Is winter over yet???

Admittedly, the snow and ice is pretty, but I'm SO ready for spring! Kitty He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named agrees with me.

I did take the kids out this morning for a few runs down the hill on their sled. They had fun, and it's not too bad out today, now that the sun is shining and the wind has stopped blowing!

Obviously, it's still a little slick, with ice under the snow!

This is the first year Timothy has shown any interest in playing in the snow, so Gabe showed him the ropes.

Poor kid wanted to build a snowman! He didn't understand why 1 inch of dry, powdery snow does not a snowman make.

Both kids enjoyed trying to track the stray cats by their prints. But tracking them proved to be hard because they swarmed all over the porch this morning when we put out food, and it was impossible to tell which tracks were coming and which were going.

The whole yard was full of "grasscicles". It's pretty odd to see.

I don't know if it shows in this picture, but there's a glaze of ice on everything.

The ropes holding up our baby tree had little icicles all over them!

Poor little tree! It probably wants spring to hurry up, too!

These are already gone, having falling when snow slid off the roof. I'm sure we'll end up with more this evening, as everything starts to refreeze.

Just in case you don't think I'm strange yet...

There's a slug in my shower. Not a giant, disgusting one, just a teeny one. Normally, this only happens in the summer. And normally, when it does happen, I just let it crawl onto a sheet of paper and take it outside. Not this time. I would very much like the slug NOT to live in my shower, but it's winter, and if I take the poor slug outside, it will freeze.

I've named him. His name is Friar Ted. Yes, I know this is beyond bizarre, even for me. My love of all creatures great and small doesn't usually go quite this far down the food chain. I do relocate non-venomous spiders, because they are useful and eat bugs for us. And the crickets really can't help it that we built buildings in the middle of their prairie land, so I take them outside, too. And yes, I admit that I named the praying mantis on the front porch. And two spiders. Hey, Sergio and Guido were there for so long, I had to name them. A tree frog did once hibernate in my house. But that was an accident. But a slug...it's just so wrong!

Before everything was gray...

Remember color?? It made the world less blah and depressing. I was really debating whether or not to post pictures from months ago, but they were so bright and cheerful, they just demanded to be posted! Here's the yearly shot of the boys outside Gabe's school playground.

This is our fourth year to take this picture. Wow, fourth. I'm getting old. Someday, I'll frame them all in a row and be amazed at how my boys have grown.

OK, I admit it...I was trying to be all artsy and get some cool shots of the leaves. I have neither my sister's skill or her cool equipment, though, so I'll have to be content by how cool and artsy it looked in my head.

I could just stare at these leaves all day. Fall is nature's way of apologizing in advance for what it's about to do to us.

And presenting...a new traditional shot. We got a tree this year. If it wasn't for the fact that I've been traveling backward in time to catch up, you'd have already seen the Scouts planting it. Now we'll take pictures to watch the tree AND the kids grow!

Our tree looks very pretty when it has leaves. Right now it looks like a sad little stick. It's not a bad little tree, Charlie Brown. All it needs is a little love!

I no longer remember why Gabe was posing this way. Oh, well, I suppose it isn't important. Either that or it was followed by something so traumatic I've blocked it from my memory. Knowing my sons, it could be either.

Before everything froze, I harvested what I could from my little garden. We got LOTS of cherry tomatoes!

The flowers were pretty, too!

Ah, color! See, don't you feel better?

Precocious=Obnoxious?

I have often been told that my children are smart. And they are. But they are also little twits. Here are two recent examples of things they've done that have caused me to wish the floor would open up and swallow me.

On Tuesday, I received a call from Gabe's teacher. Apparently, he had spent the first couple of days after Christmas break being a bit of a problem in class. For one thing, he kept falling out of his chair on purpose. For another, he kept shouting out rude replies to the teacher. We had a good discussion, which has resulted in more cleaning and less Nintendo for Gabe. But then the teacher pointed out that she hadn't known any eight-year-olds prior to Gabe who could properly understand, let alone use sarcasm. Oops.

Timothy had to go to the ENT this week (oh, joy, another ear surgery to look forward to!) and his greeting to the doctor left a little to be desired. The doctor came in and asked him how he was today. To which Timothy replied, "I fart a lot. That's why my mom won't let me have raisins." The doctor, luckily, saw the humor in this statement. He must have boys, too.

