Alright people... massive blog posts coming up. We ran out of internet in January/February, then my computer died for like a month. That's why I've been absent. So here is the first of five posts.

We had two major snows here this winter. The first started just a week after we came back from Christmas break. I laid down for a nap after church on Sunday and woke up to find this:

Whoa. That fell fast.

Soon I got this message on my phone. Woo-hoo!

Later that night it looked like this.

The next day we got up to some good deep snow.
Time to bundle up!

Layer one: thermal shirt and pants with normal socks

Layer two: Fleece jacket, pants, and socks

Layer three: shoes, hat, and mittens

Add a coat and it's time to play!

It's fun and funny out here!

I'm covered in snow!

Isn't this fun, mama?

It's so funny!

The next day we were off again, so we went
back out when it was a little melted.

Ooooooo... snowball!

Some pretty wicked icicles mixed in with our icicle lights

Then a few weeks later, it happened again, just more of it!

Jake! Snow Day!
It snowed ALL DAY, so we kept
ourselves occupied in many ways...

Jake set up a construction site on the toilet.

He shook his shakers to Jack's Big Music Show.

I decided to make this yummy soup to stay warm.

Warning: If you move the soup into a new bigger pot, and go to clean out the former smaller pot, don't turn your back. Because the new bigger pot may still not be big enough.

The snow mid-afternoon

We read some weather-appropriate literature...

...rearranged some furniture...

...got out a LOT of toys and watched Sesame Street...

...and tried on everyone's shoes.

The next day when the snow stopped,
we bundled up to go outside again.

Happy Snow Day!

Funny thing is that he refused to move from this spot.

This gives you an idea of how deep it was... about 6 inches.

I tried to take him in since he was just standing there, but he thought it was fun getting on and off of the porch. And that was the total playing in Snow The Second.
It was cold and we weren't doing anything, so I took him in.

He really wanted to go back outside.

Meanwhile, Jack just kept himself warm in front of the heater.

Posted in: Jack, Jake, snow, winter on Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at at 9:51 PM 0 comments    

Jake has finally started speaking English! For the past week or so, it seems like he adds a new word or two to his vocabulary every day! And I'm talking words that actually sound like the words! Since this weekend, he has started saying ear, toes, "the end", all right!, and his favorite... "thank you". He says it about everything and it's so stinkin' cute! The ladies in the nursery at church on Sunday said that he told them thank you after they changed his diaper. Here's a little video, since I haven't posted one in a while. It takes forever-and-a-day to upload from here, but I found out that I can post videos onto YouTube at school. Shhhhh... You didn't hear me say that. So here's the recent cuteness. My favorite is the wave at the beginning.

Posted in: Jake, video on Monday, January 24, 2011 at at 9:57 PM 0 comments    

For a while I've wanted to have a message center for by the front door. You know... one of those cork board/dry erase/chalk board things. I had some cork and was just going to wrap them and buy a square dry erase to go with it. But then this happened...

Our ceiling fan broke.
(See the light fixture dangling in the middle?)
So it got taken down and I saved the blades. It only took me a few seconds to decide that I wanted to make a message center out of them.

This is what I was doing at midnight on New Year's Eve. Exciting.

This was pretty much all I needed.
Blades, material, cork, and chalkboard paint.

I traced out the shape of the fan blades on the cork and cut them out.

And glue them on.

I had to put two layers of cork so it would be
thick enough for the thumbtacks to stick.

Then I wrapped the cork/blade with the materials
and used spray adhesive and hot glue to attach it.

The three wrapped blades.

Then I sprayed the other two blades with chalkboard paint.

It didn't cover the sides, but that was
ok, because they're hidden.

Then I laid out all five, alternating cork and chalkboard. I attached them with hanging brackets, but they weren't very sturdy, so I attached some dowel rods to make it more sturdy. Yes, the back side is very unattractive.

Then I needed to do something with the non-covered up holes from the old hardware. So I added S-hooks for keys.

Then I sewed little pockets from the leftover scraps
and tied them into the other two holes with some cute ribbon.

One is for the chalk.

And other one is for paper or tacks or whatever.

The finished product. I'm proud of it.

And in case you were wondering...

I bought this fan in 2003 when I moved into my own place after college. There was no fan in my upstairs bedroom, and it was HOT. I never got it installed, though. So it has now lived in 2 closets, 1 storage facility, 1 garage, and 1 backyard shed. You can tell by looking at the box that it's been moved a few times. I was very excited to finally get it put in.

I like it!

Posted in: creativity, house on Sunday, January 16, 2011 at at 12:03 AM 5 comments    

This Year:

Posted in: Jack, Jake, snow on Tuesday, January 11, 2011 at at 9:26 PM 1 comments    

Jake has recently decided that he REALLY likes Jack. He is constantly trying to hug and pet him. It's really cute.

Checking out the yard together.

Trying to give him a hug.

Patting him on the head.

Giving him another hug.
(Yes, those are DVDs on the ground.
Jake likes to pull them off the shelf.)

Posted in: Jack, Jake on Saturday, January 08, 2011 at at 10:50 PM 0 comments    

Jake got a slide from my grandmother for Christmas. I put it together last Sunday, but we got home at or after dark all week, so today was the first day he could play with it. So we bundled up and went outside.

It has a real life periscope!

Posted in: Christmas, Jake on at at 10:26 PM 0 comments    

Although it doesn't look like it from the front, Jake does have hair. And it's curly. Just thought you'd like to know.
(Sorry the pictures are blurry and bright. My camera had a bad fall as we were leaving for Christmas, so it occasionally has trouble focusing and taking non-bright pictures.)

Posted in: Jake on at at 10:14 PM 0 comments    

We live out in the country these days. This sign showed up on a fence by a house that I drive by "on the way into town". I don't know what it means but I really want to know.

Posted in: creepy things, funny things on Monday, January 03, 2011 at at 11:41 PM 0 comments