Ice Festival

I can't wipe the smile off my face.

Today was one of those great days, in its entirety, beginning to end, that we are given every once in awhile as a gift from God. We've all had them. They aren't frequent, but they are SO enjoyed. You know, where everything seems seamless and sweet, and you go to bed feeling contented. And you just can't stop smiling. The only thing that could have made today better was sharing it with Adam and Ben.

We woke up late and spent the morning being lazy. The boys played nicely with one another and helped each other out, were polite and obedient with me, and just seemed in great moods. I figured my run for the day, even though the morning was beautiful and I was drooling to get outside, was out since Adam wasn't here. And even though I have the do-not-buy-it treadmill (which is working just fine for me still!), I had opted for lounging rather than getting the run in before Tommy woke up. But when I said I was bummed I wasn't going to get to run, Zac volunteered to entertain Tommy in the basement while I took the treadmill for a spin. It's in the basement bedroom which has french doors, so I can close them to keep Tommy out but still see him. And he's fine with the barrier between us as long as someone is entertaining him and he can walk by, bang a few times on the windows, smile at me when I wave to him, and toddle off again. So I got in four miles (about my max for a treadmill run) and felt great.

We got ready for the day, Zac again volunteered to make his little brothers lunch while I showered, and then I dropped him off at the nearby middle school for his basketball team pictures and pre-game warm up. The rest of the boys and I ran some quick errands, including a stop at the library. I LOVE the library. It's a fact. And came out with Tommy in one arm and a stack of 20 books in the other. One of the parents of the girl scouts selling cookies outside the library doors commented on my large number of books and I told her that the stack I was carrying was exactly why I avoid book stores--at least library books are free! I have a hard time choosing. :)

We arrived back at the middle school with five minutes to tip-off. Zac was able to play three quarters and had a great game. I've never been a huge basketball fan, but I love watching my boys play basketball! Our team won 22 to 19. It was a great, close game! And throughout it I chatted with a very nice woman, a mother of three boys, whose oldest son was on the team opposing Zac's. Their family just moved here from Uganda, where her husband worked for a Christian-idealed company that runs engineering projects mission-style. It was great spending the hour talking with such a kind, interesting woman while cheering for Zac's team.

After the game, the boys settled into their car seats, library books in hand, and we drove for over an hour up into the mountains, to Cripple Creek, CO where we visited the Ice Festival. On the way up we stopped for a snack of happy-hour slushes (50 cents!) and tots from Sonic. Luke talked my ear off, asking questions, singing songs (over and over) and telling me the funniest stories while Josh and Zac plowed through books. After awhile Josh had to stop and close his eyes because he was feeling a little carsick. The road up winds this way and that way; it makes me a little carsick even when I am driving.

Here's Cripple Creek, CO: located behind Pike's Peak, resting at 9,494 feet above sea level. It's a tiny old mining town, now home to about 20 small casinos...and the Ice Festival. Before you head down into the valley where the town is located there is this great viewpoint where you can stop and take a photo. You can hardly even see the town, it blends in with the landscape so well, but I assure you, it's there! And look at the way those gorgeous clouds are reaching down to touch the earth. We really are at the top of the world up there!

The Ice Festival is an ice carving event held for two weekends in February in Cripple Creek. I've seen the commercials for a few months now and thought it would be fun to go, but didn't decide we were going until last night, when I realized that we only had one midday basketball game--and that was it for the entire day. So I thought "What the hay?!" This weekend was the second weekend, and we've had a lot of warm days this week, even up at that elevation, so the carvings from last weekend were a little melty, but you could envision what they had once looked like. There were some new carvings in the works, so we were able to see some crisper, cleaner ice sculptures, as well as the artists' processes to make them. All of the sculptures are made from big blocks of ice that looked like they were about 2.5' by 4' by 1' that could be fused together to make the sculptures as large as the artist desired, or can be cut down to make smaller parts. The theme of this year's Ice Festival was "Story Time," so all the carvings had to incorporate a literary theme.

The first we came upon was the works of Dr. Seuss.

Here is the Cat In The Hat in progress. When we first arrived the artist was chiseling the outlines and some of the details of The Cat with a huge metal chisel. It was really impressive! You can see how the artist cut the large blocks smaller and then stacked them to give the Cat his height and width. Luke was very excited to see The Cat in the Hat, as he is one of The Cat's biggest fans.

