Year 3, January 13-14th, 2018: More Snow!

Saturday we cleaned up the snow that fell on Friday because I needed to get out to the store for some special food items, and many more items to feed the rest of the crew.  Benaiah also needed to go to church to practice drums because he was playing for the middle school Crave worship services, but 9:15 and 11.  One of the newer staff members, who happens to be the son of one of our former music ministers years ago when Benaiah and his younger brother were 3, commented on how well Benaiah played.  Benaiah wants to play for high school Crave in the evening as well, but he has to wait his turn.  One of their drummers will be going to college next year, so there will be a spot open.  But Benaiah has to also balance out all the work he does for big church tech, and soundboard for Crave and/or big church, so he just might be in high demand soon.  It's good for him to know all of these different aspects of behind the scenes for the worship and creative arts, and all these volunteer hours will get him a scholarship hopefully at the college he would like to go to.  Next time he plays, I want to try to go in and listen to him.

Back to Saturday, the driveway was complete ice (and still is) with a just a dusting to 2 inches on it because the wind had blown a lot of it off already.  I should have bought ice melt, but didn't want to pay $10 for something the sun could do if we get a warmer day.  I felt bad when I had guests coming the next night and I realized it was still very slippery.  The roads were fine, but the parking lots were slush and slick.  No biggie.  The temps were bitter again.  But, took my time, got most of what I wanted, found a pair of sneakers for $22 (yeah! a bit big and with steel toes, but they will do for the few times I were sneakers during the year), and lost my glove in the process.  But I went back in and found it right near the shoes where I had stopped first before picking up groceries.  Yeah!  I love those gloves, although the fake leather palms are wearing out, same as my fake leather dress boots I wear all winter.  I'll probably have to replace both next year, as I'm hoping they will last the season.  In fact, I should start looking for clearance items for those now.  I've been looking for sneakers since last summer, but I'm rarely in the big box stores and I don't like paying more than $25 for shoes that I don't wear often.  I can get away with very cheap shoes lasting a long time that way.  Anyway, I was happy to finally find something.

Sunday was our very full day with us attending both morning services because there was a parent meeting for middle school and high school ministries during the 11 am hour.  If there's anything I've learned about the Creek since being back is that if you really want to be in the know and you don't want to keep bugging the staff, then you need to attend any informational meeting you can on whatever you are doing.  The details are typically not shared on social media.  The Creek doesn't make "events" on Facebook unless it's a private group doing it.  So, we go, although some of it is repetitive.  Then we went out to lunch where I "brown bagged" it because I just didn't trust the restaurant to listen and get it right.  I didn't have to do any guesswork.  I wasn't embarrassed either.  Then we went home for a bit, but had to head out again for Benaiah to go to practice for Crave and for me to volunteer in nursery (like Jared did last week and one of us will do every week).  Benaiah stayed there, while I came home and switched places with Jared who took Justin to his small group at church.  I had a home educators meeting at my house not 10 minutes after I got home.  Keturah and Abishai stayed with me and helped entertain another 5 yr old that came with his dad.  At our meeting, we talked about how to keep kids focused and listening to the parents when they don't want to do the work.  Then the boys came home and the day was done!  Yeah for getting it all done on Sunday, but phew, it's exhausting!  I'll just need to do more homeschool and weekly prep on Saturdays.

That's it.  Here's some pictures of the kids playing in the snow and so forth.

Ah, a snow covered ground.

Gorgeous!

Majestic!

Unique!

This is what happens when rain/sleet falls first, and then the snow.  Slippery surface!

Can you see where the ice stops on the right edge there? So fascinating!

You can see the sun bouncing off of the ice on the tire down in the lower left of the picture.

Ripple effect of ice on a usually smooth tire.

Poor Abishai had to use a tiny shovel from his indoor sandbox because the shed, where his bigger shovel is, was frozen shut!

Red noses and blue eyes!  He was out in his pj pants and sneakers though.  I couldn't find his snowpants and I'm pretty sure I have some for him.  And he didn't want to wait for me to put other pants or his boots on.  He lasted longer than the rest of us though.

No, we couldn't just brush away the snow.  This was a maple leaf stuck under the ice that covers the sidewalk.

This whole cloud went from one side of the backyard to the other.

All the way around.  Pretty!

Handsome guy in one of the last Grandma Howell sweaters the boys wore.  And there are gloves that match that have no individual sleeves for fingers and thumbs, kind of like the kind you put on newborns' hands. Although it's not really the fashion, he's proud of his buttons!  I'm going to try to get him to wear it often.  He just gets so hot that he doesn't need two layers when we are inside.  I put a t-shirt on underneath it so he wouldn't take off the sweater.  Justin is still the same way and almost went to church today in just a t-shirt and his minecraft lightweight hoodie.  The temperature was 2 degrees F!!!!  Then I discovered that Benaiah only wore his t-shirt and heavier hoodie!  And that's after I found his hat and mittens!  Come on, boys, you KNOW how cold 2 degrees feels and we DO have all the right winter gear.  There's no excuse!

I LOVE it!

Handiwork of God.

Little shovel, big shovel.  At first Abishai put the snow back on the driveway where Jared had shoveled.  But he learned quickly what he was supposed to do and he did it well!

Scoop.

And dump!

And he cleared his little area by himself and didn't complain that he had a tiny shovel.

It's kind of hard to tell, but the wood was covered in a layer of ice and frozen both to the ground and to the shed.  Which means, I can't get into the shed.  Which also means, thieves can't either.  I wonder if the wicked cold temps will warp the contents of the shed?  I haven't thought about that before.  The big barn was somewhat temperature controlled.  I guess the garage at the condo would have been super cold, and the garage at the Beech Grove house.  And there's no liquid out there that would freeze and burst something.  We'll see what happens when I get it open again.

Sheer ice, and in fact, the doors of the van were frozen shut, too.  We have to fill up pans with hot water so we can melt the ice off.  And the mechanism for the back gate of the van freezes and so we can't open it either, which makes it difficult for the boys to get to the back seat around Abishai's seat.  The passenger side sliding door hasn't been fixed it.  So, we might have had to all climb through from the front seats and that would have been a sight!  Thankfully, we did get the drivers' side sliding door open.

Snow!  Stop wishing it gone, people!  So gorgeous!

Hm, I don't think this works in real life but ok.

The line up!  He does this regularly with his smaller Thomas the Tank Engine smaller take along track, so I don't know why I was so surprised by it.  Maybe because it's a much bigger set?  Follow the leader, anyone?

Todayhe's a light saber, gun toting, super Johnson (the cape has a big "J" on the back, which was originally "J" for Justin, but I knew it could be for Johnson as well.  Keturah has one with a "K" on it in purple. Benaiah didn't get one because he was too old for one when I bought them.)

Sweetness!  Abishai wanted some extra Justin snuggles.

And the dog wanted in the snuggle time, too.  I'm surprised that the toddler bed doesn't collapse.  Very sweet and loving.  The dog also kept making the rounds during my meeting.  There were 8 new people in the house, so he thought at least some people would pet him, and some did.  It's a little overwhelming when you are sitting on the couch and the dog is sitting in front of you and you are on the same eye level together.  And then the dog leans in to sniff your face.  Just a tad overwhelming and funny.

Tomorrow: We might have to "dig out" again!  2-4 inches of snow predicted by mid afternoon!  Yippee!!