Just Leave it Out

I have been a parent for almost 16 years and I'm still figuring things out. Ever do something so simple and have it work wonders and think to yourself, why have I never thought of that before? That's what happened today. I'm sure this is something other parents have figured out ages ago, but it just never crossed my mind until today.

My boys are fantastic when it comes to picking out fruits and veggies. They have their favorites but are also willing to try new things. I'm that crazy mom in the produce aisle looking up how to tell if a starfruit is ripe and the best way to use them. We buy loads of fresh produce with ever intention to eat them.

Once home and everything put away, slowly our beloved strawberries we had planned to slice up get pushed back into the back corners of the fridge. Our watermelon we painstaking searched through the bin for becomes overlooked as part of our kitchen decor.

Forget about the vegetable drawer, if it can't be seen then it must not exist. Anything that goes in that drawer doesn't get scooped out in it's half decomposed sate until our next grocery shopping day. Instead that's where I hide the chocolate and sweet treats, it's always a sweet surprise now whenever I get around to open that drawer :)

I have tried reminding my boys "There's fruit in the fridge" and making suggestions "why don't you grab a banana", yet so much goes to waste. I'd get so annoyed, they begged for mangoes and now I'm having to throw them away again. I bought apples, even Joey will eat apples yet here they sit.

I couldn't figure it out, they pig out on fruits and veggies at Grandma's house. Like seriously will eat every piece of fruit she has in her house. I buy the same things she does. I have even gone as far as buying them at the same store she does.

Then it dawned on me, it's gotta be in a bowl!! We often tease my mom about how she always has to present everything in a bowl or on a platter. Bag of potatoes chips on the table, she'll pour them in a bowl. Sliced watermelon it all stacked neatly on a platter.

I'm busy keeping up with 3 boys ( and cleaning up after them) I don't have time for bowls and platters for presentation. They really don't care one way or the other about how food is present as long as there is food. We are all about efficiency. They want chips tear open the bag and count that you still have all your fingers after setting in the mist of all 3 of them. Watermelon, slice it and tell them to grab some if they want it.

Yet Grandma's bowl thing seems to gravitate there hands. So I gave it a shot.

I sliced up some cucumbers, set them on a plate and left them on the counter. Jordan walks through to refill his water bottle and ask who's cucumbers, I replied no one's really. He grabbed 4 slices and walked out. Jacob notices that someone is eating something and being the youngest wants to make sure he gets his share, walks in and takes a handful. Now these are the same cucumbers that have been sitting on counter all week that no one noticed.

With the cucumbers gone, I start pulling more stuff out of the fridge. Rinse some grapes and place them in a bowl on the kitchen table. I cut up the watermelon leaving the bowl on the opposite side of the kitchen. I broke out out "Garlic, Garlic dip" peeled some carrots and broke up some broccoli, those went on the picnic table.

As I stood there mindlessly eating grapes I watched my boys grab some of everything that was placed out.  Before the night was through they had eaten  two stalks of broccoli, a bag of carrots, a whole watermelon and a bag of grapes. Okay I have joined in with grabbing some of this and a little of that as I passed by. Even the neighbor kids asked for toothpicks to snack on some watermelon when playing in our yard.

When it's in a bowl they know it's washed and ready to eat. Also I have taken the "work" out eating them. I have them washed, sliced, cut, peeled, and presented. Also many of us are accustomed to mindless eating when we see food sitting in front of us.

So this was my "DUH" moment for the day. So simple, yet it never dawned on me. With this system in place we'll actually need to visit our Farmer's Market on Saturday morning.

Back on the Nature Trails

 After leaving the Heidelberg Project, we stopped at Grandma's because it was coffee time for Mom and the boys wanted to share with her about their visit to the project. A quick explanation of their take on all they saw, they took off to play with the kids next door. While trying to wrangle my boys to head home, I was surfing Facebook and happened to come across as post about free donuts at a cider mill we have not visited in a few years. Instead of heading home to make dinner we were on our way for donuts.

