bad car accident. So bad, in fact, that when they cleaned up the wreck they assumed he was dead and treated the clean up and investigation as a fatality accident. We found out on Monday morning that he was in the ICU at Liberty Hospital and alive, but very very injured. He is making improvements, but today marks his 3rd full day on the ventilator and sedated. He has rib fractures, lung injuries, a cracked C2 vertebrae, and a stable pelvic fracture, along with kidney and liver damage. How he was spared a brain injury was a blessing from God, to say the least. They are weaning his ventilator and he will hopefully be breathing on his own tomorrow. I was at work all day Monday and my mom was in Arizona....they had found his biological kids, but one of them lives in North Dakota and the other one he doesn't have much contact with, but she was there with him. We had trouble really finding anything out because we aren't his "true" family....so we were made to worry all day Monday. Monday evening I was able to go see him after work and felt a bit better.

I sat with him yesterday morning until Mom was able to get back in town and be with him. There are still some familial issues, but so far we are allowed to be with him as he would wish along with his kids when they want to be. Charlie isn't really the kids' grandpa, nor his he my father or step-father, but he has filled that role in our lives for a couple of years now. It's pretty hard to see someone you love hurt so bad and to know what kind of recovery he still has ahead of him. The next few months are going to be really hard. So that's what's been going on here this week....Hoping our Charlie is back to himself soon!

The Survivor!

Look who I found peeking around today?! LITTLE FISH! I haven't seen him for a couple of weeks and assumed he was dead. He actually had a pretty good chance of dying since I was doing some serious gravel vacuuming and water changes nearly every day during this period. I was also cutting back on how much I was feeding the big girls during this period. I'm super surprised he didn't starve. So today he seemed to venture out of wherever he was hiding. The girls seem pretty interested in watching him and will sometimes chase him for a short period, but then swim away. I did see one of them nip but I pounded the glass at her and she went away. He's pretty fast!

Size comparison.....
When I first laid eyes on him 2 weeks ago he was about a 1/4 of the size of one of the pieces of gravel- not picture worthy. He's so big now!!

On the flip side, one of my big girls is sick. I'm pretty sure she'll die soon. She has clamped down her fins and just sits around. When she does swim it's really erratic. I can't figure out what's wrong with her. I've read that it's very common that when Platies give birth they often can die for unknown reason in the first month or so....I'm not sure who gave birth to warrior fish, but perhaps it was her. For now she's still eating, but I'm keeping a close eye on her.

Also when I went to look for him this morning, I saw THREE more tadpoles about 1/4 of his size. Apparently someone is still birthing tadpoles. I can't believe I saw three more already this morning. We'll see if they live.

Chuffing

So G is pretty much completely better. I am staying home with him today because I wasn't sure he'd be so WELL today and it was pretty easy to get someone to work for me today and I will work tomorrow for them. I'm so glad he has gotten over it so easily- his cough is still really deep and chesty, but he's not really even coughing that much! Crazy.

So he's been playing trains all morning chuffing them around. He's pretty hilarious to watch. He's always talking about them chuffing fast or slow, getting stuck in the mud, having conversations with each other, etc.

And really, who can resist his tiny tush in his Toby underwear? I had really begun to think he was growing so much- his pants are shorter and lots of people have commented on how his cheeks look fuller......well I forgot to mention that he did get weighed at the doctor the other day.....28.2 lbs. Nope- not bigger. 15th percentile- which I suppose is better than it was- I guess he IS growing bigger and probably at a faster rate than other kids his age since everything he eats has a ridiculous amount of fat in it- salami, hotdogs, pepperoni, french fries, etc.


He's also sporting his Spiderman watch today which I think is pretty cute.

Zoo Day 3

Today was our last day of zoo camp. Griffin is definitely sick and didn't sleep well at all last night. I ended up sleeping next to his bed on the floor (really super comfy) until 1 am. I decided to go ahead and take him because I had paid for it and he wanted to go. It wasn't the best idea, but we got our money's worth. He coughed the entire time we were there and I was totally embarrassed.

The first thing we did today was make a hedgehog out of clay and spaghetti noodles. He loved it.

He wanted to get his picture with it.
He has since pulled out all the noodles and destroyed it.
Then we went outside into the most awful foggy and wet weather to see the llamas and other animals. Things started going downhill here. I shouldn't have taken him this morning and the weather was really awful. He shouldn't have been out in it.
Llamas.
Riding the train- it was FREEZING on the train.
Still on the train. We pretty much left right after we got back inside because he was so miserable.
After we got home I gave him some medicine- which did nothing, and tried to lay him down. He coughed for about an hour and a half before he finally fell asleep. Poor boy. I was hoping to be able to send him to school tomorrow, but no go. Griffy has RSV I'm sure, although I thought actually testing him for it was pointless so I didn't let her. He decided to run a fever (only 100) at the doctor- has pretty bad wheezing and an awful cough/sneeze. So B is going to stay home with him (I know, wow, right?). Here is Mira "reading" a book to him at the doctor's office.

On a good note- Mira did FANTASTIC at swim lessons tonight. She did exactly what was asked of her without argument- she even swam to me UNDER WATER kicking her legs and holding her breath. She has come really far!!! The teacher told me if we take another class that she should definitely be in the next class up. I told him you have to be 4 years 10 months for it and he said, "I'm not above a little lying." Nice! He's the teacher for the class, so perhaps we'll do it. We went to Target to get Griffy some meds after lessons so I let her pick out some new goggles since she'll swim under water now!!!

Zoo Day 2

We played a game called tame or wild. They had to figure out which animals were in what category. The kids had fun playing with the animals and chasing each other.