Visitor

Some weeks ago, I arrived home from knit group to find the house mostly dark and Chris asleep on the couch. I set my bag down and walked into the kitchen, where I saw a spot on the rug. In the low lighting, I thought it was a hairball that someone had kindly horked up on the kitchen rug. I grabbed a paper towel and flipped on the light. This little guy is definitely NOT a hairball. Seriously, I live with six house cats, and not one of them noticed a 12 inch long grass snake! They're fired. Anyway, I caught him and returned him to the front yard, advising him that however welcome he was to hibernate in my flower beds, he was not at all welcome to hibernate in my kitchen. He hasn't returned, so I guess he took the hint.

All you need is BLAH

Timothy really likes music. He has rather eclectic taste in music, for a three year old. For instance, he's been wanting his own copy of "Yellow Submarine" ever since he listened to it in his Popple's car. So Mama T and Popple got him a copy for Christmas. We were listening to it in the car yesterday, and "All You Need is Love" came on. "Mama, Mama, it's my favorite song!" he cried. "Blah, blah, blah! Blah is all you need!"

Another of his current favorites is Paul Simon's "Graceland" dvd. For those of you who have never seen it, it's a concert in South Africa, featuring Paul Simon and Ladysmith Black Mabazo. He seems to really enjoy the African music, but he has his own take on it. His favorite song on the dvd is one that he refers to as "Bubbashoota". Since we don't really know what they're saying, we've stopped trying to tell him it's not called Bubbashoota.

As long as he doesn't develop a taste for rap, I'm not going to complain too much.

Halloween (Yes, I'm that far behind!)

It's taken me so long to get back to posting pictures, but I couldn't resist putting up some pictures from Halloween. We went with a Pirate theme this year. These first few were from Hallozooeen, which we went to a couple of nights before Halloween.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar!

The zoo thing was cool, but VERY crowded. It literally took us an hour to get to the zoo from our house, traffic was so awful. (It usually takes less than 10 minutes!) Timothy was pretty cranky because of the crowds, and we didn't stay long.

Oh, and did I mention that, ditz that I am, I sent my legally blind child out in the dark wearing an eye patch? It never occurred to me what a bad idea that would be until he kept running into things. We decided to lose the patch very early on.

Gabe carved his pumpkin all by himself this time! I think he did a pretty amazing job!

Trick or treat!

That's one cool pirate!

Here we are at Mom and Dad's house. The plan was to take the kids out for some trick or treating, and then they were going to spend the night with Mom and Dad so Chris and I could go out. This plan got altered when I came down with an awful stomach virus. I was already VERY miserable by the time this picture was taken, and this is the only picture of me in my costume. Chris has promised me a rain check for next year.

Class clown

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. My little clown has been at it again. Timothy can dress himself without too much help, so I usually just put clothes on his bed in the morning and leave him to it. However, he appeared like this not long ago. I shouldn't have laughed, because he wants to do it every time now, but it was just so unexpected. All I can say is he must take after his father. I'm positive I was never that goofy! No comments from the peanut gallery!

Boys and their toys...

This was just too cute not to take pictures. The other day, Timothy brought out his fishing game and asked his daddy to play with him.

Caught one! Moses was very interested in the entire process, as you can see!

"Look, a fish!"

And here he is, brushing his fish's teeth. Yep, not kidding. It's what he does.

On an unrelated note, here's Chris, wearing the hat I knitted for him. He informed me that he loves his hat, particularly because when the hydrolic lift on the back gate of his truck suddenly let go, the hat helped pad his head so it didn't hurt so much. That thing has slammed on me before, and I think it would take more than a hat to keep me from wanting to take a bat to the darned thing!

Christmas Day

Christmas morning was very exciting for the boys. Timothy had asked Santa for a real camera and a fishing pole. He got both, although the fishing pole was part of a fishing game. He was thrilled. At some point, I may have to post his view of Christmas. I'll warn you, though, it includes mostly pictures taken up peoples' noses, or rear views of anyone who dared bend over in his vicinity.

Gabe asked Santa for an aquarium and a hammer. We sincerely hope he doesn't plan to use them together.

Gabe got a letter from Santa, which included a gift card to the pet store, so he could fill his aquarium with fish.

Timothy LOVES this game. He's getting pretty good at it, too. His favorite thing is to catch the fish and then brush their teeth for them. I have strange kids.

Catch of the day!

More presents!

Love those happy faces!

After presents, it was time to head to Mama T and Popple's house for...MORE PRESENTS!

Gabe got stilts! This provided entertainment for everyone. Even dad got up on them. Not to worry, there were no holiday visits to the ER. Gabe is a little shocked to find out that I used to be pretty good on stilts when I was a kid. I must be getting old.