After enjoying our cider and donuts without any bees to pester us, I thought we'd walk the short path at the mill. Almost at the end of the path, Jordan found a side trail he wanted to follow. Jordan is more into the "off the main trail" hiking, than the semi-paved paths. We followed the newly found trail for about a mile, when my phone died. Not having a clock to gauge how long before the mill closed, I really wanted to turn back. Jordan keep insisting that we were  almost at the end. There was a large loop and that's where we called it quits and headed back to the car. Jordan and Joey had spotted where they thought the trail continue, and were really bummed I wouldn't let them follow it. So I made a deal with them, we'd come back the next day after church and see if the new path continued to anywhere.

True to my word, we drove back out to the mill and followed the same path. We had packed lunches to eat at a nifty little bridge. We'd spend as much time wandering whatever paths they found, and wandering them as far as they wanted. Turns out, we had been only 5 minutes away from where path appeared to end on a dirt road. The boys had more fun the second day we walked the path as there was no need to rush. They spent a great deal of time climbing on and around the trees. We were almost back to the semi-paved path when (being the cool mom) I found a snake. I'm cool enough to tell my kiddos to come check out the snake, but not cool enough to actually pick it up. I allowed the snake to continue on it's way. Jordan and I were having a debate about rather it was a garter snake or something different; Jordan said garter, I said something that would be happy to bite my toes. During our debate we happened upon another snake. Unlike the first snake this one was happy in his sunny spot on the path and wasn't going to wiggle out of our way. It actually stood it's ground and kind of pulled itself into a squiggly "S", we carefully inched our way around it. Seeing 2 snakes was more than enough for me, I was ready to get back on the main path.

We walked the main path all the way to it's end. My boys were not too impressed the the straight line packed dirt path I had wanted to walk. Today must have been their lucky day, because lo and behold there was another side path. They were excited about taking this path, that looked as if not many people have traveled on it. So we took the less traveled path; I had told them I would walk whatever path they wanted (me and my big mouth). This path was exactly the type of path Jordan had been hoping we'd be walking. The kind where every so often you have to look for matted down grass to make sure you were still going in the right direction. We climbed over fallen trees, ducked under branches, and gotten ourselves turn around a few times. After off-roading our hike for a mile and a half we came out of the dense trees just behind the mill.

So all in all we walked just shy of 2.5 miles while ducking and diving through the trees.

*I later learned that the first snake we seen was could in fact have been a garter snake. Considering that we second we we saw was a brown snake, the first could have been a brown snake. I guess we'll never know.

The Heidelberg Project

For years I have been planning on taking my boys down to Detroit to see the Heidelberg Project. Life would get in the way and another year would pass without going. A couple years ago I was determined to go check out the project, seems even Grandma had been to visit. That was the year that a couple houses in the project fell victim to arson. So Saturday morning when I thought of going, I decided that we should just go; like right then, before our day filled up with other activities.

 The project is only the size of a city block. It is like no other city block though. We ended up spending over an hour looking at everything. The houses are painted and decorated with everyday trash to make unique pieces of artwork. It really is a place you have to visit to fully experience it. As we walked down the street, I was really sadden we would not be able to see the houses that fell victim to the fires as they were before. However, what remained of the burnt houses did show signs that they were remembered; items that had decorated those houses were placed back upon the remnants.We even got to met Tyree Guyton the founder of the project; Joey preformed a skit for him on the "Heidelberg Television"

 

 Signing The YellowHouse Guestbook

  Pictures of some of the houses that were destroyed, and how things are beginning to be rebuilt.

Click here to learn about The Heidelberg Project

Dating After A Decade- Part 2

We had planned to walk a nature trail at a park near his neighborhood after church, which sounded good because the park was only a couple miles down from Papa and Grandma's where my kids would be staying for a couple hours. My mom was excited to meet my friend (10 years is a long time for a mom to wait for her daughter who is over 30 to date), my dad wasn't as excited...lol. My friend was a gentleman and opened the car door for me and helped me into his car and we were on our way.

