Year 3, January 17-18, 2018: Sledding! Check!

Wednesday was your normal Wednesday, gymnastics, school, Bible Bowl.  Oh, and I got an upgrade on my diffuser and we bought sleds!  Keturah and I made my first trip to Ollie's, which is a discount store that collects other stores' rejects.  Things like Halloween cereal, books that aren't selling, older styles of rugs, clothes, kitchenware, etc.  And a lot of their stuff is 50% off retail!  So we splurged and I bought the kids 3 different types of sleds since we didn't know what the conditions were going to be.  I bought a $40 sled (wakeboard made for snow?) for $20, a round plastic sled for $5, and a polar bear snow tube for $10.  I waited to blow up the snow tube until the kids went to bed because I knew that they would just want to run around the house with it, and sure enough, that's what Abishai did!  He tried making it into a little bed, too.  So cute! I had to put it, and his bike and bus, up in the garage this morning and lock the door because he was under my feet when I was making breakfast.  I tell you what, I haven't cooked so much in the skillet ever!  But I'm enjoying the food, so that's a plus!  Sweet potato hash for the win!  With eggs, too!  And I haven't been as hungry this time around, so that's great.  Only 3 more weeks to go on my second Whole30!

We worked on some schoolwork this morning, while the sun warmed up the skies a bit before we headed to the park to go sledding.  And it was COLD and windy at the sledding hill, but we had a ton of fun!  I have always heard that Southeastway Park has the best sledding hill, and I knew which one they were talking about, but had never taken the kids there because they weren't big enough.  But boy is it big!  And today it was super fast!  The snow was compacted down a ton and the rain/sleet mixture underneath made it a bit icy.  But we made it up and down the hill lots of times!  Abishai, oh Abishai, climbed the hill all by himself!  He wanted to slide down from the very top after starting from halfway up the first time.  He always went with Justin, just for safety in case he crashed.  But they didn't tip over once!  And Abishai LOVED it!  At one point, I was at the top of the hill to take pictures and videos but I wasn't sure how I was going to get down.  I kind of panicked and convinced Abishai to go with me on the other side of the hill which still had some fluffy snow to step in and wasn't has tall.  Then we walked around the hill and back to the car, because at that a point, his face was very cold and he even said he was tired and wanted blankie and paci.  In fact, while the other two kids played for about 20 minutes more, Abishai fell asleep in his car seat!  And this is what Canadians do!  They get out and ENJOY the weather.  I don't think the snow is going to stick around long enough to take Benaiah and Jared on another day.  We have other commitments the next two days and it's supposed to be up to the 50's on Sunday again.  Maybe next round.  And this was the second day this week that Abishai hadn't had a good nap.  I hope he gets one tomorrow after another indoor playground playdate.

Next week we have a very special visit to the Indiana State House for the Homeschool Day at the State House where any homeschoolers in Indiana are invited to come, take a tour, listen to speakers, talk to their congressmen and women, and learn about state government.  I won't debate it on here, but in recent news, there was a story involved abuse in a homeschooling family in California and now the media is up in arms enticing people to say homeschoolers nationwide need to be more regulated.  So it's crucial we stay involved in local politics, support organizations that defend our rights, and let our voices be known.  I'm super excited about this opportunity as I remember well when I was allowed to be a page on the Senate floor of the New Hampshire legislature through a program called TeenPact.  I believe it was open to all students as well.  Fun fact.  New Hampshire's state house is the oldest state house still in regular use in the nation!  Since it was one of the original 13 colonies, that means it's been around for over 200 years!  Same building, with some upgrades and upkeep.  And it's got a beautiful gold dome, too.  Very fond memories there!  More to come next week!

Back to sledding.  Here are the pics and vids to prove it!

Playtime with the new snow tube!  Isn't it the cutest snow tube ever?

Buddies, again, enjoying sledding to the max!

Walking around the back of the hill and I am reminded of all the wonderful trails and pictures of those trails on PEI that my friends share on Instagram and Facebook.  I'm grateful that I got to see this today and enjoy it, although it makes me super sad I'm not there enjoying it through a much longer season.  There's just a few inches on the ground and it will all melt and be brown and mushy by Sunday.

