Snow Day

Today is snow day #......who cares anymore?

As far as snow days go, it started off really poorly and has since gotten much better.  And since I have a lot of recent snow days to compare it too, that is saying quite a bit.

I woke up this morning sometime after 3am feeling rather disoriented.  It took a few moments for me to come a few realizations.  In this order: Jason was not in bed with me, the hall light was on, and Michael was throwing up in the bathroom.

I heard a joke once that said that the most effective alarm clock for a parent would be one that sounds like a child throwing up.  Apparently for Jason that is true.  I sleep like the dead and am a little slow.  For middle of the night emergency situations, the boys (and I) are lucky to have Jason.

Not the worst way to start the day, but definitely low on the list.  Luckily, that was the last of that.

The rest of the morning went much, much better.

Although, admittedly, just the absence of any more vomit was an improvement.

The rest of the morning was full of school work and chores.  Since I had prepped the boys the night before with a liberal mix of threats and promises (I hear any complaints and I will add extra chores AND when they were done they could play on the Wii), the chores and school work went pretty smoothly.  Of course, it helped that Josh caught the spirit of many hands make light work and his brothers followed suit.

They dusted, vacuumed, picked up, washed windows, read scriptures, played piano and cleaned their bedroom.

Like I said, much, much better.

And then this afternoon the boys went sledding out back so I think they will most likely consider today a success as well.

Now I get to think up a whole new list of chores for the boys to do tomorrow and pray that Michael being sick this morning was a fluke and not precursor to other boys (or mom or dad) being sick in the wee hours of the morning (or really any other time).

And...wait for it...most likely plan a similar day for Wednesday because in this county we don't do school when there is snow on the ground.

While I've Been On The Couch

Sadly, the world did not stop and take a break while I have been on the couch.  Activities occurred, projects were due, and lessons were attended.  Curiously, there wasn't as much school attendance as one might assume there would be over a two week period thanks to snow days.  Luckily, I have friends and family who have caught some of these moments I have not been able to be there for.

The second quarter awards ceremony was held the Tuesday after my surgery.  My friend was kind enough to send me this picture of Josh and his A&B Honor roll award.  Math was apparently his arch-nemesis this quarter and brought him his first B.

And Michael completed his first school project on a wild animal.  He chose the lion.  After reading a few books about lions and other big cats, he and Jason put together this shoe box habitat.  Pretty cool stuff.

When asked where lions live (not what their natural habitat is, mind you) he wrote down that lions live in the savannas, forests and zoos.  The teacher took off one point for the zoo answer and wrote a note to gently remind him that lions don't live in zoos.  I and the National Zoo would beg to differ.

Jason also helped Josh with his circuit project.  Although technically I was able to put weight on my foot by this time, I was not what one might call "happily mobile."  After a marathon shopping excursion to three stores with three boys to get all the parts, Jason helped Josh build a "operation" game.

It involved wire, wire strippers, tape, a light bulb, a ginormous battery and a Vibram Fivefingers shoebox.  And it works!

Time did, however, practically stop here in the front room of our house the last three weeks.  I have watched so many episodes of Lego Ninjago and Phineas and Ferb that I have sometimes felt that I was trapped in a horrible Twilight Zone episode with no escape from kid cartoons.  To break up the tedium, I also made it through two seasons of What Not To Wear.  Luckily there are only two seasons, because I was beginning to develop an irresistible urge to shop for clothes (a feeling utterly foreign to me under normal circumstances).

Eventually it occurred to me that I needed more meaning and purpose in my life than old episodes of a TLC show, so I started doing some reading.  I got caught up in a biography of Catherine the Great before I realized how long the book was.  That is a drawback to the Kindle - it is easy to miss the important detail of length if you aren't paying close attention.  So I was bit shocked to discover that I had only gotten through 3% of the book after hours of reading.  It is a good read, which is fortunate because there is a great deal of it to be read.  I haven't finished it yet because in the midst of her coronation, I was introduced to cross stitch.

Before the surgery, I bought two cross stitch kits and they waited two weeks for us to be formally introduced.  I bought two because I wanted to make sure I would have enough to occupy myself.  Silly Irene.

Behold!  Eight days of finger pricking work!

Yes, that is a headless geisha, why do you ask?  (And yes, I vastly underestimated how long this would take.)  I do enjoy it and look forward to finishing it; I just don't know what to do with it when it is done.  Where does one hang a 5x7 cross stitch of a geisha standing near cherry blossoms?