He's a little melty, but this is The Grinch, and my boys, on the sleigh that carried the stolen Christmas.

Next up was J.M Barrie's Peter Pan, also from last week so slightly melted. But the boys loved Captain Hook, straddling the crocodile!

And Zac got in on the Lost Boys game of "Following the Leader."

Zac's ultimate favorite...the Star Wars exhibit. I suppose Star Wars is now a series of books, but did it start that way? Hmmm.... Oh well, it may be a literary stretch, but it was a 10-year-old boy pleaser!

It was so cute and dorky how Zac said, "Look Luke! See the Tie Fighter!" Love that boy!
The Lord of the Rings--I wish we had seen it last weekend. It looked like it had been pretty amazing.

I wish I could say I knew exactly what this helmet or crown is from the Lord of the Rings moives or books, but I just don't remember! It looks familiar though! And Josh thought it was cool that you could go inside it.

This was once an incredibly cool carving. It is a Black Rider on one of the Nazgul, wings spread, looking scaaaary! But sadly, with the melting the head had fallen off and was lying on the ground. Not so scary anymore. But Luke thought peeking through the neck and making Tommy laugh was great fun.

As we continued up the street we came upon The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Zac rode in the chariot of the White Witch......While Josh rode on the polar bear's back.This is the White Witch's castle--made of ice. How very appropriate!With the fabulous day we had had so far, I felt a bit like the Queen of the World seated upon the White Witch's throne with my little Ice Princes. However, while I may be witchy from time to time, today was definitely not one of those days! :)

Awww! So cute he just might melt that ice!

Here's Zac going through the beautifully detailed wardrobe door to Narnia...are you seeing any fauns on the other side Zac?

Alice in Wonderland was pretty melted, the more detail the sculptures had the more quickly they melted, and I could tell that the Alice in Wonderland sculptures had once been very detailed. Only Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum were still mostly intact and very obviously their goofy selves. The artists had just added the carving in the picture below. Lovely, no? This is where we saw how the huge blocks of ice were sealed together: using a huge blowtorch melting the blocks together along the seams.

And of course, there was an ice slide. Josh's favorite part of the entire festival!

Tommy could have cared less about the ice, but he found the crowds fascinating and was happy as we walked up and down the street, especially because I had remembered to grab his bottle of milk before we left home.

Zac and Josh needed a little snack half way through our visit. Is that brat LITTLE? Not at all. But they are growing boys! And even after finishing they both said they were still hungry! Yow!

We found a little casino next to the hand-dipped corndog stand (the "snack" Luke asked for) with heat lamps outside the doors and a bench to sit on. Luke was very curious about the odd lamps that the warmth was radiating from and couldn't stop looking at them. We were so happy for the warmth. And so were all the smokers. GAG! I guess a burning stick in your hand and hot smoke in your lungs isn't enough to warm a person up, because it suddenly seemed as if everyone at the festival was smoking. We only stuck around for a few minutes to warm up a bit, and then got away from the cancer-filled air.

And then it started to snow. I hadn't prepared, attire-wise, for snow. We all had jackets, except for Zac, and no one had gloves or hats.
By the end of our visit to the Ice Festival we had traded out our slushes for hot cocoa.
It was getting colder and I was beginning to realize that we had to get ourselves back down the mountain to our house in the snow that was starting to come down hard, so we decided to head back to the car. Along the way I got one more picture of One Fish, Two Fish...and four darling boys!

As we passed The Cat we saw that the artist has exchanged his chisel for a chainsaw, and had used it to remove the ice from around The Cat's hat. You can see him working behind The Cat. It was amazing to see the small cuts he was able to make with that huge tool. We had thought The Cat looked great as a chiseled carving, but hadn't realized that was really just the first step. It was really neat to see the next step in the carving process and how much more detailed it became...using a chainsaw!

