Worst Ever Winter

Just when I thought the Winter Worst-ever was over. This came from the school, along with a phone call to pick my kids up in an hour.
"Dear Parents,
After much deliberation about the health and welfare of our community, and consultation with the Public Health Department, the administration has made the decision to close school completely on Friday, February 9th, so that we can continue to disinfect the entire school and to prevent the spread of further illness. This decision is made out of concern for the health and well-being of our students, families and staff. We have had several illnesses in the community, however, the Norwalk Virus is of concern. If anyone in your family does have any of the symptoms below please let us know, as Public Health has asked for us to track it."

*sigh* fingers crossed that my kids are healthy.

More Winter Wonderland?

We woke up Saturday morning to temperatures in the 20's. Checked the weather, and the weathman said, "There will be a few flurries today, but don't panic it won't amount to anything." So around noon, it started snowing. No flurry, but snowing. I wanted to snap a photo of the ice rink coming down our hill, and you can sort of see the snow falling by the dumpster. I thought it might blow over, hoped it would just stop. Then after the second hour of snow, I decided to give up hope. It was a four hour flurry. Yesterday the forecast was for 39 today, but this morning they have rolled it back to 35. *sigh* Jeremy managed to get my car back this morning. So now we just need the ice to melt.

After the storm

Happy Birthday, Mom. We have been stuck at the house all day. Jeremy tried to rescue the car this morning, but was unable to make it up the hill. His car is still at his work. Our sitter was rescued this afternoon in an all wheel drive vehicle. It's the end of the week, so we are almost out of milk and the freezer isn't fully stocked up since the massive power outage right before Christmas. It has been a winter to remember with 2 months left to go. Might as well enjoy the view.

Adventure's in Babysitting

I'm not exactly sure what is happening up here, but the weather this winter has just been HORRIBLE. Today my commute home was quite an adventure, even for the babysitter who would occasionally get a phone call from me giving her an update on my position. It all started with picking up my car at the dealership in an area of Seattle that I'm not too familiar with. It had already started snowing by the time I left work, start the clock. 3:15. When I head out on the road, I look down and realize the tank is on E, literally my range predictor said 0 miles. So in an unfamiliar area, I hunt for a gas station and fill up. 3:45 Hit the road again, trying to make my way to the freeway. 4:00 on the freeway, traffic is moving, and the snow is really coming down. I decided to go across the lake, which is not the way I normally go home, but thankfully I did so. 4:15 On bridge. Waiting. Listening to traffic reports telling me how there's a car slid off the road ahead. Call sitter and inform her that I'm probably going to be late. Call Jeremy, ask him to head out to relieve sitter. 4:25 Rolled forward, finally. Start rolling across bridge. 4:50 Made it to other side of bridge. Jeremy calls, from his office. He sat in parking garage at his work for 15 minutes before saying forget it. I say, if you can make it to the freeway, I can pick you up on my way home. Continue to roll. 5:15 Jeremy calls to say he made it to another building but the cell phone service is sketchy. I ask him to come down the on-ramp of his exit so I don't have to leave the freeway. Make it past the dozen or so cars that slid off the road on the exit before the one I told Jeremy to meet me. The road suddenly clears of cars and even though the road is now covered in ice, I'm rolling along at a good speed. 5:35 I pull over on the side of the freeway and wait for Jeremy, who is running down the ramp to meet me. I move over to let the New England driver take the wheel. 5:40 We roll, merge, and move in to the lane we need to be in. 6:30 Call the sitter, we are at end of freeway, just past Target and know we will at least make it home tonight. We tell her that she's probably staying the night since the roads are so bad and that we expect to be home in an hour. Less than 4 miles to go, and I expected it to take an hour. 6:50 Make a turn on the busier street with less of a hill in hopes to make it closer to our neighborhood. Pass 3 cars on side of road. 7:00 Pass 6 other cars, one car parked next to another, with a car abandoned on the other side of the road, which leaves a passage big enough for just one car at a time to get through. With cars on both sides of the road trying to get through, we have to wait our turn, and finally turn into a neighborhood that we occasionally walk thru. 7:15 Leave the car at the 'enabler house' since we couldn't make it up the hill. Walk home. 7:40 Walk in the door. So happy to be home and have power.

