We had the A/C on earlier this week, but with the Hurricane Joaquin cold and rainy weather coming through…
And then this happened.
Category Archives: Weather
Puddle stomping at the bus stop
Katie: Mom, can I stick my tongue out to catch rain?
Me: Sure.
Katie sticks her tongue out: I GOT TWO!
Weather alert dog
I was putting Owen to bed and he heard what sounded like thunder. I didn’t think we were expecting any storms so I told him I thought it was someone moving their garbage container. And then Maggie appeared, trembling. Maggie never comes in his room…which means it was thunder.
I practically had to carry her out because she desperately wanted to stay there. Poor thing.
It’s a water table kind of day.
My coloring buddies!
It’s STILL gorgeous out, so we’re coloring outside!!
A River Runs Through It
It’s stormed here before but we’ve never seen this before…a river running through our back yard! Of course, this was during our dinner party, so Tom was grilling in the rain again!
That’s not how that works.
Owen wanted to carry his own umbrella to the bus stop. Fine. So I opened it for him and off we went. Then he goes and plays with the other kids and I see someone else has the umbrella then I look back and see this.
I think we need to practice. 🙂
Saturday Night Dinner
I finally remembered to take a picture of our group at dinner. Tonight we had my good friend Ruth (and her daughter Emily) who came down from Maryland, Frank and Beth (and their two girls) who have attended before, and a t-ball mom Kate (and her daughter) that I befriended recently (unfortunately, her husband had to stay home with their three boys because their behavior had been lacking).
Owen was at our table because we had extra seats and the kids table was filled with four girls. 🙂
Of course, it had started storming terribly at the exact moment Tom needed to be out grilling, but I had the foresight to have him put up our old umbrella so he didn’t get completely soaked. 🙂
We all had an amazing time with lots of laughs and can’t wait to do it again!!
What happened to spring?
I thought we left this insanity behind when we left North Carolina…
Snow Day #10. Or maybe #11.
This is insane. I don’t think we ever got this many snow days in Michigan. Yeah yeah, it’s different down here. But still. Yeesh.
So, by morning (and after more drugs) I wasn’t quite as pissed about the snow and the kids wanted to go out…
But the novelty has still worn off—I only took about three pics and this was the best one. They were drinking from coconuts. 🙂
It was actually warm-ish and sunny so stuff was melting. But I still spent 45 or so minutes brushing off the car, shoveling the driveway (including the rest of the plowed-in entrance), clearing a path to the mailbox, and chipping ice off the sidewalk.
I’m so ready for winter to be over.
The novelty has worn off.
School was called off last night since a HUGE storm was predicted—I think today is Snow Day #8 or #9. It snowed lightly but steadily all day and the kids didn’t even care—they didn’t ask to go out once.
I decided I’d better go out and at least attempt shoveling.
I decided it’s official: winter can %#&$ off. Of course, the time we get the worst snow of the season (6″ of wet, heavy, sticky snow) is the time when Tom is away on business. Me trying to shovel with my bad back and wrist was a joke. I managed to do the sidewalks and where we got plowed in (well, just directly behind my car), but I couldn’t get to the actual driveway or the car. As it is, I had to take drugs so I’d be able to walk tomorrow.
Ironically, we do own a snowblower…it’s just not functioning at the moment. GRRR.
Snow day Lego project!
This was Owen’s last new Lego project…The Research Institute:
I bought it for the super cool dinosaur, but since it was under 200 pieces it literally took him like 20 minutes to put together. 🙂
Snow day snowman!
Today marked the SEVENTH snow day this year (and the fourth in two weeks). Tom had a 2-hour delay but actually ended up working from home. Thankfully the kids weren’t ready to go outside until quite late in the morning. I think the major excitement of snow has worn off—though they still like it and want to go out and play in it, it’s not the very first thing they want to do!
Owen was pretending he was a ninja with his new scarf. He actually made me pull it up higher over his face. 🙂
The first thing I noticed was it was actually on the warm side—so I had a good feeling about the snow quality. One quick swipe of the snow on the car and yep—perfect snowman snow!! Time to make their very first snowman!!
The kids were excited…but weren’t much help. 🙂 Owen helped pack snow and find sticks and Katie wandered around.
It’s been probably 25-30 years since I made a snowman. It was hard with such a small yard and because we didn’t have that much snow—and what we had was on top of icy stuff—so it was a lot of scraping from all over. We could’ve tried the backyard but there’s a much higher chance of buried dog poop back there!