We drove through a heavy snow that was slowly collecting on the roadway. Fortunately I was not the only one who felt that driving below the speed limit in a snowstorm is a good idea, so we made our snail's pace way down the mountain without being the only ones annoying the {insane} SUV drivers who think driving fast on frozen roads is fun. Luke chatted the entire way down, just like on the way up, talking about the clouds being so low that they are fog and the snow falling thicker, and that the windshield wipers were making him "boring." He asked, "Do you know what that means, Mama? It means they are making me sweaty." Huh? :)

By the time we arrived in Woodland Park (still in the mountains but lower than Cripple Creek), it was raining...RAINING! I don't think in the three years we've lived here that we have ever seen rainfall between November and mid-April. It's always snow. It's been a crazy winter weather-wise: many record highs, many record lows, very little snow, and rain in winter. I LOVED it! The dark, gray clouds, thick and heavy, giving everything a richness, a coziness. Mmmmm.

I had a coupon for $10 off at Champps, a burger-type restaurant by our house, and since the boys were still hungry, even after those brats, we stopped there for dinner. When we got out of the car, the rain-soaked air smelled delicious! I was in heaven. Dinner was tasty and our waitress was fantastic. I've never asked to speak to a manager in a restaurant before, but after dinner I did just that, and then told her how great our server had been. Once we got home, the boys showered and went to bed easy peasy.

And they said "Thank you for such a great day, Mom!" about 10 times each, on the drive down the mountain, at dinner, and while getting ready for bed. It was so nice. And after such a nice day, I thanked them too.

Yep, still smiling.

A Week's Worth: I Just Got Monday's Laundry Put Away

It's been a full week for us here in the Chaos. I did the laundry on Monday, washed and folded, but didn't get it all put away on hangers and in drawers until today...even with the older boys putting their own away! How many nights we go to bed with the dishes done and how quickly we have the laundry put away after it's folded in baskets in bedrooms is always a good indicator of how busy our week has been!

Here's the summary, by family member, of the four days following Valentine's Day. (And sadly, I even forgot to take pictures!) So sorry for the boring picture-less post. But off we go anyway!

This week Tommy had his 15-month checkup, Zach had his 10-year checkup and Josh rounded out the 1.5 hours at the doctor's office with his 6-year checkup. The kids are all healthy and growing well. Hooray for health! Josh continues to dominate the middle of the charts, as he's our only kid who hangs out in the 50th percentile for both weight and height. Tommy's height has continued on track, but, as happens for all of my children after weaning from my apparently cream-only milk, his weight has dropped down into the 10th percentile. So he has a new curve to follow, which I hope he will do with gusto. Josh ended up with only one vaccination, while this was a big visit for Tommy--with four pokes. But as we always tell the kids, better to have the poke than the disease! However, we have yet to have a child take us at our word on that. They still freak out about the shots. Zach was pleased that this year there were no needles necessary, but is already grumbling about next year when he will need two.

TOMMY CHAOS:
Tommy has earned a new nickname among our family members: Darth Tom. He's had a string of illnesses since just after Christmas that have plugged his nose and reddened his throat. Because of that, he has become a total mouth breather!!! In church on Sunday, during one of my classes, he and I kept getting glances and little chuckles as Tommy's breathing was nearly as loud as the teacher. Add to his open mouth breathing the fact that he has two teeth and four molars coming in all at once, he's constantly covered in an abundance of drool. Icky. Tommy is also getting faster and faster on his two little legs. I just LOVE watching him walking around, looking like he's about to lose balance and fall over at any minute, but he never does. We tried "real" soled shoes this week for the first time (rather than his Robeez). He stood there for a minute looking at me like I had just cemented him to the floor, then started crying, refusing to take a step. I offered my hand, and showed him he could still take steps. He smiled, made a happy sound, and off he went! Now he gets really excited to put on shoes. I hope the repetition of the word "shoe" gets him talking, "shoe" makes a great first word!

LUKE CHAOS:
Luke has decided this very week that he LOVES to give kisses and hugs. It's really cute and he's so darling, making sure we all get hugs and kisses before we go anywhere or go to bed. The uptick of "I love you, Mommy!" at bedtime has also been welcome. But, and this may sound horrible, after the 45th kiss it can get to be a little much. Especially because he kisses whatever part of you is closest to his mouth. Adam and I are getting a lot of kisses on the backside (uncomfortable!) and I got one on my calf today. Unfortunately, because of the sheer volume of Luke kisses in recent days, Tommy now gets instantly irritated whenever Luke starts kissing him, Josh too. You will now often hear us saying, "Thanks for the kisses, sweet Luke, but that's plenty for now."