Snow bound

 
The snow stuck around, and lots of ice formed under it. Not good for driving, especially after my backwards slide down a hill. So we started sledding down our street at 8 in the morning. Girls had a blast. Then hot chocolate and some TV. Lunch. Out for a walk to check out the road conditions. The sun had melted through some spots on the road above our neighborhood, but the turns to get out were thick sheets of ice with cars left on the sides of the road. Made a gingerbread house that we had thankfully picked up before the storm hit. Today, stuck again, but ice isn't so good for sledding, and the gingerbread house is made. Please melt, please melt. 

It always snows in Seattle?

 
It snowed yesterday, and it was fun. Today, we all went to work and school. They were forecasting more snow in the evening, which seemed okay. Then it started snowing on my way home. Wouldn't have been too bad until I was facing the wrong way on a hill. Thankfully, a kind stranger came by and told me to just turn my wheel the other way and put in neutral and "you'll just slide down the rest of the hill and be fine". So I slid down the hill *backwards* and was just fine. So I had to snap a photo of the house all lit up and covered with snow to end my day in a more forward state. 

Christmas Lights and Wasps

Let me start with the statistics. November has been the wettest month EVER in Seattle recorder history. This November. Ever in Seattle. The weekend before Thanksgiving there was a pause in the rain, so we rushed out to put up Christmas lights. Like all good kids, our girls were wanting to help, by climbing the ladder and stepping on the lights. So we were pleased when they went around to the back of house to play. I thought I heard crying once, so I went to check on the girls. Cassidy informed me they were playing 'lost' and both were happy. So just as we are on the last part of the house lights, I hear crying again. Go around and Cassidy is fine, but Keira is holding her hand crying. I ask her what happened and she said, "Oww." So I am trying to see what she did to her hand when she says "Oww" again, and I look up and see the swarm of wasps around us. ACKK!!! Sweep her up in my arms and run around to front of house. Jeremy gets us in house, and then says, "There's a wasp in her hair." Then another one. Finally we get her clothes off and all the wasps out of the house. After about an hour of crying she finally settled. I think she got about a dozen stings on her legs and thankfully seemed to be over it the next morning. Maybe we'll just leave the lights up this year.

Happy Halloween!

 
The girls had a great time trick-or-treating. Even though it was quite cold, low 30's. Brrr. Talk about shiver me timbers!! LOL. Not even a mermaid could paddle to the warm weather. Ha. At least the cowboy rounded up the doggies and drove them around the neighborhood before anyone froze. Oh my, I know I'm the only one laughing, but still...hee hee 

Pumpkin Patch Part 2

Keira's classroom had their pumpkin patch picnic last weekend. It was quite chilly, but the sun broke out. The girls and I did a corn maze, which was starting to get a bit long towards the end. I was nervous I would be trapped in there forever. I find the toddler class activities a bit more difficult as the parents are all trying to wrangle the little ones. Still it was a lot of fun.
  

I must be getting old

How do you know when you are getting old? Did it start when I got married? Had kids? Maybe it was when I started needing glasses to read. Although I'm guessing it was when I was driving home this week. I turned on *gasp* NPR. There's nothing wrong with NPR, but you must admit there is something "old" about it. Especially when you find yourself humming along to the filler music. What??!! I so was not humming along!!

Pumpkin Picking - Day One

Today was Cassidy's classroom pumpkin patch potluck picnic. Say that three times fast. We had a great time picking out gourds, going on a hay ride and socializing with our classroom friends. Here's a shot of her and her friends as we we headed out to the pumpkin patch on the hay ride. Next week we will do another pumpkin patch for Keira's class. I'm sure we'll have more photos then.
  