Oh, and we took some pictures.

In any case, my days of being mostly stranded on the couch are done.  As of last Friday I was given the go-ahead to start walking on my foot.  I guess I should have warned my foot that this day was coming, because it definitely was not ready for it.  I had envisioned waking up Friday morning, throwing my crutches to the wind and running around the house doing all the things I haven't been able to do for the last three weeks.

What actually happened is I stood with my crutches and gingerly put pressure on my foot and then grimaced through the resulting pain.  The pain that still continues.  Not good and not what, according to my doc, was supposed to happen.  Since opposites attract, Jason and I have opposing views on the topic.  Jason (half-full) thinks since the doc said he had to fight a bit to get the bone out means that there was more trauma to the tissue than normal and it will take a little bit longer to heal.  Oh, and that I should probably be taking vitamins.  I (half-empty and oh-my-gosh who drank my water that is gross now I can't drink it) fear that there is some permanent damage done to the nerves and tissues in my foot and I will never be able to walk pain-free again.

Jason might just be a little bit more sane than I.

Let It Snow (Again and again and again)

I lost count of how many snow days we've had so far this year.  I don't think we've actually had a full week of school since Winter Break, so it has been quite a few.  My favorites have been the ones when Jason was home as well as the boys.  The boys, however, love every single one of them.  At this point, they ask every single morning when they get up if there is school because so often the answer is "no".  

I used to like snow.  Then we moved to Virginia.

They. have. got. to. go. to. school.

Feel free to play the world's smallest violin for me.  This is a first world problem for sure.  The reality is we are safe and warm in our home with plenty of food.

And we have internet access and Kindles so Jason and the boys can bond over Studio C videos on YouTube. 

And the boys love each other.  (Although this is picture is a wee bit deceptive - I took this while Michael was "rocking" Ben to sleep while singing "Rock-a-Bye Baby".  At the end of the song he would throw Ben on the floor, Ben would laugh hysterically and jump back in Michael's lap to go again.)

And our current snow storm brought excellent packing snow so Josh made himself a tunnel fort.

And Jason made Michael a fort.

Oh, he made Ben one, too.

So, really we have it good.  We just have a grumpy mom who would really, really, really like her space and quiet time back.

What I Learned

It has been almost a whole week since my surgery.

So, let's not do that again.

I mean, it went fine.  I've seen the x-rays and the bone has indeed been removed; however, it will be a while yet until we know if the removal has the intended effect.

Dad came over that morning and watched Ben for the day.  Ben was almost in tears before we left, but when I asked Jason about it he told me that Ben was upset that it was taking us so long to leave.  He just wanted to hang out with Opa.  And this Ben proclaimed as "the best day ever."

I had the surgery in a surgical center where they "only operate on healthy people (nurse's words, not mine).  I guess this cuts down on complications and infection.  The worst part of pre-op was the anxiety and the nice lady digging in my arm to put in the IV.   Thankfully, after the pain and exhaustion and anxiety and hunger and thirst (fasting since midnight) reduced me to shaking and almost to tears, she went and got the anesthesiologist.  I realize that this anesthesiologist is probably very skilled in many areas, but his ability to painlessly insert a needle on the first try is what I appreciated the most that morning.  Everything went pretty well after that.  I walked into the OR (a very chilly room) and lay down on the table.  The operation was going to be done with local anesthesia and sedation.  The nice nurses covered me with warm blankets and that is the last thing I remember until waking up in the recovery area.

Not remembering is good.

Anesthesia is bad.

The bone was apparently rather "stubborn" (doctor's word, not mine) and took longer than normal to remove.  Of course.  In my family, we don't do "normal".  Which meant they had to give me more anesthesia.  In my family, we don't do anesthesia well.

The doc gave me tylenol with codeine for pain afterwards.  In my family, we don't do narcotics well.

But, I really shouldn't complain.  We went home and I parked myself on couch in the supine position.  After a couple of days, I moved over to ibuprofen .  An ice pack, pillows, Netflix and I am pretty good to go.  Mom came out the next day and has been instrumental in our survival as for the first 4-5 days after the surgery sitting up for any length of time caused me to feel woozy and nauseous (doc thinks my body is metabolizing the anesthesia drugs very slowly and codeine was not the best choice).  We've all been spoiled with good food (eggs, sausage and french toast for breakfast - the boys are going to be devastated when she leaves).  She may be ready soon (or already be ready) to leave the chaos that is our house, but we've been so lucky to have her here.