But it is better than the other new habit he seems to have picked up...biting! He's not a toddler, so he knows there are limits to biting: it's not hard, usually just a little nip, and so far he's only bitten family members. But WOAH! SO not OK. We've never had a biter, so any tips for getting it to stop would be welcome!

Along with those lovely things, he's taken to saying "poo poo, pee pee" all the time. Isn't that fun?! Not. We've tried time-outs in the bathroom (where that kind of talk is appropriate) and that works moderately. It drives Josh crazy, and I keep trying to tell Josh that the bigger reaction he gives Luke, the more likely Luke is to continue. So right now Luke has also earned himself a few new nicknames: The Lover, The Chomper and Potty-Mouth.

JOSH CHAOS:
Josh has had a pretty typical week. He is always a trooper. He is my errand-buddy, driving here and there with me, helping entertain his little brothers while we are away from the house. He plays ninja and knight with Luke in the mornings, playing as "Dr. Villain" against Luke's knight character named "Sir Speed-Up," reads Luke and Tommy stories, and does his very best to put up with the things Luke does to purposely annoy him. In the afternoons, he includes himself in the games the big boys are playing, passing up opportunities to play with his neighborhood friends in favor of time with his big brothers.

This week he's been working hard on a new business endeavor he and his big brothers concocted together: Loonie Spoonies. They have decided to make plastic spoons into little characters by decorating them with art supplies. The boys are still in the planning and pricing phase, and Josh is up to 14 spoon character designs he could make for you ranging from "Cupid" to "Ed."

BEN CHAOS:
Ben is headed off to Washington today to meet with my parents for his 8-year-old birthday trip to Hawaii to see volcanoes. It is going to be incredible! They are actually flying out of Portland, so they can drive past Mount St. Helens on the way to Oregon where they will stop to learn about and see a stratovolcano (prone to explosive, ashy eruptions) before visiting the shield volcano (constant mild lava flows) on the Big Island of Hawaii. Even though I am completely envious, I have been so excited for him to take this trip. What an adventure it's going to be! I've been so focused on all the fun he's going to have that I was able to push off my nervousness and sadness about having my baby so far away from me until this morning.

My parents are amazing caregivers and I know they are going to keep him safe and sound, but OH! Hawaii is so far! And with travel days he's going to be gone from me for 10 whole days. GASP!!! It makes my belly feel a bit mushy. He only left a few short hours ago and I already miss him like crazy! I have to get my brain back to the excitement and joy this journey will be for him and ignore the missing/nerves. Adam flew with him on the plane to Washington, and is looking forward to spending the long Presidents' Day weekend with his family after sending Ben off tomorrow. He will work in Everett Tuesday and Wednesday and then come home. We will miss him too!

ZAC CHAOS:
Zac is doing well too. Yes, that's Z-A-C. He's decided that he'd like to spell his name that way. He started a few weeks back spelling his name on school papers without the "H." OK! It might take me some getting used to, I'll probably forget a lot, but if that's what he wants, it's fine by me!

Our dear Zac also had a friend from down the street, who is in his class at school, and has never come up to play before, come up to hang out yesterday...a little girl. It was no big deal. They hung out like he hangs out with his guy friends, playing Wii in the basement. I even had to tell him to ease up on playing too tough against her. He says she's just a friend who wanted help on a certain part of Super Mario Galaxy. But her visit necessitated a discussion about having girls over to play now that he's getting older, which is fine, but he needs to understand the rules that will go along with having girls visit the house--such as doors always open and letting little brothers play with them too. I also felt it was time to talk about how girls can get the "boyfriend" idea in their heads a lot earlier than boys start thinking about "girlfriends," so he needs to be careful, treat girls with respect and consider their feelings, but also remember that they are to be only friends, and in no way is he to allow himself to be considered a "boyfriend" at this point in his life instead of just a "boy friend." Zach is now in 4th grade, and I was in 5th grade when I had my first "boyfriend." Cody. Funny thing, we're friends on Facebook now! But in 5th grade he asked me out in a note, we "went out" for three days, never speaking a word to each other the entire time, and then broke up in a note. I can't remember who ended it. Maybe I've blocked it out because it was too devastating. :)

Today they went down to her house to hang out. After making sure her mom was home, I still sent Josh along with them. Nothing like an annoying younger sibling to keep you innocent! Trust me...AL. I'm hoping the world of young romance is a long way off for Zach still, but he's now prepped and ready to be the best boy-who-is-just-a-FRIEND in the whole world.