My friend had walked the trail before and unbeknown to me had a plan set in place for how our date would go. I on the other hand had no expectation other than to see where the day took me. The trail was rather busy with bikers, roller bladders, and families walking, enjoying the wonderful weather we had that day. I love walking and could easily walk for hours without needing a break, especially while walking and talking to a friend. So when he asked after just five minutes if I'd like to sit down for a bit it threw me. I said I was fine to keep walking but if he needed to sit then we could. I was mentally preparing myself for a walk with frequent breaks and trying to figure out what time I'd be back to pick up my kids, when he found a bench at the first bend in the path. Sitting on the bench with the sound of a small river behind us and a slight breeze blowing. I realized "this was a planned checkpoint". My friend is a very quiet person, so him sitting without saying anything for an extended period of time didn't send up any flags for me. After a couple minutes of people watching he made his move. I had a feeling it was coming, but still was not prepared for it. He went in for a very awkward teenage kiss that I was not prepared for and was not expecting. I tried to gracefully duck away and gave him a hug. Not wanting to hurt his feeling I blamed my avoidance on the fact that there were young children coming around the bend, and I could hear them. I don't like taking my kids places and having them seeing people locking lips, and wouldn't want to put other people in that position. I suggested we could maybe continue our walk.

The picture for Joey :)

We made it to what must have been "check point 2" where he suggested another break to sit on a giant tree that was laying on it's side near the river. There were less people traveling this route, so he made his move again. Again, I ducked away to get a picture ("for Joey") of a tree that ash tree bugs had left their paths on.  I wasn't sure why I kept dodging his show of affection, but thought it could be that I felt he would bail on our relationship that day with his deal breakers. His deal breakers were always in the back of my mind. I voiced my concerns. I was given a quick reply that he wasn't going to bail. It sounded like a hollow promise to me though; a knee jerk reply.

I had on hiking boots and walking on the paved path in them which was hurting my ankles, so I detoured us to a mountain bike path. I must have upset his planned route for check points, because he was a bit worried about which direction the paved path was going. I kind of took over the direction of our walk and the path I had us on didn't look to have anywhere we would be taking another break at. My friend was a determined man and stopped our progress when we came to a bit of a valley with blooms in the nearby trees. He went in for another kiss, I stepped back a bit to put some space between us. I realized that it wasn't just the fear that he'd bail, I just wasn't feeling the "spark". I had been good during our walk and had not smoked at all, but I was dying for a cigarette now. I hate to admit it, but I hoped my cigarette breath would keep any more advances away. I forgot to mention that during the whole 2.5 hours we were walking there was very little conversation happening between us. I attempted many times but was unable to uphold both sides of the conversation. Did I mention my friend is very quiet. I'm not saying he didn't talk at all, just that all topics kind of fizzled out quickly and left just silence in it's place.

By this point I had given up on talking and moved to walking in front of him, having him follow me back to the main path, then to the car. I just wanted to go home and see my kiddos. This time I didn't wait for him to open the door for me. We rode back to my parents with less than 10 words spoke between us. He noticed my silence and commented on it, I said he must be rubbing off on me. I was lost inside my own head trying to figure out how our "official date" had been so unlike our "family dates". Plus trying to figure out how to tell him were should stick with being friends.

Back at my parents I had expected him to head home to spend time with his kids who had been away for a week on vacation with their mother. Instead he hung around for a bit, he's kids had apparently already gone back to their moms. My friend sat outside chatting with my dad and Jordan. My mom pulled out extras for dinner as she had not expected my boys and I to be there so late. My friend joined all of us for dinner. Then being a complete computer whiz worked on speeding up my parents computer. I walked him to his car around 7 that night. Being the thoughtful guy he is he gave me some movies he had borrowed from the library he thought my boys might enjoy. (The movies were sequels to the one we had watched the last time we "broke up")

That evening after getting home I touched base with a couple of my friends who had been itching to know how things went. While messaging one of my friends from out of state I received a message from him thanking me for the lovely day we spent together. I closed out my chat with my friend so I could focus on what I needed to say to him. He inquired what I had been telling my friend about our date. I have never really filtered what I say to him through text and told him pretty much the same thing I had told my friend. I did try to be nice about it, but I think I still hurt his feelings.

