Snow Day and Catching Up

For those of you who live where weather does not impact if you go to school or not (a.k.a. all you California coast people that we love so much)...

Snow Day - a day where the snow is so bad, or makes the roads/traffic/driving/bus routes so terrible that school is cancelled that day.

One Snow Day = Fun.
Multiple Snow Days in a row, such as last winter, have lived up to the stuff of urban legends and are know as the "Mother Killers".

Two weeks ago we had a snowday. Now really, Grant goes to school 2 days a week, and this wasn't on one of his days, so technically, it was just a day with snow. Snow days are usually set-up the night before by the 10 o'clock news saying words such as "freezing cold", "large amount of snow after midnight", "driving sleet", and "icy roads". These are words you do not want to hear. These words are usually followed the next morning by a 5:30am phone call from a recording telling you that your child's school is closed for a snow day, and you probably could have all slept in, except that they call you early so you can arrange for work/daycare and really because your kids will wake up on their own earlier for a snow day than they ever would for school anyway.

Yes, just a day with snow, except that the snow was so much so quickly, that we really couldn't go anywhere safely. Now we have a child who is not sure he wants to play in snow, one dog who loves the snow and is probably a miniature St. Bernard wrapped in a Cavalier suit, and one dog who actually just sat and peed on the mat in front of the back door because there was no way he was going out. I'll leave you to guess who is who. It is one thing to spend all day inside playing. It is another to know at 6:02am that you WILL BE INSIDE ALL DAY PLAYING. You start planning.

Here are a few shots of the snow first thing in the morning from our front door. When we went to bed, there was no snow on the ground.

 And it was quiet. Non-normal quiet. Like a Hallmark card, or an errie wilderness movie where you know a bear or a pack of wolves are going to jump out from behind a tree and get you. Luckily, the wind picked up after lunch and blew most of the snow off the tree limbs, or else most of those branches would have broken off from the weight of the snow and ice.

What did we do? We got excited! We got amped up! We got dressed in full snow gear, complete with the snow pant/suit with suspenders thing that only top-notch skiers wear, and we went outside!

Then we realized it was cold. And wet. And still snowing. And getting in our face. And on our shoes. Someone kept pointing to the snow on his shoes saying "off".

And then the crying started. With the frozen runny nose. And the cold hands because he won't keep his gloves on. So we went inside. 20 minutes to get dressed for 10 minutes of fun. Oh well. It was a good attempt. And now it is at least 7:30 in the morning, so an hour or so has gone by since breakfast.

(In your head, you start counting down the hours to lunch, and then nap, and then dinner and bedtime. Seriously, this is how you survive a snow day.)

Yes, I know one day Grant will spend all day outside and it will be different, but for now, and many years to come, snow may not be as awesome as we had hoped.

Grant's room and the office share a bathroom. We played in his room and the office most of the morning. Lots of fun things to do in the office, like pretend you are one of the dogs and lay in their bed with your stuffed animals. Strangely enough, the dogs like to sleep under the desk, so that bed never gets used anyway.

I mentioned the bathroom - we like to wash our toys in the sink. We liked it so much we got water everywhere, hence the missing shirt. We also found the comb and decided that combing your hair on your own for no reason at all is much more fun than combing your hair for school.We also learned how to use the spray bottle of water. We then learned how to use a towel to dry off the counter, walls, cabinets and floors.
Let the fun begin!

 All in all, it was a good day. The irony was that the best time to go outside was during naptime, as the weather got a bit warmer, the sun came out and it stopped snowing. But there is a special punishment for people who wake up napping toddlers, and I don't want to find out what it is.

Catching Up

Hey! Grant turned two recently. Oh really? When? Ummm...back in December. Here are a few pics.

For Grant's birthday, we went to the zoo...on his actual birthday. That means we went to the zoo on December 15, in 42 degrees. You dress warm, you live through winter, you get used to it. I'm reading a book I love on Danish life right now and they have a special theory on life on how to enjoy the snow and the cold. Otherwise you'd spend 3 months out of the year trapped inside the house.

