Back to school...and then another snowday...

The boys headed back to school on Monday, but bad weather forced them home early on Tuesday and school was cancelled on Wednesday. More on recent days later - here is a quick review of last weekend:

Saturday afternoon we headed to Standish to help my parents get their new computer set up. The boys enjoyed playing in their snowbanks. They thought it was pretty awesome that they can reach the roof now! Nate slid down and Daisy stole his hat! She was soooo pleased with herself. We had a super yummy supper - roast pork with green beans, carrots, mashed potatoes and blueberry muffins. Even our youngest, who tends to be picky, chowed down. It was a great meal. Thanks Grammie!

Sunday afternoon Dad's parents came up and brought one of the boys' cousins to play with them. They had a great time and we had a good visit. Dad made hamburgers for lunch. They brought Shrek the Third for us to watch. It was really funny! Puss in Boots is the boys' favorite character. They lose it whenever he does the 'poor kitty' eyes! Grampa brought Dad some chains for his tractor tires. They sure have come in handy this week!

"Necessity is the mother of invention", right? Our oldest has found an easier way to transport the water buckets to the chicken coop...

Monday was actually a mild, sunny day. I spent some time outdoors enjoying the weather. So did the dogs, as you can see!

Daisy sure enjoyed the bone that Daddy bought her at the grocery store. It's a real bone, full of real gore, which didn't make me very happy. So, when she got blood all over our white kitchen floor, you better believe that it wasn't me that cleaned it up!! At which point Dad thought that maybe she would be happier enjoying it outdoors.

There was snow melting off the roof of the horse trailer. Isn't it strange how it is just hanging there?

This evening I stood in the front doorway and took this picture as the snow continued to fall. We received another 10 inches overnight and a few more throughout the day today. It's a good thing the horses aren't interested in escaping their pasture....

This is what I found when I went to tuck the boys into bed this evening. Naughty puppy! 'Course she was probably invited up, so it wasn't really her fault....

More vacation....

We had a great vacation. The boys had a lot of fun playing together and with their pets. The snow provided lots of opportunities for digging, sledding and making paths. Their guinea pigs participated in snuggle sessions and creative playacting. On Wednesday I took them to Auburn for some shopping and just wandering around the mall. Truthfully, I needed the chance to walk - it's much too icy outside and I couldn't take them to the gym with me. We found some fleece blanket kits on clearance and bought them for a fun project. I cut the strips all around the edges and they helped to tie them into knots. They thought it was cool making them and really love how soft and warm they are...

We let them stay up late on the night of the lunar eclipse. I wasn't able to get any good shots of the moon, but I did get this cool shot that shows you just how bright it was! With the full moon reflecting on the snow, it was so pretty! I've read since that one of those bright stars was Saturn and that with even a small telescope (which we don't have) people were able to see the rings that evening. We just really enjoyed the sky that night. Although it was sooooo bitterly cold that it was ridiculous to keep going outside to check on the progress of the eclipse. Oh well. We bundled up and did it anyway...

February Vacation

I'm back! I caught a bug from the boys last week that just kept dragging me down. I'm finally up and about again and back to blogging....

Dad helped our oldest with some Scouting projects this weekend. They repaired the broken drawer in the bathroom vanity and they built a tool box. He did a great job!!

Yesterday's rain didn't take away very much of our snow - it was too cold and just froze everywhere. Come summer we will look at these pictures and it will seem surreal. Right now it just seems horrible!!

This hen makes me laugh. She is so determined that she is going to hatch those eggs, no matter what! We keep taking them away and telling her to give up - it's much too cold for an embroyo to survive...

Our ducks are having a tough time of it right now. Something is preying on them and since they are free-range, there's not too much we can do about it. Dad is attempting to trap and shoot the predator. Hopefully he'll be successful!

After the ice...

Yesterday's storm sure left us with a mess, but at least we didn't lose our power, like so many others did. We got more than a foot of snow before it turned to rain for the next few hours. That left a layer of ice on top. As you can see, the snow has accumulated enough so that our fenceline is disappearing. You can just see the tips of the white electric fenceposts in the second picture. It's crazy! The good news is that we don't need to worry about the horses stepping over it - this crust hurts their legs, so they are staying on their pathways between the hay bales and the water tub.

This is why we're using the basement steps today...

After I took the boys down to meet the bus this morning, I fed the horses. While I was out there, I heard a really strange loud noise. I stopped and listened for a minute and I thought "That's someone spinning their tires! I bet that Frank (the busdriver) is stuck up at the top of the hill." The noise stopped, so I shrugged and carried on, figuring they had headed on their way. Nope! As soon as the boys got off the bus this afternoon, they couldn't wait to tell us of their adventure. The bus did get stuck and they had to wait for a sanding truck to come and help them - it even had to pull them off the ice and onto the sand! Now, I tell you what. I'm NOT pleased that the road hadn't been sanded this morning, BEFORE the buses headed out. That's just ridiculous and dangerous on all these mountain roads...

Snowy Sunday

This afternoon the cabin fever got to us and we just had to escape! So, after Dad finished plowing/snowblowing/shoveling the 4 inches of snow that we received this morning, we climbed into the car to head for town. After all, it hadn't been snowing for a couple of hours, so surely the roads would be okay. They weren't, but we did manage to get to the movie theater in time for the show - The Water Horse. When we got there, it was starting to snow again, but we decided to take the chance and went inside.

The movie was great! I would highly recommend it. Some of the scenes were a bit too intense for our youngest, but he was the one that told us as soon as it was over that he couldn't wait to see it again. He thought the creature was adorable, and being an army buff, he loved all the scenes involving the soldiers that take over the area to protect it during WWII.