We went back to attempting to be "just friends" but when I tried to message him as a friend twice that following week he dismissed me. I hate that my feelings of him bailing on me were correct. I have talked (text-ed) to him only once since our "date", when he thought I was avoiding him the following Sunday at church. (I hadn't been, I was running late for service, then had to rush out after service to meet with friends for lunch) I've seen him at church and we are in the same small group through church, but we have not shared a single word. It's kind of like if he doesn't acknowledge I'm there, then the "perfect date" never happened.

I give him much credit for all the thought and planning he put into the date. He truly is a wonderful guy and I hope he finds someone to share his affections with, that person just isn't me though.

What Did We Really Do in February? Part 1

While much of February seems to have passed in a blur, I do remember all the really cold days cooped up in the house. There were quiet a few snow/cold days from school too. I knew we had to have done something other than hide away all snug and warm in the house. Then I remembered I take pictures of EVERYTHING. Looking through my phone I was able to jog my memory of the many fun things we have done.

One of our church campus was hosting a Winter Blast about a half hour from our home. The boys and I loaded up snowboards and sled for a fun day of playing in all the snow. They had a huge mound of snow in their parking lot for the kids to sled down. Even had a nice little walking path to make hiking up the snow mountain easier. There were different style sleds that the church provided and everyone was really nice about sharing their sleds. Besides the sledding there were many other activities to keep everyone happy while getting some fresh air. There was an ice skating area, we had to pass on that because none of us own ice skates. Joey being the creative child he is found a way around not having ice skates and took a disc sled over the the ice and a guy was kind enough to slide Joey around on the sled. Jacob got a big kick out the "human foosball". There was a tractor behind the snow mountain that was giving sled rides. Even I couldn't pass that up! Not wanting to look silly I had Jordan go for a ride with me :) Joey also tried out the pedal cars/tractors, which were a lot of work in the snow. I thought it was a wonderful idea that they had fire pits setup so that while the parents warmed up they could still keep an eye on their kids. After exhausting ourselves playing we headed into the church for free hot dogs, chips, cookies and hot chocolate (and coffee for the parents). They had a couple "special shows" set up, they tosses dyed water in pop bottles using a catapult. Then there was my favorite "show" they blew up Olaf!! They had two different showings of when they exploded a snowman. My boys like when there was a short wait just before the exploding snowman and everyone was given the opportunity to throw snowballs at one of the pastors. Pastor Tim use to preach at our church before moving to our new campus. Poor Pastor Tim, the kids really let him have it with the snow balls. While Jordan stayed outside playing in the snow and throwing snowballs at the volunteers (they said he could, I asked them) the younger two and I went in to warm up. Inside they had two bouncy castles set up and music playing. There were too many little kids in the bouncy castles so I didn't get to bounce with my boys. I did get up and do a couple dances with them though.

Bye-Bye snowman :)

cute little snowman

After spending four or five hours playing in the snow, you'd think we would be beat. Nope, not us! There was a glow in the dark ice skating down by Grandma and Papa's. After a quick phone call and inviting ourselves to their house for dinner we were headed for some ice skating. Jacob opted to hang back with Grandma and play at her house, while Papa and I took the older two skating. What an adventure that turned out to be. I hadn't been on a pair of ice skates since I was about Joey's age and I wasn't real steady on them then. We get to the ice rink and to say it was crowded would be an understatement. Once we finally rented our skates and made our way to the ice Jordan took off whipping around the ring. Which left me struggling for my footing on my own while I waited for Joey to catch up to me. Joey and Papa only made it once around the ice rink before Joey's skates were bothering his ankles. I thought Papa took him inside to exchange his skates. Nope, they turned them in. When I went inside to see why it was taking so long to exchange them and where do I find Papa and Joey, in line to buy nachos!! Papa and Joey watched as Jordan raced around the ring and I slowly made my way. I am very proud to say, while I was extremely slow moving I did not fall :)