Our story to Grant about this day will be that we rented out the zoo, because it really looked like we did. There were far more zoo employees than patrons walking around. We had a great time, moved around the zoo easily, had fun having lunch together, and got to see all the animals we wanted to.

Watching the orangutans play inside and stay warm.

Sea Lions! You didn't think that hat was going to stay on all day, did you?

Polar bear! My favorite. I do have a love/hate relationship with the idea of a zoo in general, but if you read the story about this polar bear HERE, it makes me happy...well, not the beginning, but at least the end. And when did Grant get to be over half my body length? I'm going to be the shortest one when he's 10 I'm sure.

Kali the polar bear

Yes! Cupcakes after dinner. 

Little man is all grown up. He's got his blanket, Thomas birthday card, and resting on the couch after a long day of fun. Bring on the new year!

Until next time, keep exploring!

Love and hugs,

M, K, G, T, O and G calls him, "bebe"

BAM! Just Like That, We Are 18 Months Old.

I say WE are 18 months old, because well...first of all, our little guy is 18 months old, but our family is 18 months old too. AND if you can do math and read the previous blog, it has been 6 looong months since we last blogged. Apologies. We've been busy.

And really, now that I get this finally posted, we are nearly 19 months old...sheesh

January and February

January and February meant snow was still on the ground. We ran outside every chance we got. We became very fast at putting on jackets and shoes and grabbing Toby and heading out for a walk in the sunshine in the wagon.

Toby loves to ride in the wagon with Grant, right up until he sees another dog or person he wants to say hi to. Then he jumps out and saunters over. 

In Jan and Feb we weren't walking too much on our own just yet. We could couch-surf and get around, but I wouldn't say walking just yet.

This table was and still is our favorite place to sit and play with toys. It makes for a good cave and train depot. 

March

March brought us a huge 15-month-old growth spurt. Check out the picture of Grant in the back of the truck. (We loooove Dad's truck!) This picture is from the beginning of March, compared to the picture down the page at the end of March. I think sometimes we put him to bed and when he wakes up he is measurably taller!

Sweet sweet face. Watching our favorite monkey, Curious George.

Chair, milk, and George.  Don't bother me, I'm watching. And yes, yes you see patches on his knees. He wasn't totally walking yet and was still getting around on his hands and knees sometimes. He wore holes through his pants, but since he was so close to walking, I bought patches and patched up his pants as fast as he could wear them out.

I swear he grew a longer neck overnight. 

March also meant it was our 11 year wedding anniversary. We did what any couple would do and packed up the kids (biped and quadruped) and went to the park. 

Look how much taller he is, just at the end of March. Scroll back up to the picture in the beginning of March (I'll wait). Yup, we keep feeding him and he keeps growing. 15 months going on 10 years old. 

April

In April the sun came out, the flowers bloomed, baseball started up again, and all was well with the universe. 

Walking!!!! We started walking!!! Check out this link to see some fantastic walking, and one excited mom. https://youtu.be/FTRuqd-DjG8

Sunday night baseball, Cardinals vs. Cubs

Still loving to play in Dad's truck, and getting bigger by the minute! He has yet to actually ask to drive it, thank goodness. 

April's great weather brought us to the park on many occasions. Our after-park ritual includes everyone in the back of the car for water and snacks, and so mom can pick dirt, plants, bugs and whatever else off us before we climb in the car. I used to pack separate snacks for both the biped and quadruped, but since they share and share alike, now we just have group snacks for everyone. 

May

Along with May came the sun and heat. It still quite comfortable to be outside though. 

Grant quickly learned how to relax by the pool. We are now professionals in how to play with the water table and plastic pool in the driveway.

Uncle Jason came for a visit! We had so much fun hanging out with him.

We have also realized how much fun a shower can be. Mom likes it because it is much faster than a bath, and Grant likes it because you can run around under water and still manage not to get wet. Mostly he likes to close the door and then bang on the walls for a bit.