When we stepped outdoors, we realized that we might have made a mistake. It was really snowing hard. We made it up to Paris Hill with minimal slipping & sliding, but once we reached the top we drove into a whiteout!! Not good. I was driving, much to Dad's dismay, and since I couldn't see the road ahead of me, I followed the telephone wires overhead, trying to stay a little ways off to the side, in the hopes that would keep me out of the bankings. The scary part was that we couldn't even see each telephone pole ahead of us! That's how poor the visibilty was. Finally we pulled into our yard and made it safely into the house...

Clean Up Saturday

Dad is working hard to get as much snow as possible moved, in order to make room for the next storm, which is supposed to start this evening. The sun peeked out for a very short while this morning, but as the day progresses it just keeps getting darker and darker out there. We're in for some more nasty weather!

Here's another reason to sell some of my Muscovies:

Kitch thought that maybe if he helped Dad then he could get his breakfast sooner...

The goose house is almost completely buried, but they have made themselves a slide down into it, so they can snuggle in all the hay I've put in there for them. I bet it's actually pretty warm when they get all tucked in at night!

School anyway...

The boys had school today! Can you imagine? It is still snowing though, and the roads are a mess! Don't they look thrilled?

We went to their parent/teacher conferences last night. The boys are both doing very well! Our youngest has improved his reading scores, so that he is finally just about at grade level. Except for his speed of reading, or rather the lack-thereof. He takes his time and they need him to read faster in order to pass the tests. We'll be working on that...

The teachers told us that they are focusing the 3-Rs now, so that in the summer when they are still in school, they can do the science curriculum, which is much more likely to capture the kids attention. Plus, some of it can be done outdoors!

The boys thought it looked like the car had a 'mohawk'...

Still snowing...

Boy, what I would give to see the sun....

I did capture a few pictures of the horses playing! I have sooo much to learn about taking pictures with this camera. But, even though these aren't perfect, not by a long shot, I'm just thrilled that it even took them! My other camera wouldn't have because of the lack of light. And fast! This camera is going to be so awesome at the speed events this summer!! I'm going to be able to capture so much more action because it's incredibly fast!!!!

Is this February vacation?

The boys have the day off, again. And tomorrow is a regularly scheduled day off because of conferences, which means that they are enjoying 3 days off this week! Crazy weather! We're really getting dumped on again today. It has been snowing steadily since the wee hours of the morning and we have several more inches on top of yesterday's 6 - 8!!

Really made me want to move South, right up until I saw the headlines this morning! Fortunately, we've heard from my sister & her husband - it was a nerve-wracking night, some of which was spent in the basement - but, they are fine. Thank goodness!! They were only about 3 miles from where a tornado touched down....


I've mentioned before how rough the dogs play. Today, I happened to have the camera with me when they got going....


It's amazing that Haley is 11 years old and still wants to be so rough and tumble! You'd think it would hurt!

Daisy also posed for a quick portrait.

I'm starting a new blog, based on the City Daily Photo blogs that I introduced you to a couple of months ago. I'm going to post a photo every day from our area, which will hopefully show you better where we live. The shots I post on this blog tend to focus on us and our animals, so I'm broadening my horizons and yours as well!

MORE snow!!

I can't believe it's snowing again. School was cancelled again too. The boys are not going to be happy going to school until July to make up for all their days off this winter. They are REALLY not happy about shoveling again!! I think that the horses are pretty sick of it too. They're not moving around much this morning. And they look as grouchy as the kids...

Our birthday party...

Yesterday we celebrated our oldest son's birthday, as well as mine. He was born on the day before my birthday, so I always tell everyone that he was my birthday present!

When I was a kid, Mom would always surprise us with our cake - we never knew what it was going to look like. But, he loves to decorate cakes, so every year he makes his own cake. Although this year I baked it for him because he had a friend stay overnight and they were busy. They worked together to make it look like a Spheal, which is a Pokemon character. It was fun!

One of his favorite parts of growing up, is outgrowing his Aunt! He's almost as tall as her, but as she was proving here, she CAN still pick him up!! I can vividly remember trying to outgrow her too - she's less than 5 feet tall, which seems short and easily attainable when you're a kid...


Poor kid, all he wants is a chinchilla; he was even willing to forego regular gifts and just asked everyone to donate money towards the purchase of one; but I had to tell him "no" because they need such specific temperatures and humidity levels in order to be healthy. After much searching, I found Charly the stuffed animal chinchilla on eBay! I also found a book about chins on Amazon, so that he can read all about them and maybe when he's older he can work towards getting one.


Here I am with my kitty, Aly. I hadn't realized it until I saw this picture, but even though I've taken lots of pictures of her over the years, I don't have any pictures of me with her. Now I do and I'm very happy about it!

My sister-in-law is the one that gave me Aly. She still owns Aly's mother, Rolly. Believe it or not, Rolly is a beautiful, long-haired, white kitty!

The crusty snow wasn't conducive to much outdoor play, so we turned on the PlayStation to play RockBand and Country Karoake. Almost everyone sang a song for us! It was a really fun and we laughed 'til we cried!! Especially when Dad got going dressing the characters - some of the outfits and accessories are hilarious...

The kiddos are all getting really interested in playing the guitars!!

Inky Mo is settling in very well and the boys introduced her to everyone at the party. My father even got to spend some time cuddling with her, or at least she was cuddling with him. He wasn't too sure about her. As far as he's concerned, she's still a rodent! What surprised him was that she was talking to him, and he could actually hear her!