And then, yesterday, my furry friend up at the top of this post arrived.  Rachel sent him to commiserate with me.  I have to admit, he looks like he has had an even tougher time of it than I have.  We have named him Sir Gimps-a-lot and the boys love him.

After all this, I have been taking stock of what I have learned:
1.  Ask around to family members about what painkillers do and do not work for them.  Might be useful info.
2.  When I have a foot problem, go straight to a foot doctor.  Turns out podiatrists are not just for the elderly (although, you may have a hard time proving that by looking around the waiting room).
3.  Consider having surgery at some time other than during prime "snow day" season.  Ugh.  There were very good reasons why we chose to do the surgery now rather than later, but now, more than ever, I need the kids to be in school.  Yelling at them while being stuck on the couch is less effective than being able to chase them down while yelling at them.  Just kidding.  (Sorta.)
4.  There is such a thing as too much Lego Ninjago.
5.  I really, really dislike Windows 8.  This may seem unrelated to anything else, but Mom has her laptop here and this operating system is driving me crazy.

In any case, one week down and two to go until I get to try out my foot.

Surgery

It has been a slow month on this blog and in our lives.  Just a few weeks ago we decided to go ahead with surgery and have the little-bone-that-couldn't removed.  The surgery is scheduled for this Friday so much of my time and thoughts have been in preparation for that.  After the surgery I will get to spend 3 weeks non-weight bearing (can you just hear a part of Jason dying when I say that?  He *loves* it when I am on the couch/crutches for long periods of time!).

I did an enormous amount of reading the last two times I was on the couch/crutches, but I thought it was high time I set some slightly different goals for myself while I am permanently imprinting my backside on the couch cushions.  They are as follows:

1.  Learn to cross stitch.  My Mom will be here for the first week, so I thought I would take the opportunity to have her teach me something I can do sitting down but will still produce a tangible result.

2.  Guilt Ask Mom to put the back on the quilt I started.  Ha!

3.  Watch all the episodes of Lego Ninjago.  You probably weren't expecting this one.  But since Ben and I will be spending a lot of quality time watching TV together, I might as well make this a goal and then feel (somewhat) like we're accomplishing something together.

4.  Work on the Coursera courses I signed up for.  I have signed up before with the best of intentions, but now I have no good excuse not to enrich my brain.

5.  Read.  Yes, I know it has been done before.  By me even.  But I got out of the habit last semester and Temple Run 2 (I curse the day I downloaded that game) has been a big distraction.  I need to get back to reading.

6.  Finally defeat the Perplexus Twist game my friend gave me for Christmas.  I can never decide if it is a fun game or if she hates me.

7.  Heal properly.  I am going to try to plant myself on the couch and not give in to the temptation to do more than I should or cheat by walking on my foot.  This surgery has got to work and I need to give it the best chance I can.

Teacher Work Day

Friday was a teacher work day.  Oh, and so was Thursday.  And Wednesday was a half day.  Oh, and so was Tuesday.  And tomorrow we have no school.  When you add in the two snow days we've had and look at the forecast for this week, you should probably be asking yourself if the kids go to school at all in January.

No, no they don't.

But this did give us the opportunity to go somewhere in DC on Friday that I have been wanting to take the boys for a while but it isn't open on the weekends: The U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing.  Or, in other words, the place where they make the MONEY.

It is a pretty high tech operation.  Which naturally meant that we weren't allowed to take any pictures.  The U.S. Government tends to get kind of antsy about that kind of stuff.  We did, however, spend some quality time in the gift shop (the boys still have Christmas money burning in their little pockets) and if you look carefully at the following pictures you can see Josh hugging holding his money (just printed on the outside skin) football that he bought.

After looking at the money, we headed west to see some of the monuments.  And after the harrowing drive into DC (okay, not really all that bad but I hate driving into DC and am positive that it ages me about 15 years every time I do it - which is not often), we had to make good use of a sunny winter day.

First up: Washington Monument (a.k.a. the giant pencil) which is still undergoing post-earthquake work.

Next:  The WWII memorial where the boys posed next to a sculpture of soldiers working on airplanes (like Grandpa Roberts did in WWII) and next to one of soldiers jumping out of an airplane (like Uncle Doug and Aunt Rachel did in the not too distant past).