Big thanks to Kyle for building Grant a sandbox frame! 

I didn't really want a sandbox on the ground, especially between all the rain we get and the animals and bugs that could climb inside. I saw this idea to get a large tote box instead and build a frame for it. Thankfully, Kyle is a building genius and after I showed him a picture of what I was looking for, BAM! he built it. 

We get haircuts with Dad now at the big boy haircut place. Here we are having a snack outside waiting for Dad to arrive for our appointment. 

Warmer weather means lots of backyard fun. Grant took to the idea of bean bags fairly quickly, although his distance could use some work. He settled for carrying them all to the other side and dropping them in the hole.

June

 Grant surprises us every day with what he understands, what he can do, and how he communicates back to us. We were outside playing in June, and I was turning on the hose. I told him to grab the end and fill his water table with the water when it came out. I turn on the hose,turn around, and this is what I see. 18 months going on 10 years. 

Toby wasn't happy with the towel I set out for him, so he waiting for the proper opportunity to steal my chair.

Twice a week we have co-op babysitting at our house so another mom and I can go to boot camp together. We have a babysitter come over and Grant gets to play with his new friend while we work out. The babysitter taught them to put the chairs by the window to sit and watch the birds and animals in the yard. Now Grant does this by himself, and he always takes both chairs over. Sometimes he lets us sit in the empty chair, sometimes not. I wonder who he is saving it for - or who is sitting there already?

Grant loves Dad snuggles.

Grant truly has a love of life and fun. He is happy to entertain himself with toys and books, and loves to color at his table. He loves to be outside and to go the park, but also sit and snuggle for a good book or Curious George cartoon. He is a smiler, a giggler, and is starting to show that he is a funny guy with a great personality. Every day is like meeting an old friend and still learning something new about them.  I love spending every minute with my little guy.

More fun from July coming soon!

Until our next adventure, keep on smiling, snuggling and smelling the world around you!

Big hugs,

M, K, G & T

Happy Spring?

Happy Spring! The birds are chirping, the sky is blue, the air is crisp with the sweet smell of flowers...wait - what? Oh, this is St. Louis. It snowed.

Now really, we are not buried. This was not a Minnesota storm, a Michigan blizzard, or something out of Green Bay, but for St. Louis, an inch an hour for 10 hours is not anything to sneeze at. Plus, the news has a great time all day alerting you to the fact that it is, indeed, snowing. Honestly, I appreciate the seriousness because it makes everyone else take it seriously, prepare in advance, and prep for the next day. It started snowing about 9am on Sunday and just kept...on...snowing. Nearly 9 inches had fallen by the time we sat down for dinner, and another inch or two during the night. As I type this now, little flakes are still gracefully fluttering down from the sky. It's like living in a beautiful Hallmark card, right up until you actually have to go out into it to get your work done. Did I mention it was a bright and sunny 50 degrees on Saturday? The sun was out. I wore shorts to boot camp. It was a great almost-spring kind of day.

I must give a major high-five to Kyle, who not only shoveled our driveway and part of the street not once, but TWICE yesterday in trying to keep ahead of the storm, but also was kind enough to shovel our neighbor's drive as well. Big hugs and kisses for that one.

Now for the fun part, pictures! These were taken bright and early Monday morning. 

Front of the house - the tree limbs are so heavy with the wet snow. After Kyle left for work I ran around with a broom and tried to knock the branches a bit to get some of the snow to fall off. Don't want to lose any more tree limbs than we have to.

Front of the house looking up the driveway from the street. It looks a lot colder than it felt.

Trusty sidekick tummy-deep in snow. He couldn't tell where the patio ended and the yard began, so he pretty much just did his morning business a few feet from the back door. Why go farther than you have to?

Backyard, looking up to the easement. Bird feeder is full of snow. 

 I know you can't read the ruler, but you know a ruler is 12 inches long, and that one is sticking out about 1 inch, so there are 11 inches of snow on our patio table.

