The Bits: January 27th through Groundhog Day, a.k.a Super Bowl XLVIII Day, a.k.a. February 2nd

A big snowy, sicky, Super Bowly, catch-up Bits:

Sunday we were playing in the sun, Monday we were back to snow.  Honestly, we Conlins love it.  Can't complain a bit!  It  helps that Adam can work from home and that all our schools are close enough to walk, so we really don't have to brave the roads unless we want to.  Sometimes we just shout, "I LOVE SNOW!" into the cosmos because we love it so.  We really do.

After telling me to ignore the colors, Ben presented me with the Nazgul and Black Rider origami he made up.  NEAT-O!

The view from our bedroom on Tuesday morning.  What a sight to wake to!

Walking to school on a snowy Tuesday morning following another 2-hour delay.  We always have to allow for a few extra minutes on post-snow days, because the boys like to dawdle and play as they go.

Tuesday night was spent celebrating the young women program and Personal Progess program as we held our "New Beginnings" night.  The 11-year-old girls who will enter the youth program during the year are invited to attend and learn all about how the young women program works. Above are our two incoming Beehives, Erica, in the center, and Grace, on the right, being introduced by their mothers.  Camille, on the left, one of our Mia Maids, gave a great talk on the 2014 Mutual Theme, "Come Unto Christ," and all the girls sang a beautiful song with the same title.

Ruby is getting a little older and a little creakier.  We've noticed she's not as quick to follow us up or down the stairs, but often waits to see if we are staying up or down before she follows.  And sometimes when she gets up from a long lay-down, she limps a couple of steps before she works the joints out a bit.  This week we started her on glucosamine tablets and bought her a new big cushy pillow bed to replace her blankets.  It took her a bit to understand that she COULD get on this particular piece of "furniture," but once she realized it was hers, she claimed it and loves it!

Ben woke up on Wednesday morning with a crick in his neck.  I encouraged him to try school for a couple of hours, but then if he needed to he could come home, which he did.  I've had my share of neck and back cricks, so I can certainly empathize!  It just throws off your whole body and sense of wellness.  He rested most of the day on Wednesday, having a 'Fablehaven' read-a-thon on the hot pad, then went back to school on Thursday, still cricked, but more used to it, so managing it better, and after a couple of days he was feeling mostly back to normal.

Wednesday was warm enough that the dry snow had melted to a packable wetness, so we ditched homework for a bit after school and built snowmen.

It was super windy on Wednesday night, with more snow blowing in for Thursday, so the house was already restless, but at 3am when Tommy came in crying in a panic, we knew something was really wrong.  Barf.  That is what was wrong.  After a mom-and-dad initial teamwork effort of spot cleaning carpets, stripping the bed and child of clothes, sheets, and blankets, and wiping down a few doors and walls, Adam was sent off to sleep in Josh's bed (which was vacant because Josh had crawled into bed with Zac after a bad dream) while I stayed up from 3am to 6am with Tommy as he threw up, and otherwise, every 15 minutes.  Poor sweet baby!  About halfway through, I think he was sleep-vomiting and he kept saying, "I'm so sleepy, Mommy," falling asleep almost instantly after his visits to the toilet.  After a bit, although I still scrubbed mine like crazy, I stopped making him wash his hands, figuring everything would need a sanitization in the morning anyway, so he could just get back to sleep.  It was the worst sick our house has had in at least three years.

Tommy woke up hungry Thursday morning, but after throwing up the 9am Gatorade I gave him, he was turned off to all food or beverage consumption for the day and would only take tiny sips of water, which made him so lethargic, until 5pm, when he was finally ready for some dry toast.  He kept it down and soon seemed to have a bit of his Tommy-energy back.  Zac came home in the late-morning, having thrown up once at school, but seemed to be feeling better within an hour of getting home, so he dodged the bullet on this one.

Adam and I stocked up for the long haul, as we were sure this bug would take down the whole family, but happily, as no one became sick through the weekend, Tommy was the only one to be really hit with the barf super bug, Zac's case being so mild.  I usually use more natural, earth-friendly cleaners, but I think Clorox wipes have a time and place: the weekly clean-up around the toilet in the bathroom and during barf-fests.  I am pretty sure all the hand-scrubbing and bleach-wiping were the secret to taking down this bug so fast.  Sorry, Planeteers!

The boys had a pretty crazy Thursday evening schedule, so I escaped the sick house in the middle of the day to go watch Josh's third grade school performance of 'Yo Leonardo!'  It's all part of one of their 3rd grade IB planners on art history, art concepts and artists. In the show, the cast presents short introductions to several famous artists as the artists are sucked into a 'time travel device.'  The chorus sings fun songs about each of the artists the cast meets.  Josh was part of the chorus for this program and was so cute singing and dancing.  You could tell he was having a great time.  He's in the orange tee, three kids in from the left on the top tier of the left riser.  Adam took Josh to his evening performance, while I stayed home with sickies, so we were both able to catch the fun show, along with Luke and Ben who attended the daytime school performance.

