Baby it's Cold Outside!

Brr...winter is upon us!  It's cold and cold, and cold.

I don't like cold.

Jaron doesn't care if it's cold or not.

He loves snow, he is praying for snow and heading out to play in it as much as possible whenever it does snow.

We got Jaron a sled for Christmas this year...and between our little hill at the house and the big hills nearby he is going to have a lot of fun....provided I take him and don't freeze to death!

It's going to be an interesting Winter!

Winter

This winter I have been emotionally at war with the weather.

I have stressed, freaked out and gotten angry at the snow.

I have watched a blizzard hit, gotten excuse notes from my doctor so I don't have to drive in snow, and wondered how I would make it to work with the kids being off for snow days.

Well, it snowed last night and today I am fine with it. The kids are on Spring Break this week, I am done working and we can just be home. And it's been warm enough recently that the roads are merely wet...but I am not going anywhere so it's all good.

Spring is just around the corner! Guess I will enjoy the last hurrah of winter!

What a Week!

In case you live under a rock or in a Sunny warm area where snow is a non issue let me tell you...I just lived through my second blizzard! The weather this week has been interesting to say the least and I am so looking forward to Spring...here's a look at our week.

MONDAY:
I took the kiddos to school...there was some slight freezing drizzle, the roads weren't bad but there were slick spots so you had to be careful. I came home and did a few things since I wasn't going into work until later due to an OB appointment for my 28th week of pregnancy. Dan made it to work with no problems and all in all it was a normal day for us. I get to the doctor, get all the stuff done that I need to do and have my glucose test....hate the stuff they make you drink for this test...ick! My doctor says something about making sure I'm careful and everything and that I should probably just stay home since there is a 100% chance of snow for the next day and a blizzard warning. Well, I spoke up and said that it would help if I had a doctor's note excusing me from work since pregnancy and driving are not the best combo and my company would be more understanding if I had doctor's recommendation to stay home...and he wrote it. The kids ended up with a early dismissal and then Dan worked later than normal...let me just say that our Babysitter in the afternoon is totally awesome! I get home and then learn that the kids school is being cancelled for the next day which I was totally expecting and I get ready to plan for a quiet day at home watching the snow fall....Dan prepares to leave for work earlier and we have a contingency plan set up for him to possibly stay near his work for the evening if the roads are bad.

TUESDAY:
Dan and I wake up early...Dan leaves early for work and makes it before it really starts snowing. The kids and I prepare to be home. By 8:30 we can't see the road pavement...it's snowing steadily and I am thankful to not be driving in the weather. At 10:45 I get a call from Dan saying that they have closed his company for the day and that he is on his way home. He gets home by 12:30 and we enjoy a nice lunch together...it was a lazy afternoon watching the blizzard blow in and seeing the weather and wind change....we were kinda mean parents and sent Jaron for the trash cans in the middle of a heavy patch of snow! Dan and I got naps...that evening Dan and I call his company and find out that we all have a snow day for the next day...in fact my work closed on Wednesday as well. We enjoy a family movie night that night and look forward to sleeping in.

WEDNESDAY:
We start the process of digging out. Our house has a super long driveway that runs the length of the house to a cement pad in the back where the garages are and so it takes a LONG time to shovel...so long in fact that we techincally haven't totally finished. Both cars were in the garage too so we had to clear enough room to get the cars out of the garages. We worked for many hours and still didn't finish the job...we get a call that the kids don't have school for Thursday too. This starts the great debate of who stays home with the kids and what to do..Dan decides its his turn and that he will drive me to work after getting the van out.

THURSDAY:
Dan gets the curb clear and gets the van out so he can take me to work. Then he and the kids spend the afternoon clearing the walk and enough room in the driveway to park the two cars. I went to work and found out that I had no kids on Tuesday so I totally felt better for not being at work...the conditions were really bad...Dan picks me up from work and we enjoy a pizza dinner at Pizza Hut.

FRIDAY:
School is back on and it's a normal day. Dan goes to work and then gets a flat tire. So on my lunch break I have to head to the bank and do a balance transfer so Dan can get four new tires for the van. Again very thankful for the babysitter who was able to watch the kids longer than normal. I get home totally exhausted. The week really hit mehard and the baby was very active all day causing me pain. Add to the pain uncomfortable chairs and hard floors and I feel like I am totally done.