 Left side of backyard. Look how low all the tree limbs are.

 More of my trusty sidekick. He has somehow acquired a snaggle-tooth that catches his lip every now and then. He has perfected the "bouncing like a bunny" around the backyard through the snow. It was over tummy-deep in some parts and he had to hop up and down to get around. He's our cute little fuzzy guy.

I did take a few videos Sunday of the snow falling. If you don't have time to watch all of them, just look at the first one at 9:00am and the last. They are each about 30 seconds long. Quite the difference one day makes.

9:00am Back yard

10:00am Back yard

11:00am Front yard

1:45pm Front yard

1:45pm Back yard

6:30pm Back yard - 9 inches

7:00pm Front yard

Thanks for reading! Until our next adventure, keep on smiling, snuggling, and smelling the world around you.

Big hugs,
Mandi, Kyle and Toby

It's Raining and Snowing...

...and sleeting and icing...

On our driveway now stands one inch of clear ice (frozen water that came from melted snow), 3 inches from sleeting ice that fell from the sky that has now frozen into a solid brick - a driveway long brick - and tonight snow is falling on top of that. So what did we do? We went sliding down the driveway on our backsides and took pictures of the pretty trees, that's what we did.

Here's a little video of what to do when you don't have a sled. You grab a black trash bag.

Of course, we also took a few pics. The icicles on the trees were starting to weigh the branches down, and branches have begun to break and fall off. More pictures on my phone, but these were the fun ones with the real camera. Who knows what the morning will bring?!?

Icicles forming on tree branches and falling snow getting in the way of the camera.

This one is actually a shot of down our street to the right of the house, but you can't really tell. More pictures coming soon!

"Snow" were the Days

Yes, I just did a snow pun.

We had some fun this morning with the snow, and I use the term "fun" loosely. It started snowing about 11pm last night, and we knew we could be getting about 3-4 inches before this morning. We set our alarms early to get up and see what we had to do in order to get to work...and this is what we woke up to.

 These two pictures were taken about 7:00am, after Kyle had worked for nearly 45 minutes to dig out a runway for the Murano to get out of the driveway. I hurried behind putting down the ice-melt stuff, but the snow was coming down faster than the ice-melt was working. Last week when we did this, the runway lasted all week. We shall see how this week goes. I have no idea why the pictures are blue, except to say that it was still pretty dark and I'm sure the camera was cold.

 More of the same. Just wanted to show the 4 inches Kyle dug through. I was so happy that he was home this time and I didn't have to dig it all out myself  like last time. hee hee.

 Here's what the garage and driveway looked like. You can see how deep the snow was, and it was still falling. It's supposed to snow most of today as well. I also swept out the garage. The snow on the car from last night melted and created nice puddles in the garage. Also, seeing as the driveway isn't really flat, when it gets really cold, the water makes a nice little black ice pond. Ask Kyle's shoulder how great a black ice pond is when you fall down on it. Ouch.

 Proof that you're damned if you do and damned if you don't. We left Kyle's car out in the street and my car in the garage, just to try to leave ourselves with options. After shoveling for 45 minutes, we decide that Kyle's car is too buried to get out, and even if we did get it out, it wasn't going to go anywhere on that street. Kyle wound up taking my car to work (all wheel drive button that works very nicely) and I stayed home to work on my laptop. Thank goodness I brought my laptop home with me yesterday!

 We had been making jokes about how Kyle's car was "the big mean truck" and didn't mind playing in the snow, and that my car was the dainty one that liked to stay in the garage. After driving my car to work today, Kyle called to say that my car is a million times better in the snow! Ha ha. Point for my car.

We are definitely not whining about the snow, just documenting our trials and tribulations with it. I think it is still a novelty with us, however if you talk to Kyle this morning after driving to work in it, I think he's done with it. I was the California kid again this morning, outside taking pictures with my camera. I'll post those soon. Just wanted to share our fun with you. Love and hugs.