Here's Aaron, in the hat that I made for him.

And Patrick and Dre! Dre's trying on the Lace Scarf of Doom that I made for her. OK, Doom may be putting it a little strongly. It came out fine. And hey, I learned lots about lace!

I know, I know, small children shouldn't be allowed to play with plastic bags. He was being closely supervised. The blocks are one of Timothy's favorite gifts. He's been building all kinds of fantastic things with them.

Gabe got some legos. He's been collecting the Indiana Jones set. It didn't take him very long to get the whole thing put together.

Yet again, I somehow managed to avoid the camera. But we ALL had a very nice Christmas, and received great gifts. I got some new knitting books that I've been wanting, and lots of lotion and bath stuff in my favorite scent. I also got pig socks. I'll have to take a picture of them. They make me laugh. Chris got some of the nicest kitchen knives I've ever seen. He's been practically giddy about cooking dinner lately. If you hear manly giggles coming from the kitchen, it's probably just him dicing some potatoes or something!

Poor Miney!

We did some serious house cleaning and reorganizing today. Part of what needed to be done was vacuuming the entire house. I should first point out that the cats hate it when we vacuum. They're terrified of it, and usually hide in the garage from the moment they hear the vacuum cleaner come out till several hours after it's been put back. I should also point out that Miney, although (or perhaps because) he weights nearly 20 pounds, is the biggest scaredy cat of them all.

Somehow, Miney failed to hear Chris getting the vacuum out, and wound up trapped. Chris was vacuuming the kitchen, so Miney's escape route to the garage was cut off. I should now point out that Chris had the big door open in the garage earlier in the day. When he does this, he locks the cat door so they can't escape to the outdoors. You see this coming, don't you? If not, here it is: Chris forgot to unlock the cat door.

So Miney finally worked up his courage and made a run for it. At top speed, all 18 pounds of him slammed into the door, which didn't give. He backed up and made another run. Again, his head hit the door with full force and it didn't move. By this time, Chris had the vacuum off and was trying to help, but it was too late. Yes, Miney, in his panic, made for the kitchen door, changed his mind when he got there, turned, darted between Chris' legs, and ran head-long into the cat door AGAIN. I'm not sure if he had weakened it with his earlier attempts or if he had just reached warp speed at this point, but he broke the lock and made it out to the garage. It has taken me the rest of the day to talk him into coming back in. He still flinches when anyone walks too close to the hall closet, where the vacuum cleaner is stored.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was quiet and peaceful. The mail came late, so at about sundown, the boys received a mysterious package from Norway! My dear friend, Elin (itisalwaysraining from Ravelry), had sent them a package of treats from Norway and Sweden. There were LOTS of sweets for them to sample. They are still enjoying them! She also sent me some wonderful alpaca yarn, and a sample of her beetroot dyed yarn! It was a great surprise for the boys, and so exciting that it arrived on Christmas Eve!

Both boys really enjoyed the little gummy monkeys. Gabe was really fascinated by the languages on the wrappers of the candy.

"I don't know what this is, but if it's candy, I LIKE IT!"

"Mmmmm! Chocolate!"

Timothy is such a clown! My friend, Nichole, gave him a Santa Clause Mr. Potato Head. Here he is modeling the beard and lips. We weren't sure whether he looked more like Santa...or Hannibal Lector!

We always let the kids open a gift before bed on Christmas Eve. This year, I was suprised by a gift for ME! Chris wrapped it REALLY well, so it took me a long time to open it. It was new pajamas! Thanks, Mom!

One of my Christmas projects was to make all three of my boys pajama pants. OK, Mom helped. If you must know, she helped a lot. So now it makes sense why she got me pajamas, too! She already knew I was going to have the boys open theirs on Christmas Eve. Here's Gabe opening his.

...And Chris, opening his!

And Timothy! (The boys had just gotten out of the shower, thus the wet hair, and in Timothy's case, lack of clothing!)

My men.

Timothy decorated an Advent calendar at school and enjoyed putting a numbered sticker on it every night. Now he can't count to 25!

He also made "reindeer feed" to put on the lawn. It was oats and glitter, mixed together. The oats were for the reindeer to eat, and the glitter was to make a sparkly runway for Santa so he would be sure and stop.

Timothy was pretty excited about sprinkling it all over the front yard.

Not to worry, I know it looks cold, but it was actually a very mild evening.

A little help from Daddy.

I'll refrain from posting the video of Chris locking me out on the porch and making me dance to get back inside.