Only 5 more weeks of work....I really hope there are no more snow days....I'm beyond exhausted from all the planning and detail arranging. Being 29 weeks pregnant makes for slower movements and added tiredness...plus I'm often starving.

Looking forward to a less busy weekend and couponing grocery trip...and some good naps!

Winter's Last Stand (hopefully)

These are the sights I woke up to yesterday morning. We had a full on SNOW storm on the FIRST day of SPRING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Between 6-10 inches fell in our immediate area with more to the south of us. It's already starting to melt, but Friday afternoon Dan and I went for a lunchdate and it was nice and warm and SPRINGlike. I guess WINTER wanted to make sure that it got it's last HURRAH!!!!

I'm hoping once again for warm temperatures and NO MORE SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

Winter Wonderland

It was a beautiful day!

The snow falling in large, wet flakes. Sticking to the trees and grass, accumulating and looking so serene.

I took my class out in the snow, it was the perfect snow weather. The weather right at 32 degrees, no wind, just falling wet snow! It was so fun! Even me a beach loving California born girl enjoyed the snow today!

I could enjoy another snow like this one. If I had too.

All in all it was a good day!

Snowy Friday

Another winter storm is working its way across the area.

It's going to snow for most of the day.

Another 2-4 inches are expected.

No snow day but a snowy day.

I guess the groundhog saw it's SHADOW!

A Storm is Brewing

We are about to get another big dose of winter weather.

I'm home today since my school, the kids school, and about every other school district I know of cancelled school for today.

We're supposed to get snow and then an Arctic Blast will move through with gusting winds and brutally cold wind chills. That will happen tonight and there is a chance of blizzard like conditions over night...when Dan is driving home....so I will be in watching and praying mode tonight as I askGod for safety for my husband as he drives home from work. He's a good driver and careful but the weather is so yucky and I am worried about visibility for him.

I haven't seen weather like this in many years and it's a good thing we don't have them every year, cuz, I might lose my sanity...

The Never Ending Winter

Okay, I will admit that I am probably exaggerating...but seriously, it feels like this winter is never going to end. We are only technically 15 days into "WINTER" but for the past 15 days we have had ice, snow, cold, snow, brutal cold, wind chills below zero, snow, and tonight we are bracing for another round of SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The kids have another snow day tomorrow. I may have a snow day tomorrow, or I may not, being a small private school we don't have the same issues as other schools and so we don't as readily cancel, but we may, I'm not in charge of the decision. The weather people are predicting Blizzard like conditions for Wednesday Night/Thursday morning...so some worrisome nights for Dan.

I'm just not enjoying this winter at all. It's full of things that make me tired...so I am off to snuggle up with a good book...or just sleep.

Snow, Snow, Snow, Snow, SNOW...

Since I watched White Christmas about 4 times on Christmas Eve I have lots of the songs stuck in my head.

One of my favorite songs is the SNOW song...where they sing about how wonderful it will be to be in snow in Vermont. But that's the song...I really don't like snow....in fact it could be said that I almost hate snow.

Don't get me wrong, I like SNOW days, I appreciate that as a teacher I get these days from school. I just don't like SNOW....it's cold, its wet, its cold, its wet, it's slippery, have I mentioned it's COLD...I hate cold. I hate that feeling of being cold, and wet. It's no fun in my book. I love fall and cool weather, I enjoy Spring...I LOVE SUMMER! I would much rather be hot than cold.

It's snowed so much recently. I'm tired of it...if we didn't see another snowflake this winter I would satisfied with the snow we have gotten. However, it looks like there may be alot of snow this winter, and a lot of cold that comes with it....I will have to deal with it. It may be a LONG WINTER!

White Christmas

We all know that old Christmas Song...."I'm dreaming of a White Christmas...just like the one's I used to know"

Well, we got one this year. Christmas Eve a storm blew in and it's finally leaving us now!

Christmas Eve is spent at home, we open presents the four of us and hang out and then go to the Christmas Eve service at church. The last few years I have gotten the opportunity to read a Christmas story for the service for the children. I love doing it.