Jordan on the move

they were on the ice

Our Christmas of Giving

I was looking through our Christmas posts from last year, we sure were busy. Looking back I can't figure out how we had time to do all the things we did aside from basketball, scouts, and catechism. Last year was about celebrating our family and making memories; we finished our Fall Bucket List, started our Winter Bucket List, Christmas Around the World, and were working toward our 1000 Hours Outside.

This year we are more relaxed about the things we want to accomplish before Christmas. It was not planned, but this year is about giving to others. Joey and Jacob picked tags from the 'giving tree' at their school, and donated a crocheted hat and a crocheted throw blanket. Joey felt it was important that we donate a handmade crochet blanket. He says it makes you feel loved as well as cozy, to wrap up in a blanket that you know someone made with love; they feel like wrapping up in 'home'. Jordan donated a crocheted Christmas blanket to the Senior Living for someone who doesn't get many visitor so they knew some one was thinking about them this season.

We were even able to gather some supplies and hand deliver them to a few homeless guys. While I would love to say that we came to do this on our own, but it was my brother who actually found this need for us to help meet.

Here's how my boys came to be able to see the people we help by donating.

I should have been asleep, but I was scrolling through Facebook at 2:00 am and came across a post by my brother asking for donations of blankets. I questioned when he needed the blankets by, and he called me (yep, at 2 am). He told me that he needed them before he went to work the next day. On his to the store he came across a man who looked like he was down on his luck. After a brief conversation with this man, it was apparent that he was homeless. My brother invited the man to sit in his car and warm up. While the man was warming up my brother inquired as to how the man become homeless. This man's homelessness had nothing to do with being lazy or being addicted to gambling or drugs. He feel victim to circumstance, his house had caught fire and sometime after that his wife died, things kind of snowballed and he was left with nothing. Seems we hear so often that most homeless are drunks and drug abuser, my brother offer to by this man a drink. The man declined saying he doesn't drink or use any drugs, he would appreciate some food though. My brother offered to warm him up some cabbage rolls he had made for dinner and bring it to the man. My brother drove the man to where the man said he was staying. When my brother brought him the cabbage rolls, he asked what did the guy need, his reply was blankets. He has a sheet but could really use some blankets and so could the other 4 men that were sharing the same living space. My brother doesn't have money to go buy 5 or more blankets, so he reached out via social media. He was able to gather 3 blankets, and 2 pairs of warm wool like socks.

I let my boys know that we were going to met up with Uncle and drop off some blankets for some guys who were homeless. My boys set about making Christmas cards out of construction paper to give with the blankets and tossed a couple candy canes in the bag too. Joey had asked that we stop on our way to Uncle's and buy some tooth brushes, toothpaste, and shower gel.

At first my brother  wasn't sure how the men would feel about having all the kids by their "dwelling" and thought maybe we should leave the kids (my 3 boys and his son) in the van while we made our delivery. My boys were disappointed and wanted to be part of things. Once near where the men were staying my brother changed his mind and said to bring the kids. It was a bit of a hike from the car to where we were going and we wouldn't be able to see our cars from our destination. My nephew carried a container of hot chocolate that my brother had made just before leaving his house, each of my boys carried a bag containing two blankets (one I had crocheted that morning, remembering what Joey had told me weeks earlier about the comfort of handmade blanket) and the other things we bought.

As we were making our hike, I noticed that my brother had labeled the hot chocolate and had written the man's name on the bag he way carrying. My brother had told the man he would leave the bag of blankets outside the "door" of their dwelling if the man wasn't there. As we approached, there was a man who was heading out to collect cans who hung back to chat with us for a bit.

