Valentine's Day (and more snow)

Today will be my catch-all post.  Since Christmas break from school, actually since 2010, we have had 8 snow days.  Our school calendar accounts for three snow days.  When or where we are going to make up the other five will be interesting to see.

Anyway, I wanted to mention what my wonderful hubby got me for Valentine's Day.  Now I know most of you will groan and send feelings of sympathy my way.  Please, do not.  I went to purchase this item for myself one evening and was severely disappointed when the store was out and the shelf was bare.  My man, knowing me like he does, (and me knowing how much he hates shopping) went back to the store a few evenings later and found the elusive item.  It brought joy to my heart when my two boys guided by my man came around the corner carrying....

A Stir Crazy Popcorn Popper.

We had popcorn for dessert on Valentine's Day.  The boys were almost as excited as I was.  I read the instructions and prepared the popper.  The guys lined up to watch the show.

They waited and waited.  The popper stirred and stirred.

Then...

it started to pop!  You would have thought the boys were watching  the funniest movie they had ever seen.  Matt almost fell of his chair laughing.  It was great.  It was a great gift of love from my man for Valentine's Day.

Today, since there was no school yet again and I didn't have to drop off or pick anyone up, I thought I would help my hubby out.  He had mentioned he wanted to get the snow off the deck.  The weight of the snow needed to be moved elsewhere.  

 Jedi really didn't want her picture taken.

As you can see, the amount of snow on the deck is impressive.  It is at least 3 feet deep at the lowest point.  So, being the good wife that I try to be, I shoveled the deck.

This evening, my honey will have more time to play with the guys.  He won't worry about the snow collapsing the deck. Another perk is that Jedi has more room to run while she waits for me to get my boots, coat and gloves on to take her to do her business in the yard.  Now, if I could just teach her how to go up and down steps, we would be rolling.

First Karate Tournamant

It would appear most of my posts lately have been about the snow or karate, but that is the news I have to share. So here is another karate post.

Saturday was Mikey's first karate tournament.  I sat this one out.  He competed against four other boys in his block of white, orange, yellow belts.  (Just a reminder: Mikey is a yellow belt.)

Mikey competed in forms:

 
 

His moves were crisp and he knew his form perfectly. Not that I am biased in any way.

He competed in one-steps (which is the introduction to sparing at this level).

 
 

There is no contact and only one person is actually moving at a time.

He also made up his own form for weapons. 

We don't have any pictures of this and the video I haven't figured out how to download yet.  His form had to be less than 30 seconds long. He worked hard on it and messed up just a little but stuck with it.

At the end of the competition,

 
 

Mikey had earned first place in all three categories!!

I love you my karate kid!

Let It Snow!?!?

Due to the snow I reported in my last post, and the 6-8 inches we received after that, my two boys (think energetic as most boys are) have not had school all week.  We are still holding out hope for Friday (tomorrow).  Big deal you say, just bundle them up and send them out to build snow men, snow forts, sled ride, snow board, and any other winter activity you can do in a hilly yard.  And we have done that.

 

This is the tunnel leading from the driveway to the backyard.  With all the snow that was shoveled so we could move the cars, the boys couldn't get to the yard to play.

  

 

 Matthew throwing his snowball at Dad.

 

Mikey has become very adept at snowboarding.  His favorite run is actually down the hill that is our front yard.

Once they had all the wet and cold they could stand, they moved to quieter endeavors in the house.

 
 

Mikey chose to read by the fire.

 

Matt spread out his favorite blanket to warm up on. 

We have shoveled the driveway multiple times, as well as carving  a path across the deck and around the yard for Jedi (who stands about 12 inches high from the ground to top of her head).

 

Mike and I are both at the tail end of nasty colds and not too excited about being out in this white stuff. But we both will admit it is pretty and oh so unusual.  I mean really, how often do you get 20+ inches of snow for a week at a time.

 

 

While it is beautiful and amazing,  after a week with no school, no church, no other activities, we are ready for a break in the weather. We need to get back to our somewhat regular routines.

By the way, during the process of writing, downloading photos, and editing this post, we got the news that school is canceled tomorrow too!  Okay, maybe we will go out and color the snow some other color than yellow, right Jedi?

Second Round of Snow for 2010

This has been the winter of winters for us. First there was the fantastic icicle snow.

Now we have experienced the fourth largest snowfall in the history of Pittsburgh.

 

Within 12 hours we went from having no snow to 24 inches of the white stuff.  Noone could keep up with the accumulation.  Yes we had to shovel a path across the deck for our dog.  Even she had trouble with the depths.

 
 

We hired two neighborhood boys to help clear the drive way.  It took them and my wonderful hubby all day to move the heavy wet layers of snow from the middle of the drive to the sides.  Oh the piles that were created!

 
 

Once the drive was cleared, I ventured out to make the necessary trip to the store.  I took the opportunity to take some pictures of the beauty that comes with such infrequent mass snowfall.

 

  

  

 

And I couldn't help but feel sorry for whomever lives here.  You know it's bad when you have to dig down to your mailbox.

On the downhill side.

I think I may just make it.  I am still fighting "The Crud" that invaded our home a few days ago.  I thought I would miss the worst of it until last night ~ the fever hit.  Mike had a meeting and both boys needed to be guided through their bedtime routines.  I was getting hit from both sides with a 100* temperature and sinuses so tight any drummer would have been proud.

Yet the show must go on, and so I doled out vitamines, watched the brushing of teeth, read quick bedtime stories, turned on night lights, turned out room lights, and curled up in my cozy blanket with the remote control after downing two extra strength tylenol.  Mike came home after his meeting which followed a rough day at the office.  We chatted for ten minutes and then called it a day.

This morning, my oldest woke me from my fitful sleep, "Mom, my nose is bleeding."  

I crawled from under the covers to discover...  I felt slightly better.  The fevered chills were gone and dispite the lack of good sleep, I wasn't exhausted.  I may just beat "The Crud" again this year.  Now please excuse me while I go open another box of Kleneex and put the freshly laundered sheet back on my son's bed.

Moms really don't have time to get sick.