Sometimes a puzzle is just the thing at the end of a long, barfy-gross, sleep-deprived, post-carpet-cleaning, cuddling-with-sickies day.  Another snow storm came in earlier than expected and all of our Thursday night busyness went out the window other than Josh's evening 'Yo Leonardo!' performance.  Nice.

Friday morning: two-hour delay.  I'm seeing a pattern here!

Fresh-from-the-oven no-sugar-banana-oat-chocolate-chip muffins were a great start to a chilly, snowy day.  This recipe was a keeper!

Friday, just after getting the brothers off to school, Tommy had his one-year speech follow-up evaluation at the district offices.  Good news: he passed with flying colors!  He still has some delays, but he is working through them enough that they aren't severe.  Bad news: he passed with flying colors!  Awww, we love the awesome district preschool, but it's expensive, and Tommy won't be able to go there without the speech-therapy need.  It's a good thing we are so happy with him at Miss Rachel's, because he will be there again next year!

Friday afternoon it just kept snowing and snowing and snowing!

By school pick-up time, we were quickly on our way to 6 inches.  By the time it slowed in the evening, we had hit a little over 7.  It's been so long since we have had a good, solid snow, more than 2 or 3 inches.  It was very exciting and very welcome!

Saturday, February 1st, we recognized the one-year mark of the day that my sweet nephew Kai was born, in distress, and my Tutu passed away, all within the same hour.  We feel as though she let go just in time to help him through his early hours of struggle, because soon after her passing, he quickly improved.  Straight from the arms of God, straight to the arms of God.  It is a very special day for our family.  Tutu, you are greatly missed.  Happy first birthday, darling Kai!

Since I couldn't be in California at Kai's rocket/robot first birthday bash, my friend Adri and I helped celebrate the impending birth of our friend, Kendra's, baby boy by throwing her a baby shower open house.  Food and friends and a baby boy to come.  Yes.  Just, yes.

We couldn't just ignore our amazing snow accumulations by sitting inside all day long, so we decided to while away the afternoon hours with some sledding/boarding/skiing on a nearby hillside.  When the snow began to really come down again, we headed home for hot cocoa...and chores.  Fun over.  Please take note of Luke's pure sledding joy.  {happy heart!}  

Sunday morning, with the sun on the snow, it looked like the world had been sprinkled with diamonds.  Oh boy, so pretty!  I snapped a few pics and then just stood outside and breathed it all in.

I don't think there is anything yummier than Break-the-Fast Sunday-from-scratch-whole-wheat-with-egg-white-puff waffles, if for no other reason than that we are HUNGRY!  I will forever be indebted to one of my college roommates, Annie, for giving us the delicious gift of the strawberry jam/applesauce topping.

It was Super Bowl Sunday, with Seattle, our hearts' home team, versus Denver, our adopted home team.  We were excited to cheer on both teams and were eager for the great game that was expected with the #1 defense in the league playing against the conference's #1 offense.

See there, if you give Colorado's dry snow a day in the not-warm-but-not-too-cold-either sun, it gets a little more packable.  Sunday after church, the boys worked together to build this impressive snow fort in our driveway using the wagon for the larger slabs and snow-block makers from our neighbor for the smaller ones.

I saw ideas for blue/green and blue/orange punches and cookies and cupcakes and rolls, all potential candidates for fun Super Bowl food.  But these Seahawks and Broncos-themed fruit trays were my one effort to support our teams through food, and they were gobbled up by our family in about 4 minutes. 

We were SO excited to see the Seahawks win!  Wooooot woooooooooot!!!!  As Seattle sports fans, Adam and I have lived and cheered through so many years of poor-performance and poor-results, and a few heartbreaking years where there was so much hope and potential and near-success, to no avail; and this is true among all Seattle teams, not just the Seahawks.  This year's team was so collectively strong, skilled and exciting to cheer on, it felt like it really just might happen; and then...it DID!  It was a well-deserved, hard-earned and destined win for the Seahawks.  Yeeeeeeesssssssssss!  However, we are still Broncos fans and find no conflict in that, thankyouverymuch.  We were sad for such a rough end to the Broncos' season.  The team that showed up to play isn't the team we've cheered on all season; they deserved a better showing and a much closer game.  Darn it!  Yes, we were ultimately hoping for a Seahawks win, but were also hoping for maybe a 3 point spread, not 43-8.  Ouch.  It took a bit of the joy out of the win, to be honest.

Sunday closed off with finishing 'Inside Out and Back Again' and starting 'When You Reach Me.'  I really love reading books with the older boys!  'Inside Out' initiated a lot of great conversation about the Vietnam War, refugees, how we treat people who are different from us, and how kindness matters because we never know what kind of life someone else has led or is leading.  A good one!