COLLEEN CHAOS:
It was a packed week for me. With the holiday on Monday, and truffles to make, I had waited until Tuesday morning to getting ready for three days of preschool. I had a snow make-up day for preschool on Wednesday, so I held class three days in a row (Tue, Wed, Th). It was amazing how adding the extra day made me totally pooped! But we are talking about artists and colors in class, and there was a lot of painting and mixing of color, so it was a really fun week with my school kids.

Wednesday morning Adam, Josh, Luke, Tommy, and I drove down to our mechanic to pick up the van in the morning. They couldn't find any reason why the instrument panel had turned off and the battery had died the week before. It was NOT the alternator, as I had suspected. But it's all working again, so I guess, until next month when something new will go wrong I am sure, we've got a functioning car! The van is paid for, so it's really hard to convince ourselves that we want/need to take on a car payment, even though the van seems to make the drive to our mechanic, Hutch, monthly now. After this recent, inexplicable problem, I am suspicious that the van is done trying to die in a grand and dramatic way (because we keep getting it fixed), but has resorted to attempting death stealth-like, so we CAN'T fix it and it can retire in peace.

In addition to the stress of mystery car issues, every night this week has been spent helping supervise Ben, who is homework-resistant, while he finished up a big project on Thomas Edison before leaving town. He had to write a report and make a "paper doll" to go along with it. It came out FANTASTIC, but I forgot to get a photo! Dang! The paper doll even has a lightbulb made of pipe cleaners and a puffy fuzz ball over his head. Getting Ben to do normal homework can be trying on its own, so this extra boost of homework just exhausted me! I know he was pretty sick of it too, but MAN! That kid can procrastinate with the best of them! If he has a choice between getting the assignment done and staring into space, he'd pick the latter. I know we are BOTH happy that Thomas Edison is sitting on his teacher's desk today!

Last night, I hosted a baby shower for my friend Lydia who is expecting her sixth baby. It was a fun night of chatting and oohing and ahhing over cute baby clothes (and a lot of packs of diapers). I love getting together with the girls, and it was an easy shower for me because all I did was supply the location, other friends brought the decor and the food.

ADAM CHAOS:
As I said, Adam is off for a nice relaxing weekend in Washington. He deserves the break! He works so hard and still comes home as an active, invested dad and husband. Monday and Tuesday his new boss was out here visiting the Colorado Springs site. He was in meeting after meeting with her, in addition to his usual meeting after meeting schedule. But Ann seems like she is going to be a great leader for the team, and Adam is looking forward to working with her.

On Wednesday afternoon, while I sat at the doctor's office with four boys, Adam came home to get Ben from school and take him to basketball practice, all at the last minute. What a pinch hitter! I am so grateful for my darling partner in crime.

So even though it's been a good week, this week has been extra busy. Hahahaha! What week isn't extra busy for us???!!! I think we are all feeling a bit zombieish. I'm looking forward to ordering pizza for dinner, and once everyone is tucked in tight, having a bath and then climbing into bed with my book! And of course, a nice long Presidents' Day weekend with four great boys!

Mmmm...Valentine's Day

We had a great Valentine's Day. Zach declared it the best Valentine's Day ever, so I say that officially makes it a success! We spent Sunday afternoon putting together Valentine's Day boxes and making the kids' valentines for them to hand out to their classmates (little flowers made with lollypops that said "If friends were flowers, I'd pick you!") I didn't get a picture, but they came out swell, the boxes and the valentines. On Valentine's day, after a dinner of shell pasta with pink cheese sauce, we gave the boys some small gifts (watches) and they gave us some darling Valentine's Day cards (one in French, one in verse, and one highly decorated!).

We tucked the boys in for an early bedtime, got our traditional Valentine's Day take-out and snuggled closely on the couch, munching away at our P.F. Changs. Then it was time to exchange our gifts!

Ever since I purchased a "Holiday Cookies and Candies" magazine in early December, I've been eager to make some truffles. But you know, Christmas is really too busy a time of year already, and I just couldn't seem to find the time to squeeze in truffle making to the mix of decorating, parties, birthdays, baking and all other wonderful things December. So I decided that Valentine's Day would be the perfect opportunity.