The kids LOVED him!
Then it was off to the backyard for more snow after they trampled everything in the front (it doesn’t take long).
But it was really wet and actually turning slushy so we went inside.
Owen LOVES his scarf…and looks quite dapper if I do say so myself. 🙂
It’s been a long week.
Monday: Holiday
Tuesday: Snow Day
Wednesday: Snow Day
Thursday: School! Yay!
Friday: Snow Day
Friday at 5:30—I’m surprised it wasn’t much, much earlier:
I did not sign up for this.
Snow Day #2
First a trip to the grocery store where Owen learned how to pull off and open the plastic fruit/veggie bags and how to push Katie without hitting anything. 🙂
Then it was time to play in the snow! I got much better pics of Katie today!
Sledding wasn’t very good today so Owen did some snow rolling instead.
Snow day…with daddy!
Only 184 pics of playing in the snow this morning. Narrowed down to 30. The best one? Before we got outside! Katie wasn’t much for looking at me today!
Maggie thought she wanted to go outside with us…but of course she can’t stand the cold and snow. Even with a sweater. 🙂
Getting buried by daddy!
The neighbor girl came out while her dad was shoveling. Owen said he liked her after about 13 seconds. 🙂
Owen’s turn to get buried by daddy!
Racing to the top of the hill!
Ten pictures snapped in 10 seconds and not one with Katie looking at me!
Sledding in the back yard (from the neighbor’s yard to ours)!
After almost two hours outside? Hot cocoa!
Snow day!
Owen had a snow day, so of course we were all out in it by 8:30! (Well, I was out, but not IN it!) 🙂
Owen: Mama, can I brush the snow off this?
Me: Knock yourself out.
Owen: Mama, can I brush the snow off this?
Me: Knock yourself out.
It’s snowing!
Katie would not be quiet about it snowing outside so of course as soon as I tried to record her saying something, this is what happened:
Katie in the snow!
As soon as we got back from the bus stop, Katie wanted to go play in the snow. So I got out her new snow pants, bundled her up, and let her go! And man was she cute!
She loved brushing the snow off the car!
And then she laid down and did a snow angel all by herself! I didn’t prompt her in any way and I have no idea where she saw this!
She had no idea it was an angel—she liked “making rainbows!”
Then I got out the sled and took her on a few slides down the sidewalk and then the street—and WOW did she love that! (So our hilly street is good for one thing!) Of course it was exhausting for me hauling her back up the hill, but we did it about 5-6 times because she loved it so much. 🙂
Coming inside—100% adorable:
Our first snow!
It looked a little bright outside when I got up this morning…and lo and behold it had snowed!
Owen was excited looking out his window and this is him excitedly showing Katie in her room when we woke her up.
On the way to school!
She LOVES the snow!
Watching it snow!
It was snowing but not sticking because it was too warm—but Katie was enjoying it.
Mother Nature is drunk.
After being in the 40s lately, today is supposed to be 70° and in two days it’s supposed to snow.
The winter coat comes out!
Today was the first really cold school morning—41°—so we got out his new winter coat!
First rainy school day!
Luckily we all had raincoats because we apparently lost all our umbrellas (minus Katie’s from Grandma Marsha!) in the move. Katie was thrilled because she got a new (new) coat and new (used) boots to wear for the first time! She couldn’t quite get the hang of the umbrella so Owen held it.
And then she noticed WATER and of course HAD to play in it. 🙂
Then walking home with the umbrella…
I love the chilly weather with all the windows open…
But I think Katie is a little chilly. This is how I found her watching a movie.
First chilly school morning!
A good time to not own this house.
The roof is leaking into the garage. With the torrential rains we had yesterday we had small puddles in the garage, the drywall tape is completely peeling away from the ceiling, and Tom could see mold (which means this isn’t a new problem). It can’t be good.
The landlord came out today and I’m guessing we’ll likely have to have the garage torn up eventually.
Lucky us, eh? I’m not sure where all our stuff is going to go so they can work on it.
But the good news is at least he’s not ignoring it!
Happy window kitties
It’s gorgeous today so we’ve opened the windows! The cats are loving it! (We are, too—we’re just not sitting in the windows!)
Until We Meet Again Party
We decided to have a going away party before we left—but I called it an “Until We Meet Again” party because I HATE goodbyes. It was also a perfect excuse to rent a huge waterslide for Owen because he loves them and our new house has zero place for one.