But today, it's 22 degrees, with a windchill, and bright blue skies and it's gorgeous!

The big climb up and around the hill tuckered this little guy out!

This was the scene nearly 3 years ago!  Yes, this is  4 day old Abishai in a snow suit on a sled!  So adorable!

Oh my goodness, what a doll!  I cannot believe he'll be 3 years old soon!

Throwback Thursday to what a REAL snowstorm looks like!  The winter of 2014/2015 where 13 feet of snow fell!  This is a couple of feet of snow plus drifting.  And this was 10 days before Abishai was born.

And this was taken 4 days after he was born.  Oh those piles were so huge!  I loved how the sun reflected off the snow and brightened up the living room for months!  That was also the year that the last remnants of snow finally melted under some trees in the backwoods in JUNE!

And now back to today.  Yes, Abishai, Keturah, Justin and I all climbed THIS HUGE HILL!  And it was super slippery and super fast!  I'll be loading up a video to show you!  This is Keturah coming down I think.

I'm so glad we bought the more expensive sled!  You can have two people sit on it, or you can ride down on your belly.  She screamed the whole way down!

Brothers bonding.  I had to go digging to find a snowsuit for Abishai.  I think the one that could have fit him is pink and in Keturah's old clothes, plus, anything else between this size and Keturah's current size was borrowed from a friend on PEI.  So, I dug out the 24 month snow suit and it still fit!  Barely, but it did!  Oh, and I let him wear his favorite pj's underneath because why not?

Up, up, up!  Sometimes on your hands and knees! Somebody had put a bungee cord on the right side of the hill though so you could pull yourself up.  We didn't discover that until another family came and showed us.  We don't know who they were, but they were homeschoolers.  I was too cold to introduce myself and I was helping Justin.

Wheeee!!!!!

Going up again!

I let the kids sled without me for a little while.  Justin is 12 now, which is babysitting age, but I could also clearly see them from the car.

It's cold Mommy, I'm tired.  These snow suit has footies on it that you can't detach, so they are pinned up.

Ready, set, go!

The run was so fast, but not too bumpy, that they kept sliding into the reeds!

The view from the top of the hill!  That's our vans way down there!  It was a good walk just to get to the bottom of the hill.  But thankfully, Abishai walked the whole way to the hill and back.

Justin again.

Abishai and I watching the kids go up and down the hill.  I wanted to get some pictures and videos and had to wait for them to climb back up.  But it was pretty windy and cold.  We didn't actually use the snowtube today, but it made for a god sitting spot.  The top of the hill itself was so compacted down and slippery that I was afraid we were going to slip down just by standing there!  And on the other side of the hill is just a small sledding path and lots of trees.  Eek!  I didn't want to slide down because I had the camera and I was really afraid of tipping over and landing on it.  I didn't think through this venture very well.

What an incredible time!  I shared pictures and videos with the family after Gary sent a picture jokingly saying, "Look!  This is what we are going to do next for landscaping!"  It was a picture of cacti because he was in Arizona!  Lol!  Meanwhile, New Orleans shut down completely because they got an inch or two of snow.  No plows, no ice melt, lots of bridges, and below freezing temps basically means you hunker down and don't go anywhere.  Tennessee got 3 inches, which isn't rare, but it happens maybe once or twice a year.  I'm glad we have at least this much snow this year.  We are going to try our sleds in the front yard though because we do have a decent hill.  Our street is very quiet in terms of traffic.  Actually, there's more ice on the driveway and we have to be very careful not to slide down it when getting the mail.  So, we'll see!  And I'm hoping these sleds last us a few years.  We had been eying the more expensive one for a few years, so I'm super happy we got it at a discount and it was very easy to use today! Happy snow day!

I hope you enjoyed the bonus videos!  Yeah for the read aloud challenge this month where each kid is reading aloud for 10 minutes!  It saves on Mommy's voice, too, and lets me know if they are having trouble with certain words or comprehension.  I prefer Keturah's pace but she has more words she can't pronounce.  They both try to do a little bit of fun voice changes though.  Justin mumbles and speed reads.  It's also a chance to work on their presentation skills!  And Abishai just likes mimicking the girls at gymnastics.  Cuteness overload!