While my brother and I chatted a bit with these two gentlemen the boys, being curious boys, peeked around the dwelling. The men didn't seem to mind and answered the questions the boys asked. The men were grateful for the things we had brought. You could tell that it made their day they someone took the time to help them out. It made our day being able to help out.

On the way home, my boys talked about how bare the living conditions were and how homeless people just look like "normal people". Jacob and Joey both had the idea that all homeless people look like the "Bird Lady" from Home Alone 2 or had shopping carts overflowing with cans and their belongings. They were surprised that while these men didn't have many belongings, they shared what they did have with each other, like the blankets we brought and the hot chocolate.

I had a really hard time walking away without feeling like I should do more than we did. I know they must have more they need, but was at a loss for what else we could bring.

We help others, because we know how it feels to need some help

School Daze

I know my title seems like so many others as all the kiddos get back to school, but this year that title is literally how our school year started of for me. I've been awake for roughly 25 hours straight, so when I dropped my boys off for their first day back to school I was in a daze. (I still am, so don't hold me accountable for spelling or grammar errors.) Last night was pretty much the same as it is for us every year; I double checked that all their supplies were in their packs (and labeled), clothes were laid out, alarm clocks were set, the boys were in bed earlier and had muffins baking for the morning. We were all ready and eager to begin another school year. Then thing took a turn I had not expected.

Yesterday Jacob had his first ever soccer game. He and his team had played well. They didn't win, but they played hard. Jacob hadn't expected so much running and with his allergies kicking in, he started to get a bit wheezy. No big deal, we've dealt with this before a quick breathing treatment and he'd be as good as new. He had been too nervous before his game to eat, so after his treatment we celebrated his first game with pizza. Then spent some downtime watching tv before preparing for school the next day. All the kiddos were in bed and all the "school stuff" taken care of, I went to visit with a friend across the street for a bit. As we chatted time got away from us (as it often does) and around midnight we called it a night. I peeked in on my boys before heading to bed and noticed that Jacob was starting to get wheezy again. I really didn't want to wake him, he had an exciting day ahead of him so I went to lay down. I had this nagging feeling to check on him that could not be quieted. I went back and watched my sweet child sleeping. His body was working harder than it should have to breathe and out came the breathing treatment again. I knew it was necessary but felt so bad watching him fight to stay awake enough to sit up for the treatment. Knowing he had his treatment that he would be able to rest more peacefully I went back to bed, it was one in the morning and I had to be up early. There was that feeling again that something just wasn't right, I had to check on him again. When I went to him his breathing hadn't got any better. I stood there on the ladder of the bunk bed for at least a half hour watching the way his chest moved and comparing it with the way his brother's was moving. His breaths were to shallow and to quick and his heart was racing. To reassure myself that he was fine, I woke my poor baby up and had him come sleep in my bed so I could watch his breathing. By this time his tummy had started doing what I could only describe as "the worm" it wiggle up his chest with every breath than his body did this kind of twitch. I really started to panic, this happened last time when his oxygen levels had started dropping. I kept asking him if he was okay, and he kept telling me that he was tired. Hating to keep waking him due to my own paranoia I let to sleep but kept an eye on his breathing, something just didn't feel right. Then he woke and asked me to call the doctors because his chest was hurting really bad.

It was around 3:15 am so the only option was to call 911 and they were here in less than five minutes. They said that he needed to go to the hospital. I called Papa waking him up at 3:30 in the morning to have him come watch my other boys so I could follow the ambulance. Papa doesn't live real close by and we couldn't sit and wait until he got here. I called my friend and she woke up her kids and came straight here. (I have the best friends ever <3). She stayed until Papa got here then had to get to work and her own kids off to school. I swear the scariest thing I have ever seen is one of my kids in the back of an ambulance.

