He Arose

My blogging has been non-existent lately.

Just haven't been feeling like I have much to blog about.

Guess I have had the late winter blues.

But with Spring finally here and some warmer weather finally showing up, I am hoping that I will be blogging on a more regular basis.

Because 2 posts for March is terrible.

So, here's to better blogging.

He Is Risen.

He Is Risen Indeed!

We made some fancy Easter eggs yesterday.

Sissy had the great idea of using Scotch tape to make a cross.

Excellent idea.

Love how E colored this egg.

Just perfect.

Hello There

Wow.  Not sure where the last 2 weeks went.

I am ready for Spring.

Really ready.

It's been a long winter.

I need warmth.

Sunshine.

And I really need the snow to melt.

I definitely have a case of the winter blues.

The snowstorm that we had last Friday didn't help.

On Wednesday they were predicting around 3-6 inches.

That was the prediction through Thursday night.

Just before going to bed one of the weather forecasters changed the snow amounts in our area to 6-12inches.

And it snowed and snowed and snowed.

We got around 17inches by the time it was done snowing early Friday afternoon.

Yup, I am done with Winter.

Daylight savings is definitely helping the winter gloom.

Amazing the difference a little bit of extra daylight can make come 6 or 7 o'clock at night.

Spring can start anytime.

Pretty flowers I made from fleece and flannel.  They make me happy.

Catchy

About a month ago my bil sent Hubby a music video for us to watch.

It was a song about shopping at thrift shops.

My bil, C,  also likes to shop at thrift shops.

He buys name brand/designer clothes and re-sells them on Ebay.

He does pretty well.

So he knew that Hubby and I would both appreciate the song & video.

It's a bit fresh.  

And it's catchy.

Fast forward to tonight.

I was driving home from knitting and listening to the radio.

And lo and behold the same song that C had us listen to/watch the video was on the radio.

How about that!

And it's still catchy.

It's called "Thrift Shop" by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.

Enjoy.

And I guarantee you'll be humming it for quite a bit after listening.

Country Road

Winter is still here.

We had a wee bit more white stuff last night.

Just wet enough to cling to the trees.

Our morning ride to school was quite pretty.

Especially with the bright blue sky as a back drop to the white landscape.

As I was coming up with a title for tonight's blog, all I could think of was "Country Road".

And that made me think of James Taylor.

Love him.

Have seen him in concert.  With Carole King.

They were amazing.

I've even been lucky enough to meet him before.

Many years ago.  But that's another story for another day.

"Country Road" by James Taylor.

Country Road by me.

Heartstrings

There have been a couple videos I have seen on Facebook over the last couple days.

Both are about dogs.

And both tug at the heartstrings.

Watching these videos reminded me of a few others I have seen about dogs reuniting with their owners upon the owners' return from being deployed.

You may want to have a tissue handy.

Dora, the dog, was lost for 7 months after running away from home during July 4th fireworks.

So happy she was finally found and reunited with her owner.

Happy ending.

Love this one.

This is just too sweet.

And here is the one I saw today.

Definitely have the tissues ready for this one.

Heartstrings tugged.

Yup, that will get me every time.

Busy Life

Hard to believe it's been almost a week since I last wrote a new post.

Eek.

We have had a busy week.

Friday night was the annual Valentine Dance.

Daughters bring their dads and sons bring their moms.

Hubby was lucky enough to have 2 dates for the night.

And they loved it.

All of them.

Sweet memories.

Isn't this bag pretty?

I made it this weekend with Sissy and my cousin's wife.

We were lucky enough to be visited this weekend by one of our cousin's and his family.

S, his wife T, and their daughter C are just all so sweet.

S & C hung out with Hubby and the girls for the day.

Us grown-up girls did some crafting.

Each of us brought 1 project from Pinterest that we wanted to make.  And the supplies for all of us.

It is so much fun.

Can't wait for the next time we get together.

Always lots of fun.

Hubby and I went shopping for hardwood to put in the kitchen.