Tree Huggers

We just had a whirlwind trip to CA and NV. It seemed like every day we were heading somewhere and doing something. I think the highlight for the family was going to Calaveras Big trees. It was always a favorite place for me, and now the girls have started their love of the giant trees too. We had Cassidy try wrapping her arms around a normal tree before we went to giver her perspectiv
 
  

Muscial Beds

It all started when the stomach flu hit our house. Keira got used to falling asleep in her bed, and then ending up in our bed. So now, she does this every night around 11. Yes, yes, we should have stopped this right away, but Jeremy and I REALLY like to sleep. The best way to keep sleeping is to just get the kid to be quiet. So we thought... It wouldn't have been so bad, but Cassidy has picked up the habit of making her way into our bed around 2am. So we all start out in our normal beds, but then Keira comes in to our bed, and Jeremy will go the guest bed. Then, Cassidy comes into our bed, and I will end up going to the guest bed or Cassidy's bed. To add some more to the mix, Buddy has decided to join in the game as well. Starting on our bed and ending up on guest bed, or Cassidy's bed.

Bye-bye Kitty

This is a hard entry to write, although I have been thinking about it almost every day for a week. Mischief had to be put down last week. She's been with me for over 10 years, and that's almost as long as I've had Jeremy. She had lost weight, but otherwise seemed fine, but she was hiding cancer. We had just went through an ordeal with the other cat losing weight, but she ended up being just fine. So perhaps it was the timing that led us into a false sense of security. It was tough for me, but I knew it was the right thing to do. That doesn't stop the tears, and then I had to face the girls. Cassidy knew Mischief was going to the vet and that she was sick. Now I had some explaining to do. "Mischief had lots of owies and we couldn't fix them so we gave her some medicine so she would sleep and she could die." "But they have medicine for owies, and they could give her that." "No. They don't have medicine for this kind of owie. If they did, the vet would have given it to her." "She's dead?" "Yes." "I miss Mischief." "Me too, honey. Me too."

Keira's 1st Pony Ride

 
Keira had her first pony ride this weekend. She LOVED it, and is a natural. Cassidy already said, "She should take a pony class." 

Nana and Grampa visit

  
Nana and Grampa were in town for the holiday weekend. The girls had lots of fun coloring, drawing with sidewalk chalk and playing with Nana and Grampa. We headed out to Remlinger Farms on the last day of the visit. It tired ALL of us out, but was loads and loads of fun.

Triple Whammy!

What day is it? ... Cassidy's surgery to remove her tonsils went well. As well as can be expected for surgery on a little one. I was a basket case and cried as soon as she left us until about half an hour after she was done. Recovery was not too slow, but it was torture as Cassidy decided that ALL her medicines were yucky and she didn't want to take them. *sigh* Just about the time we are thinking we will get a full nights sleep, Keira pulls an all nighter with stomach flu. That lasts 2 days. *sigh* Finally, all seems well. We have the weekend in front of us with plenty of chances for naps and full nights sleep when Cassidy wakes up in the middle of the night. Stomach flu for her now! *sigh* Maybe next weekend.

Secret Favorite Color and Favorite Parent

Do you have a favorite color? Cassidy's favorite color is pink, purple and white. But what's your secret favorite color? She been telling everyone lately her favorite colors. Then she whispers, "Do you know what my secret favorite color is?" A dramatic pause, then "Sparkles".
Keira has always been a Daddy's girl, but she really is going a bit far with it lately. Keira's car seat is on my side of the car, so when we arrive at a destination, I open the door. Keira immediately grabs her buckle and shouts, "No, Daddy!" It might bother me more, but when she is fussy or, my personal favorite, poopy she still prefers Daddy. I can deal with that.

Teeney Tennis

 
Cassidy had 2 sets of tennis camps this summer. She loved both of them, although I think she preferred the blonde surfer teacher pictured in this lesson. She has quite the volley and a beautiful ground stroke . . . with a beach ball. 

Happy 4th of July...late