Christmas Eve was a long day....Jaron was very cranky and just wanting to open presents...which I kept making him wait for. He really doesn't like waiting. So he makes it until Daddy wakes up and we spend a cozy afternoon opening gifts and celebrating together...glad for the family time. During the afternoon it begins to sleet and finally changes to snow...I am getting anxious as the day goes by since my sister Wendy was traveling down from Omaha. She made it safely and soon after my mom calls to say that they are not traveling the hour down the road to Pleasanton for the Christmas Eve service where my Dad is pulpit filling, and I am relieved that they are going to be safe. I was disappointed that our church cancelled our service but at the same time I don't like driving in yuckiness so I was also relieved. We had a nice enjoyable evening at home.

Christmas Day and we had a blizzard overnight...there is a lot of snow and it's been drifting all over. We delayed going to my parents until the afternoon to let the snowplows do their job and so it will be safer. At 1:30 we get ready to leave...get the car warmed and off we go...we don't get far before we got stuck in a big snowdrift. A neighbor pulls us out and we make it out of our neighborhood and then I hike back to the house to get the kiddos and we walk to the car after packing a bag to spend the night at Grandma's. We get there with few problems and Dan leaves to head home...he isn't staying at my folks...on his way home he gets stuck multiple times and finally gives up calling me to say he is stuck at Quik Trip and the tires are not helping since they have no tread left. Wendy and I go and rescue him and get him back to our neighborhood.

The kiddos and I stayed overnight with my folks and had a nice time just hanging out. We played games, took pictures and played with our new toys. Sleeping arrangements were a little atypical but it was all good.

Today we spent the day hanging out, watching it continue to snow off and on, and getting new tires for my car. My dad was able to help us get unstuck and over to get new tires...what a difference in driving for me! Bad roads plus bad tires equals a really bad combination! We are home now and looking forward to sleeping in our own beds and hanging out playing Wii together.

It was a great Christmas, one of lost of memories and fun and stress! I am so thankful for all the fun we can have as a family.

Round Two

The heater stopped working around 4 am last night....now I am waiting to call the emergency number to let our landlord know. I don't like calling people really early on a Saturday...I'm not sure if they will get someone out to look at it...so we are using our bathroom space heater and I am planning on using the oven today to keep the main family areas warm.

On a side note...we live in Kansas City which is notorious for not knowing what the weather is going to do..so the question really is ...Will it Snow today or not?

A Cold and Wintry Day!

So as if today wasn't busy to begin with it certainly was made more exciting by the 2+ inches of snow that fell here today!

My parents and I went to see Janea in her Christmas program at school today. She did a good job and so did the kids. It was definitely a 3rd grade performance but they did a good job! Well, when we got to the school it wasn't snowing or raining. When we left almost an hour later it was snowing and it was starting to stick! I then left to go to work and it took me longer as the roads were getting slicker and slicker. I had an uneventful afternoon and work and then the adventure began!

The kids school district cancelled all after school activities so they didn't have Good News Club and so they rode the bus home. Well, traffic was nuts, I couldn't go past 40 on any road and my 22 minute drive took about an hour. Just as I am getting close to home my phone rings and it's the bus driver. Praise God she kept my kids on the bus longer and then called me and was understanding that I got stuck in the nasty weather! I am so grateful for the people who help me take good care of my kids!

Janea's program was cancelled for this evening...so it's a good thing I went this morning since it looks like it will be resceduled for Monday night and I have my Christmas party for work. So we have to look at things to see if Janea can participate or not. I am glad to be home safe and sound and not needing to go anywhere else this evening.

It's Raining...It's Pouring...It's a Snow Day!

Yeehaw! Our first official snow day of the year!! Can you tell that I am not at all dissappointed that we don't have school today? Well, it isn't actually snowing either...we are having an ice storm! Freezing Rain and cold temperatures! (YUCK!) Not that I mind though since I got to sleep in this morning!
I was really concerned for Dan last night as he was going to be driving home in the wintry yuck. Fortunately, he got home safe and sound PTL! So he walks in and says that he put sand on our deck and leading to the garage so I would be safe! Then I told him that school was already cancelled for the day! HA! All that work for nothing! He's so sweet. So then he gives me this book he had bought...a series that I have been reading but it was book 7 and I don't have 5 and 6! Poor guy...2 sweet gestures that fell short of his intentions! Good news for me....I get to order the 2 books I am missing! YEAH!!! I love new books!
So only 6 more school days with kids before Christmas and 2 inservice days! That is if we have school tomorrow!