Adam and I usually do something homemade for each other for Valentine's Day; a tradition started in our extra-poor first years of marriage, when we made mix-CD's with songs downloaded from Napster in its pre-illegal days. This year Adam made me a wonderful playlist (with songs all legally purchased through iTunes) on my iPod for my 33rd birthday...it was an adorable, sweet nod to our dating years when we made each other mix tapes all the time. Don't you love a mix tape?! I do. And I listen to my "33 And Feelin' Fine" playlist all the time! But that meant he had to come up with something else for Valentine's Day. I said that I'd love just a simple, handwritten love letter. But he decided to make me a cute "sweetheart" certificate--that also included a gift certificate for a massage (yes, he broke the homemade rules, but I'm NOT complaining! I guess there are pros to being in the not-extra-poor-years of marriage anymore).

I decided to tackle the truffles and give Adam a homemade box of chocolates. It took all afternoon, but it was SO fun! And I was so excited to give it to Adam because he loves chocolates. I was a little bummed because I wanted to do a toffee or caramel one, since those are his absolute favorite flavors, but I ran out of time and caramel is a whole level of difficulty that I am nervous to attempt. I ended up making three kinds: chocolate chip cookie dough (the one with the tiny chocolate chip on top), Oreo-mint (the one with the sprinkles), and peanut butter (the one with the pink heart). They came out so great! I was very proud. And ohhhh, they taste DEEEELICIOUS! His box of chocolates is sitting in the fridge right now and I am using every ounce of will power I have to NOT go gobble them ALL up!Hope yours was a great Valentine's Day too!

A Dollar By Any Other Name

While tidying up a bit today I found this baggie today on Ben's bed. It was a baggie that clearly was intended to hold some of his money, mostly nickles, a couple of dimes...and then there was a sand dollar. It made me chuckle, and then wonder. He's very a smart kid, so I can't believe that it is actually possible that Ben believes that the sand dollar might possibly be used as currency such as an actual dollar might. But why else is the money baggie also home to the sand dollar? Hmmmm.... It doesn't really matter why, it was just a funny discovery. And I am sure Ben has his reasoning (he ALWAYS has reasoning--even if it is something that would never have occurred to me). Reasoning that I know is classic "Ben."

Boys' School, Will You Be My Valentine?

When we first were looking to move out here, every person we talked to, stranger or otherwise, and I mean EVERY, said that if it were possible we should buy our house in Colorado Springs School District 20. Because it came so highly recommended, and because we were able to find homes we could afford, we decided that the main location requirement for our home would be the District 20 school boundaries. Not only was that a very good choice, but we totally lucked into one of the most fabulous elementary schools as our neighborhood school.

I really love nearly everything about our school: the extracurricular activities it offers, the teaching staff, the administration, the PTO, the dedication to the students, the international community, the French immersion program, the students...the je ne sais quois, the school just has something about it that is fabulous.

This past week the kids have had so much fun at school I had to get it some of it down on the blog:

The kindergarten went all-out to celebrate the one hundred days of school mark yesterday. They were assigned to bring in a project involving 100 of the same thing or type of thing. Josh, my little chef-in-training, wanted to bring in 100 mini-cookies, so Adam helped him whip up a batch of hot cocoa cookies to share with the class. But then Josh decided to bring in something else, something that could last, something that could be displayed in the "100 Museum" his teacher has set up in the classroom for the next few weeks. So embracing his artist side, with just a little help from Mom, he put together a mosaic made with 100 pieces of paper. Ever since the chalk mural on the driveway he's really loved creating sunsets. There was a celebration of all they have learned, activities focusing on the number 100, food--hot cocoa cookies included, and so much fun. Isn't kindergarten great?!

