Snow Day

It started snowing yesterday around 2:00 pm and continued through the night, so it was no surprise this morning when we woke to find about 7 inches of powder on the ground and school cancelled. The boys have been desperate for a decent snowfall, and they certainly received their wishes today. We got out for a bit this morning while Riley napped, and I actually enjoyed being out in the snow (if you're unsure of my feelings about the weather, see my "Are We There Yet" post). Part of that may be the result of a friendly neighbor who snow-blowed our driveway so I didn't have to shovel it, but I think it was mostly due to watching how much fun the boys were having. They jumped, slid, crawled, stomped, and laid in the snow, and naturally Connor ate it by the handfuls. I'm hoping to drop Riley off with a neighbor this afternoon so I can take them sledding down the big hill across the street - they enjoyed going down the small slope of our driveway so much I can only imagine the fun they'll have flying down a real hill. As previously stated, I'm not a big fan of the cold or snow, but I am a big fan of my kids enjoying all the pleasures of childhood, and playing in the snow is certainly one of them. 

You Tackle People!

In honor of next weekend's Superbowl, I thought I'd post this video of Casey discussing the finer points of football.

Confession

I have a confession to make, and it's a tough one. I am totally, completely, inexplicably hooked on the Twilight books. This is so embarrassing - what's next, a Jonas Brothers CD? I blame my friends and co-book club members for getting me started. They're both hooked as well, and suggested that we go to a late show of the recent movie adaptation Friday night, and if I was going to see the movie I might as well read the book. Right? I'm a pretty fast reader, so I didn't think it would be a problem. But when Mindy dropped it off on Thursday afternoon and I realized I had to knock out 500 pages in a day, I had doubts. 

Fast forward to Friday evening and me cooking dinner, serving dinner, eating dinner, and giving baths all one-handed while trying to finish the last 3 chapters of the book before the movie. It's truly a wonder I didn't shampoo the chicken and saute one of the kids, but as we pulled into the theater parking lot I put the damn thing down with only 20 pages to go, and I was addicted. Why didn't I just give up and see the movie without finishing? Because it was good. I hate to admit it. I had no interest in reading these books, they were for teenage girls not 33 yr-old moms. I had no interest in seeing the movie (I haven't seen a movie in the theater in about a year and a half - I think I would have agreed to go see "Ishtar" if they asked me) but I have to admit I now see what all the fuss was about. It's taken a great deal of will-power to not go across the street first thing this morning and grab the next book, New Moon, from Mindy, but I suspect I will have it in my hot little hands by nap time today.

 I suppose what concerns me about my newfound fanaticism is not what it says about the quality of the books, but what it says about my taste level in literary entertainment. I guess underneath the poopy diapers and minivan there's still a bit of teenage girl left in me, and since I'm not going to stop reading now, I guess I have to be OK with that. 

Hi, my name is Jenny, and I like the Twilight books.

The Birds

Last week we experienced a strange phenomenon in the form of about 1000 blackbirds setting up residence in our backyard. I don't know if you've ever had that many birds on your lawn, but I can attest it is super creepy. Like, Hitchcock creepy. I kept waiting for Tippi Heddron to run screaming across the yard. I've yet to get a decent answer as to why they were here in the dead of winter, but thankfully they've moved on now and I can set foot back there without fear of having my eyes pecked out.

Motivation

I have been contemplating signing up for the Derby mini-marathon, and I think this shirt might just provide me with the motivation I need.

Are We There Yet?

We took a quick trip to Kentucky to visit Rob's parents over Christmas, and before we left the city limits the boys had posed the above question about 56 times. It drove us both batty, but today I think I can relate to how they were feeling. As we move into January, I feel like I have been strapped into a car seat for a 100 mile road trip with no end in sight, and I myself am wondering, "Are we there yet?".

I am not a winter person by nature. I'm not a big fan of snow, hate ice, despise wind, and if I didn't have the need to own gloves, scarves, or wool coats I'd be just fine. Yet here I am in a city that, although sunny and bright, is logging a high temperature today of 28 degrees. We all have dry skin and cabin fever, runny noses and chapped lips. And even poor Casey (pictured above napping on the couch in a position that fully expresses how I feel about the weather this time of year), who has missed 3 of the last 4 Fridays of school with some sort of ailment and who passionately loves to play in the snow, looked longingly out at the backyard this afternoon and sadly said, "I wish we could just put on a little jacket and go play on the swing-set." Me too. 

Are we there yet?

brothers.

I took a few quick shots of the boys yesterday in Connor's room because the light was so pretty in the morning and I love the color we painted his walls. I also wanted some new shots to use to practice with on my new computer, and I came up with this poster. I think I'm going to enlarge it and frame it in their bathroom since we also used this color in there, and since it's a rare example of the two of them getting along, I feel it definitely needs to be displayed. 

Fun Is Bowling

There is a bowling alley across the street from Mall St. Mathews in Louisville that has a big sign out front declaring "Fun Is Bowling!". I've always been fascinated by that sign, it's such a definitive statement, like it's commanding you have a good time while bowling in case you were maybe thinking "Fun is NOT Bowling!". Personally, I've always been a bit more "Fun is Drinking Beer While You Watch Football!" or "Fun is Not Having to Wear Weird Shoes and Stick Your Fingers in Dirty Bowling Balls!". Anyway, now anytime I think about bowling I think of that sign and that bowling alley, and so I was thinking about it today as we loaded the kids up and headed over to a local bowling alley. I bought a package of games at the Mom's Club auction this fall and wrapped them up for Rob at Christmas because he's mentioned frequently that maybe it would be something fun to do as a family. And you know what, fun is bowling! We actually had a really good time, even though we're all pretty pitiful bowlers. The alley had the lanes set up with bumpers for the kids, and they have these ramp contraptions that the kids can roll their balls down instead of having to roll them by themselves. Casey & I tied the last game with a 78, Connor rolled a very respectful 105, and Rob beat us all with a 130.