Snow & Superbowl

This past weekend was filled with plans for us (originally). I was supposed to have a girl's night out on Friday night with my MOPS friends, then Saturday I was going to have my hair done and go to a baby shower followed by church in the evening. But, mother nature had something different intended for us for the first part of our weekend.

Starting around 3 pm, it looked like it was sleeting ice and snow, which quickly turned to snow. Shawn stopped to get us some water (dangit! I thought we were good since we had all the milk, eggs and bread we needed, but alas, there was something we missed). Then we got a knock on our door around 7ish or so. It was our neighbor Karen asking if they could park in our driveway. They have three generations of drivers who live there, and not enough off-street parking for all the cars. We said sure (they are terrific neighbors, so we'd probably do just about anything they asked within reason), and they parked Shawn's car in and we left my SUV not blocked. Shawn backed it in, just in case we'd have an emergency. And we watched the white stuff continue to fall. We talked to Karen quite a while as we caught up on Ian's college plans (their oldest son) and where they're looking into churches and financial aid. She said that we should have a winter gathering of some sort since we don't get to see folks as often when it's cold out vs. the summer when we see each other all the time since we're outside. I agreed.

The next morning Karen's husband Paul got up bright and early and used his snow blower to clean all of our sidewalks off (God bless him!). Shawn went out later and dug out our cars and shoveled the rest of the drive and sidewalks and used our snow blower to help clear out where the snow plow had plowed us in again from clearing the roads. One nice thing I must say about living in our location is that with the school behind us, our road is one of the first ones to get cleared and stay cleared. And we love our neighbors. :)

By Saturday night, we were (or I should say I was) feeling a bit claustrophobic. Shawn offered to take me out to dinner, and I accepted. Once again I called Grandma and asked if we could bring the kids over for an hour. I had called the Olive Garden, which is right down the street from her house, and they said they were open with no wait. She said okay, but their driveway hadn't been plowed yet. We replied okay, not realizing the extent of what she was saying. We pulled up and gasped. Shawn put his four-ways on, and he took both kids to her open garage door. The snow was up beyond his thighs as he waded to take the kids to Grandma. Then we got to the Olive Garden and the wait was obnoxious. Our server was worse. It took forever, and we didn't get half of what we asked for (like more drinks!). But, we still felt bad for the kid who had driven in this stuff to wait tables. We finally made it back to Grandma's and took our sleepy kiddos home.

Earlier in the day, we had done our normal play activities, which I often forget to blog about. But, in enjoying the 'ordinary' moments, we 'wrestled' the kids on the ground (not really a great word - we lay on the ground and the kids come up to us and slide down our knees and then we lift them in the air like an airplane and they love it). We read books, played puzzles, colored, watched TV while Joshua got a breathing treatment, etc. (Caleb & Joshua are both really into Curious George right now, and I feel like that Caleb could be called Curious George - into everything, makes a mess, but fun-loving and likeable that you can't get upset).

Sunday night was Life Group (the lesson was on compliant vs. defiant or strong-willed children) and then we all ate dinner (thanks, Don & Melanie) and watched the first half of the Superbowl game together. I had my pen and paper to take notes on the commercials. Here's my hottie husband wearing his Green Bay Packers Jersey. Caleb was sporting his Redskins outfit from Brian & Gayle (thanks!). And Don & Melanie were both wearing Patriots apparel, along with their daughter Abby (all pictured below).

Joshua had success in their potty (yeah!!!) and I think both kiddos had fun playing. Caleb took a spill at the end of the night, and it was bed time for the boys anyway. So, we piled back into our SUV and headed home to catch the second half of the game, missing "the Who" (and I kept saying "Who?" since I had no clue!) half time show. In my classes the next day, I discussed the various commercials and some strategies related to the textbook and also showed a couple of the funny ones that entertained the class before going into the day's lesson. Here's Becca holding her daughter Kyla (left) and Don & Melanie's daughter Emma(right).

The weather forecast is calling for more snow today - upwards of 18" with blizzard-like conditions, including high winds and drifting. Please pray that Shawn makes it home safely from work - it would be great to be snowed in together tomorrow! The only other bummer is that our brand new roof started leaking. We had a guy come out yesterday who took the snow and ice off our roof (with a heat gun, no less, since it's 20 degrees). He said he was coming back this morning to try and fix the flashing and replace a few shingles and then re-work the down-spouting. Good grief! That roof is only two years old, if that! But, hopefully he does it right. Water was pouring into our kitchen yesterday morning, which I noticed as I was making the kids french toast. UGH! It is always something. Pray that our roof is fixed before this next storm (which is to start this afternoon at 1 pm, so he's got three hours and he's not here yet!).

Here's to snow!