Putting the puzzle together. He's not bad!
Our touch animal was a hedgehog today- SUPER cute. Griffy was really animated and excited today.
Prickly!

Today we learned all about Orangutans or apes. They had a baby a couple of years ago- look how small she still is for 2! It was really chilly out this morning (well, all day) and Griffy refused to walk. I didn't take the stroller in today because yesterday we didn't need it. Big mistake.
Tomorrow I believe we are learning about llamas.

Griffy's Zoo Class

I signed Griffy up for a preschool camp this week at the zoo. It's Mon, Tues, and Wed mornings just for a couple of hours. I feel like we are always dragging him around and taking Mira places or leaving him at home- swimming lessons, dance, gymnastics, etc. So I decided I would do this with just him. It wasn't great...The lady was kinda weird and we really didn't do much, but it was something we could do just he and I.

Here he is petting a chinchilla.

She was really soft!
Making valentines. Not sure about this face, I think I just caught him in a blink.
Decorating valentines cookies and then chowing down!
He's started making these weird faces and closing one eye. He does it quite often. This isn't actually a very good shot of the hilarity, but it's the idea...
Watching the polar bear swim around.
Arguing about getting his picture taken.
Tomorrow we are learning about apes and hedgehogs I think. Today was mostly about polar bears.

Buzz

So I always cut Griffin's hair- it was REALLY long the other day- I love it when it gets long because the longer it gets the more shockingly red it is. He has gorgeous hair. So I was going to keep it longer on top and just shape up the sides and take a little off top. I picked the purple guard which was supposed to be one longer than the 3/8 I usually end up using on he and Brooks. Well....turns out there are 2 purple guards and the one I ended up with was even shorter! HAhahahahah....totally buzzed. Too bad it's not summer here yet, cause G is ready!

WHY?!

I'm not sure why I try sometimes....I have begun to feel guilty about the amount of television that is watched around here....so I decided to try and do more crafts and activities with the kids. Today I decided we could make valentines- so I got out some glitter, some paint, some dot markers, cut out some hearts and let the kids decorate them.

And though they enjoyed it, I was met with a lot of yelling and whining....always worried the other one is getting more than they are, there's not enough to do, I won't let them squirt out ALL if the glitter glue, nothing is fair, isn't there something else they can do, etc etc etc. When we were finally out of hearts to decorate I started to clean up and was met with, "I AM SO HUNGRY! WHEN IS LUNCH?!" GAH.....no wonder we have the TV on so much!!!

Um, this ain't a dusting....

So more snow last night. We were supposed to get a dusting....NOT what we got. I would say there's probably only an inch or two, but apparently traffic is ridiculous. I am so totally sick of seeing white. Good thing next week every single temp is in the 50's or I might go crazy. It was supposed to be nearly 20 today, but apparently they were wrong and this morning the high says 17 :(. Guess we won't be getting out....AGAIN.

On the fish front, I'm slightly worried about one of my babies. She either has an internal parasite, that should respond to treatment, or she needs to be fed less. I'm going to go with the first because she always eats way more than the others. I'm going to try not feeding them for at least today and see if it gets better. (Since I won't be going to get her any medicine!) Otherwise she's acting fine- swimming up a storm. They still seem to be pretty happy despite my inability to get the water the way it's supposed to be. I started using some cheapo bottled water to see if it would help. It's still not right, but maybe it's better than it would be otherwise? Anyway, I'm only changing a bit of water now every other day instead of every day.

Mira started swim lessons on Monday. She did FANTASTIC!!! The pool is only 2-3 feet deep which helped, but she was swimming on her back and doing her kicks. Her issue isn't that she can't do it, it's that she's terrified. I think this is going to help a TON. I still wonder if she'll choose to swim without floaties- we'll see what the next month brings.

CAKE!

Who needs butter when you can make Sour Cream chocolate cake?!

I find the only issue I have with made from scratch chocolate cakes is they're not quite chocolatey enough for me!

The Aftermath (and some dinner)

Here's some proof that I didn't make Mira go out and shovel by herself. haha!

So since my sister is posting pictures and stories of her food....I thought I'd post some of my own. I made this southwest quinoa and black bean recipe (VEGAN even- although we add sour cream and cheese). We usually eat it with tortilla chips but last night we put it in tortillas. Delicious. Its one of my fav dishes because it's so colorful and pretty.

Ingredients- black beans, corn, onion, 2 color sweet peppers, chipotle salsa, reg salsa, quinoa, diced tomatoes with green chiles.
Here's what the snow looks like today. I can't tell how much there is because in some places the wind was so strong you can still see the grass, but it's obviously a lot. After B shoveled it blew back over pretty good. Grant and his friend Mike and the boys came over last night and pushed the rest out of the driveway with the gator. Nice.

You can see where the gator was pushing the snow. It was a LOT of snow. I'm sure I could make it out of the neighborhood if I tried, but I don't think we're going to try. It's only 5 degrees and I hate the extreme cold. Especially when carseats and kids are involved.
Trapped in the house yesterday all I wanted to do was make some horrible brownies and cookies and eat them all. Here's to hoping David will bring me some butter today.

The Blizzard

This looks like torture to me, but apparently she had a blast. She was out there FOREVER. It has been snowing for over 12 hours now with no break. Crazy. Brooks kept telling me how it didn't seem that bad to him- and then he went out to shovel it. HA!

The pics don't do any justice at all to the blowing. The wind is outrageous. I feel totally trapped in my home. I wanted to make some baked goods to gorge myself on, but alas, I have no butter. How this has occurred I do not know, but it will NOT happen again. I HAVE to get out to get some tomorrow! So- I guess I'm glad I didn't gain a few pounds today!