My Virginia boys!

Then: The Korean War Memorial.

And finally:  Lincoln.  We totally forgot that Monday is Martin Luther King, Jr. day and so were a little surprised at first to find the place packed and some school kids rehearsing.  I can only assume there is some sort of event going down on Monday, but in the mean time Michael took a minute behind the pulpit.

It was all very fun and driving wasn't as bad as I thought until I got off at our normal exit off of 66 and we spent 10 minutes just getting off the highway.  But the boys did beautifully.  I am more and more grateful all the time for them all being older and our ability to go do outings like this where everyone can walk and take care of themselves (mostly anyway - they still think of me as their sherpa).

New Year's Eve

Yesterday morning I had this great idea that we should spend the evening doing fun activities with the boys and all stay up until midnight to welcome in the new year.  First of all, let me say that this is the sort of idea that Jason is supposed to shoot down from the get-go.  Second, we actually had a great time.

But where is a mom to go for last minute ideas for New Year's Eve?  Well, Pinterest, of course!  Which is what led us to an evening of fun and hilarity - often due to my pinterest fails.

We started off with numbered balloons on the wall.  Inside each was an activity.  The boys took turns trying to pop the balloons.  That was a show in itself.  Considering all the balloons we have had pop in a sad boy's face over the years, it was hysterical that the boys could stomp on, squish and body slam these balloons (party balloons from Walmart) and they wouldn't pop.  Jason came to the rescue eventually with a pen.

#1 - Make (dry) Jello covered grapes.  The boys loved rolling the grapes in the powder and getting to lick their fingers afterwards.  Then the grapes went into the fridge to be consumed later.

#2 - Make magic play dough.  Fail.  This was supposed to be cornstarch and shaving cream mixed together to make a light, fluffy dough that is easy to mold.  And since we have a Costco-sized stash (from Costco, actually) in the basement and cornstarch is cheap, I thought this would be great.  But, it turns out I neglected to ask Jason a rather important question about his shaving cream: Was it cream or a gel?

It was a gel.

Only Ben's worked out (although he still could not be convinced to touch it), but the boys all enjoyed squishing the shaving gel and cornstarch between the fingers.  The most unexpected part was that my hands smelled like Jason's face for the rest of the evening.

#3 - Wii Sports Tournament.  Can't go wrong with Wii Sports.  Ben beat Jason at bowling, Michael and I tied a respectable 6-6 in baseball and Josh creamed everyone he played against.

#4 - Make marshmallow popcorn.  We were running a little behind schedule, so I took on this activity while Jason worked on #5 with the boys.

#5 - Make rubberband shooters.  Pinterest win!  Pencils + clothes pins + hot glue + rubber bands = awesome.

Jason made a target on an empty box and set up a shooting range for the boys.

So much fun.

#6 - Play a family game.  We got Apples to Apples Junior for Christmas and have really been enjoying playing it, so we did it again last night.  It is a fun game that everyone can play, although Ben could use some help.  In reality, he doesn't usually want help - he just wants to play the top card in his pile, which usually has absolutely nothing to do with the topic of that round and is often hilarious.

#7 - Get sleeping bags and pillows.  We all have our own now and we thought it would be fun to "camp" in the front room.  The boys loved this idea.  Loved.  And this is how we discovered that the crickets we bought for Rocko start chirping at 3 in the morning.  ::facepalm::

#8 - Watch the Muppets Treasure Island.  Found this movie at the library yesterday and thought it would be fun.  I don't know if it was or not as I fell asleep.

However, what we did discover at this point was another pinterest fail: the grapes.  Apparently, I should have paid attention to the grape-Jello flavor combinations the lady had listed on her blog instead of just looking around and thinking, "OOOooooOOOOohhhhh!  Jolly rancher flavored!"  Yeah, they were pretty gross.  Luckily, we still had some other (uncontaminated by Jello) grapes and the marshmallow popcorn was good.

#9 - 2013 Interview sheets.  And to bring the year to a (relatively) calm and quiet close to help the boys go to sleep as soon as possible after midnight, they filled out an interview sheet about themselves in 2013 and drew pictures of themselves on the back.  We thought it would be fun to this every year (let's pretend for a moment anyway that I organized enough to keep on top of that).

And we all made it to midnight!  Happy New Year!