The kindergarten also went on a field trip today to the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center to watch a children's play. He said it was a play about using your imagination. He loved it!
Earlier this week we got to watch Ben on the Channel 11 Morning News saying the Pledge of Allegiance with two of his classmates (recorded at a field trip to Channel 11 that he had back in the late fall). He did a great job, confident, clear and perfect projection! Maybe he will be a newscaster one day. :)

The second grade also celebrated Chinese New Year this week. I love that they did this! It opens them to other cultures and ideas. Ben came home wearing a traditional Chinese peasant hat made of paper, counting in Chinese and showing me his math in Chinese characters, telling me all about the Year of the Rabbit, saying he was born in the Year of the Horse, and asking what year I was born in (Snake).Yesterday Zach came home with a permission slip for an upcoming trip to the Denver Capitol Building and the Denver Mint to support their unit on government. He is SO excited already! He also came home with bright purple hands from tie-dying shirts and socks in art class. Tie-Dye! How awesome is that?! Our art teacher is just incredible. Zach says fourth grade is purple-hands-down the coolest of grades.All the kids are thriving and growing and becoming there. I really do love our school.

Freeze Day

My friend Adri recently commented we shouldn't call the days when school is canceled because it's too cold for the kids to go "snow" days, we should call them "freeze" days. I think she's got it right. This is the third "freeze" day we've had in the past two weeks. It's been so cold that I've been terrified of more pipe breaks, but with constant vigilance and luck and possibly no more poorly-placed piping, so far so good. As the weekend approaches it looks like we're looking at temperatures up in the high 50's so we are in for some respite from the chill, but yesterday was definitely a freeze day, and today wasn't so warm either (12!), even though school today was still in session.

Yesterday's particular freeze day actually did come with some snow. We had about 6 inches in the places where the high winds hadn't blown the snow around, which makes it either deeper (we had a couple of 1.5 foot drifts in our backyard) or barely covering the ground at all (you could still see the front yard grass peeking up through the snow). But alas, the snow wasn't to be enjoyed. It was much too cold outside, with a high of 7 and wind chill driving the real feel temperatures into the negative-teens and -twenties. So we stuck inside. Even Adam opted to work from home to avoid going out in the weather (although it has it's annoyances, there are some fabulous perks to his job!).

I actually love snow days. They are like a bonus "Sunday," where we don't often have much planned, we stay home being lazy and spending time together, and there's the added perk of it not actually being Sunday so we don't have a crabby/busy churched-up Tommy on our hands (Tommy has three months until he's old enough for nursery and hates sitting still/quiet in my classes, plus right now our church meetings run from 11am-2pm, right during lunch/nap time--all combined church is not so fun for me right now). They aren't perfect days, there is always cabin-fever bickering to deal with, and the cooped-up energy level sometimes gets to be a bit too much. In fact, Ben had to run a mile on the treadmill yesterday to get out some of his extra spaz. But the boys also and come up with some really great things to do and are good enough friends that they do get along for the most part.

Yesterday the events of note were: relaxing and reading endlessly, having a Mario party on the Wii, holding a block tower building competition (with prizes for best base, tallest tower, and most attractive), and making their own Stratego type game out of paper.

**I'd like to make a note, for when Luke is 20 and reading this, that he refused to have his picture taken doing anything, and that is why he is not photoed here. :)

Chillin' and reading with Dad
Winner: best base

Winner: tallest tower

Winner: most attractive (so maybe this was a stretch, but the boys like to make sure everyone goes away a winner)

Josh and Zach playing their homemade version of Stratego.