Jacob and I spent the next 3 hours in the hospital while they helped return his breathing to normal. I was still too shook up to sleep, as he slept I watched his chest. While there we also learned he had a double ear infection he hadn't complained about. We were sent home with a steroid, a script for his treatments, and an antibiotic.

While I wasn't sleeping at the hospital, Papa and Joey weren't getting any rest at my house either. I learned when we got home that Joey had been awake since the paramedics were at our house. He was all wound up between worrying about his brother and school starting in only a few short hours. Jordan was able to sleep until about 6 when Joey woke him thinking he needed to be at school by 7. Jordan was baffled that Papa was there as he had slept through all the events of the happened.

We made it home from the hospital just in time for me to run Jordan to school. Papa stayed to watch the boys for me seems they were wide awake. Papa headed back to his house (hopefully to get some sleep) as the younger boys were getting ready to leave for school.

While we had had a rather eventful night Jacob insisted on attending the first day of school, it's only a half day. My baby was safe and acting like himself so I let him go to school. We still managed to keep our tradition of first day pictures and mom seeing them off to school. For the younger two it also include seeing them to their classroom doors.

A huge thank you to Papa and to my friend Krystal for being there when we needed you!! You truly are blessings to us.

8th grade

3rd grade

4th grade

Every Day Holds It's Own Adventures

Having everyone back home again and waking well rested we thought we'd do some fun things on yet another snow day from school. We lounged around for a good part of the morning, everyone was enjoying some screen time so I thought we'd cash in one of our Christmas presents, a gift card for the four of us to go see a movie. I go to hop into the shower and there is only a trickle of water. Uh Oh! Turns out while we were away at my parents I forgot to let the sinks run again when we returned and my pipes had froze. Blessedly with the exception of one toilet and the kitchen faucet. This is my first  ever experience with frozen pipes, and not one I wish to repeat. I turned on all the faucets and the walls began to vibrate, thinking that probably wasn't a good sign I called for back up who had more experience than I. After a call to our wonderful maintenance guy who was just across the street helping a friend of mine with a similar problem, came to our rescue. Turns out the answer to our problem was as simple as cutting a hole a little bigger than a foot squared into our downstairs bathroom. That's when we learned there is little to no insulation up there. After about an hour and a bit of help from a heat gun we were good to go. I just had to make sure to let all the sinks trickle water so they don't refreeze up.

Having some down time before the next showing of our chosen movie. We started the process of making our Rosca de Reyes (3 King Cake) to finish off our Mexico part of Christmas Around the World. Finally time to head out to see Frozen, it seemed fitting for today due to our pipes becoming Frozen and it being below freezing today. We get to the theater with just enough time to get our tickets and some snacks. I requested four tickets and went to pay...that's when I realize our gift card isn't for the same theater we were at. I had purposely left my purse at home only taking what I knew I needed; I can't stand setting my purse on the grimy, sticky floors. When I set it on the chair next to me I always seems to slip through the seat and still end up on the floor. it just works better to leave it behind (usually).  There would be no show today for us, we do plan to go to the correct theater this weekend and finally watch our movie.

To soften the blow of no surprise movie we grabbed a couple videos from the video store and a couple pizzas. Thanks to our friends at Homeschool Camper we learned from their Facebook page that this week is National Pizza Week and today turned out to be the best day to appreciate having a couple slices. We spent most of the evening watching the movies the boys had picked out and snacking on pizza. We were also able to finish our Rosca de Reyes which we had for an after dinner snack. (More about our cake tomorrow).

In the mist of the movie watching and cake baking we have been fighting to keep the house warmed up, that hole in the ceiling sure is letting in the below zero temperatures. Having the oven on while baking helped but so did all those blankets I have been crocheting. That and movie time around here is also cuddle with mom time. I think the movie watching also helped us from going bonkers from hearing the constant trickle of water all day long and hearing it in surround sound. So movie night at home ended up being an unexpected blessing.

Not exactly how we planned our snow day, but things seem to always work out. I can't wait to see what today's snow day brings us.