As it was being set up, the kids were VERY excited watching out the window. Katie was saying “Slide! Katie slide! Katie slide please!” 🙂 I was busy getting the last few things ready for the party and Tom was running our last errands so I made the kids wait until he got home…but then it was game on! Owen had no issues with it, of course, but Katie was a poop. She loves climbing on things but put her on the slide where she HAS to climb (and can pretty much climb without much caution) and she wanted NONE of it. This is where she’d stop:
Even after Owen went down a few times, this is the farthest she’d go:
Finally I had enough of trying to verbally coerce her into climbing up, so I got on the slide with her and basically pushed her up each rung of the ladder. Once we got to the top, she didn’t want to go down…so I put my arm around her and we went down together—AND SHE LOVED IT! And immediately went to the ladder…and climbed up all on her own (the little shit!)! I did go up again behind her to make sure she didn’t slip backwards, but she did it just fine!
And then at the top of the slide…I realized my phone was still in my pocket!!! @$&#%! I obviously hadn’t planned on going on the slide (I was still wearing clothes, too) but got caught up in the moment of being frustrated with Katie. 🙁 I yelled at Tom to come get it and instead of coming up the ladder calmly, he was a bit upset and wasn’t being careful…and instead tried to come up over the side of the slide and pulled a leg muscle while getting back off. Like pulled it badly enough that he was limping. 🙁 But the slide was a blast and I knew I’d be on it more throughout the day…so I just gave in and put my suit on right then. And since Katie was still going up and down, I put her in her suit, too.
This is where she liked playing the most. And she was pretty good about moving out of the way when you said “Katie, watch out!” She’d go wait on the side until Owen came down, then she’d go back in the water. 🙂
Even though the slide was fun, I thought it might be out to kill me. After the kids had been playing for a bit (while I was working on party prep), Katie refused to come down (it was her naptime but she didn’t know that—she was just being stubborn). I told Owen this was his one chance to push his sister down the slide—and he tried but he said she was too strong and he couldn’t do it…so I had to go up the slide again to get her down. So I climbed up and we came down together—and I smashed right through the end buffer and landed on the ground with Katie on top of me! HOLY CRAP. I knew it was possible (other adults have done it before) but I had already gone down “successfully” a handful of times so definitely wasn’t expecting it. Katie wasn’t hurt (or crying) so that was good, and for the most part I was okay, but I had actually smacked my head on the ground. Ugh—instant headache. Then Katie was trying to get back onto the slide so I had to grab her…and I slipped on the wet tarp while carrying her! Thankfully she wasn’t hurt and I wasn’t really, either, though my butt and back hurt. Good times, right? I handed her off to Tom and took some pain pills. AND THEN…I was going down the slide with Owen and we were having a blast…and he was excited and wasn’t following the rules (waiting for the area to be clear before sliding down) and just rammed his feet straight into my side. Needless to say it was time for me to take a break.
Once the other kids arrived, things got a little more hectic. Pool toys came out and were part of the slide and kids were going down together (as you can see here)…and the “rules” kind of went out the window. 🙂
The girls loved Katie and basically thought she was their own little doll. 🙂
Ursula was the first adult to go down and she went tandem with Virginia! She agreed it was a blast!
Everyone had fun and the slide was (of course) a hit. There were a few minor bumps and bruises once all eight kids were on the slide at the same time and Owen ended up with a sure-to-be bruised eye. But it was super fun and it all went really well. The only minor bummer was the weather—in the middle of the party we had a downpour just long enough and with just enough thunder and lightning to send everyone inside…for 15 minutes! So then it was back outside! It started to threaten a storm again about 7:00 which sucked because all the adults were going to get on the slide (and I had planned on being able to use the slide most of the evening)…so we just sent the kids inside and a few of us went down a few times in the rain. There’s even video of me catapulting over the end (which may get posted privately) but I’ll gladly post the one of Tom! 🙂
Once it started storming and we were all inside, the kids were watching a movie and the adults were visiting and snacking…and Jacqueline was doing my dishes. There was plenty of room in the dishwasher but she actually LIKES doing dishes so who am I to stop her? 🙂
It was a really great time and I am so glad we did it…and it wasn’t until everyone was gone that I got really sad thinking about how much we’re going to miss everyone. (It’s always sad leaving, but the last time we left, we were just going to be missing two families…this time, we have more friends that we’ll be missing so it will be even harder.) But at least we have some great memories!