Some Things You Should Know About Tommy: Fifteen Months

I have a few friends who had babies in weeks following Tommy's birth, and I've read all their 15 month posts, while terribly neglecting my own baby's 15 month post. I took pictures on January 17th (when he hit the 15 month mark) for the post, but then never got around to writing it up. So I suppose I should get this up before Tommy is 16 months...in 9 days! Boy, he's a gem! We love our Tommy!1. After taking his first steps over a month ago, Tommy is now, at 15 months, {finally} making the decision that walking is probably a good way to get around. I'd say he still crawls 10% of the time, walks on his knees 15% of the time (funny! none of the other boys did this as much as Tommy does), and walks on those two sweet chubby legs 75% of the time. When he walks he puts his hands up in the air to help keep his balance, plus his hips are really doing the walking, not his legs, so he does this swivel-hip movement. All combined it's pretty entertaining to watch him move around, and I love that he's on his feet more! He also claps for himself a lot when he's walking, giving himself an "attaboy" for his efforts. :) **In the two days it took me to actually get this post done he has stopped crawling almost completely and only walks on his knees every once in awhile. Goodbye crawling! Oh, that's kind of sad.2. I love how Tommy goes down the stairs, it is at a full slide on his belly. He's so fast, it's hard to catch him when I don't want him going down!3. Tommy does not like toys made for children. Out and about I try to entertain him with things in my purse I've brought for him. A book? No. A ball? Nah. Perhaps a Matchbox car would be entertaining, it's a "big kid" toy after all? No way! He wants to play with my mini-first aid kit, my chapstick or my phone (no, a made-for-kids phone won't do). At home it's the same. Forget toys, he wants the camera case on the counter, the pen on the desk, the remote control (and don't try to fool him with the old remote that has the batteries removed).4. Tommy has gotten picky, which, with the history we have with Luke, is stressful, but I'm trying to just go with it. If it's got to be hotdogs (yuck!), I suppose at least I can buy the nitrate-free ones. Or fruit snacks, I can buy the ones made with real fruit. Sometimes, as long as he's eating off of my plate, he's willing to try more. But one thing he will always be happy with is milk. Adam and the older boys drink 1%, I drink almond milk and Tommy and Luke drink whole...I have to buy 2 gallons of whole for every one gallon of 1%. Before Tommy started sharing Luke's whole milk, I'd be lucky to get through a gallon of it before it went bad. Now, with Tommy chugging it down, I think we go through a gallon every two days.5. Tommy doesn't like to share the lap. Whenever Tommy sees Luke or Josh sitting on Adam or my lap he dashes over to us and insists on sitting on our lap too. Then he will start to push the brother who has unwittingly usurped "Tommy's lap" out of the way. It's funny and frustrating all at once.6. Tommy loves his binky still. Because it makes him so happy, and us too (sleep, yes please! quiet, um, yeah!), with eyes wide open we passed up the 12-month window for taking away the binky suggested by the parenting experts; the next humane window being 3-years-old, according to those same experts. So it looks like we will have the binky hanging around for another 1 year, 9 months. And we have no regrets. For bedtime he has a special lovey called "Binky Bear." It is a small square blanket with a stuffed bear head at one end and a small loop to attach a binky on the other. HE LOVES IT! He'd get upset when he would see me trying to sneak it into the wash so my sister gave him a second one for Christmas. But now he knows he has two and must have BOTH of them to sleep with. Sometimes we find him trying to double fist his binkies that are attached to the bears, putting two in his mouth at once, hanging out the sides. It's fantastic!7. Tommy still loves to laugh. He laughs at his brothers, he laughs at Ruby, he laughs at funny toys or silly body movements. My favorite is when he laughs because someone else starts laughing. If there isn't something to make him laugh, he will come up with something funny to laugh at, do something to make us laugh so he can laugh with us, or just start laughing at nothing.8. Tommy is busy and curious, but thankfully not in a he's-never-gonna-make-it-to-two kind of way. He has earned himself the nickname Tornado Tommy because he LOVES to pull everything out/off of 1. cupboards 2. bags 3. drawers 4. boxes 5. shelves 6. anything that can be emptied or dumped. He is also called The Chucker because he LOVES to throw things down to the floor whenever he is up at any kind of height, like in his high chair or on my lap.9. Tommy is still loud, which is part of the reason we decided to keep the binky. The kid can really project his squeals and shrieks! They are usually born of happiness, so they aren't annoying, but there are times when the volume is unwanted, like at church or the grocery store. He isn't talking yet, but makes his wants and needs and desires very clear by loud grunting and squawking and large gesturing. He has started to say "Mama" on occasion and I sometimes think it even is directed toward me.10. Tommy is pure love. He will walk over to flop down on our lap just for a quick check in when he's playing. He'll settle in for a few moments and then he's off again. He gives big, drooly open-mouth baby kisses to us, which only a parent would love, and we do! And he loves to rest his head down on Adam or my shoulder when we pick him up and give us some love. Sometimes it's for a few seconds, then he's ready to get down again to explore/destroy. But when he's tired or not feeling well (like right now, on day three of a fever) he will just stay there, being close, loving the loving.Our baby is growing quickly. It makes me so sad when I have moments where I realize Tommy is the last baby. But it's also fun too, to think we are heading into the next stage of life with our growing boys. Right now I am just trying to suck up and revel in the too-fast days of him growing through babyhood to toddlerhood. I love seeing him become more and more "Tommy;" watching his mind work and figure things out. He is a light to us, and we love him so!