We painted the kitchen cabinets just about 3 years ago.

We have been having a hard time deciding what kind of floor we wanted.

Tile?  Hardwood?  Laminate?

Ack.  Decisions, decisions.

Finally we decided on hardwood.

So on Sunday, while the girls went to Sissy's for a sleepover, we went to a local flooring store.

After looking and looking and looking, we believe we have decided upon Brazilian Koa also known as Tigerwood.

Now to get hubby to install the floor.

That could be a couple months down the road.

Hopefully sooner, but who knows.

On Monday we took the girls rock climbing.

E worked hard to get up that wall.  It was tricky.

Rock climbing was the perfect thing to do on a cold, day off from school.

There is D in the red shirt climbing.

The girls had a great time and love to climb.

I believe we will be going back soon.

And maybe I will attempt to climb too.

Maybe.

Happy Heart Day

Valentine's Day.

Not necessarily what it used to be when I was young.

But oh so much better.

The girls were so excited to go to school and exchange Valentine cards with their classmates.

It's so much fun to see Valentine's Day through their eyes.

And it was fun to pick out cards for them and chocolates.

They were so excited for them after school.

And it was fun to bake a chocolate cake for them for dessert.

Thanks C for the great idea.

Another good friend of mine, A,  has a son who decided he was going to tell the girl he likes that he likes her.

So cute.

And C nicknamed him "Rico Suave".  Too funny.

Of course, as we chatted through text we all had to check out the video of the old '90's song on Youtube.

The funniest thing is that my friend A's son has had the nickname of "Rico" from his dad from the movie "Madagascar".

Too funny.

Go check out Youtube for the Rico Suave video.  Its very funny.  And very 1990's.

Eek.

The best part is that the girl smiled at him after A's son told her that he liked her.

Too cute.  Too sweet.

Love it.

The best part of our Valentine's Day is that Hubby was home.

He was away for work and wasn't supposed to be home til tonight at 9.

He was able to get an earlier flight and be home this afternoon.

All his girls were happy.

And he played guitar for us tonight.

I love it when he does that.

"Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac.

He does this one really well.

"Guaranteed" by Eddie Vedder.

I love the way Hubby sings this one.

"Hard Sun" by Eddie Vedder.

Another great one.

I just love when Hubby plays guitar and sings for us.

It makes me happy.

So glad to have my 3 Valentines home with me tonight.

Yummy chocolate cake with homemade buttercream frosting and Valentine sprinkles.

This made all of us happy tonight.

Happy heart day.

Sick-E

E has a cold.

She started with it a tiny bit on Monday night.

Yesterday she was sneezing.

By last night around bedtime, her nose was so stuffy.

And I heard her up in the middle of the night blowing her snow several times.

This morning when she first got up, I told her she was definitely going to school.

Then we were at the breakfast counter and she looked miserable.

She couldn't breathe.

One look at her and I just knew she needed to stay home.

I knew that if I sent her, I would surely be getting a call from the school nurse.

E was officially sick.

Boo.

And really I wanted her to go to school because it was the first day back after the blizzard we had last Friday.

Oh well.  It was certain.  E was staying home from school.

And I must say we had a very enjoyable day.

She did a lot of resting.

And we watched a movie together.

We watched "Secondhand Lions".

Such a great movie.

I just love Michael Caine and Robert Duval in this movie.

I love this scene.

If you haven't seen this movie yet, watch it.

If it's been awhile since you've seen it, watch it again.

Trust me, I had seen it before(quite a few years ago) and I forgot about 95% of the movie.

E loved it.

It was a good sick day.

While I didn't necessarily want her home this morning, it sure was nice snuggling on the couch watching a movie with her.

Little moments to treasure with E.

What happens matters.  Always.

Signs of E's sickness.

Tissue box at the ready.

Used tissues from said tissue box.

Remotes ready to be used.

Ipod Touch ready to be played.

Sick-E snuggled under a blanket.

Happy to report that she was feeling a bit better tonight.

She will definitely be back to school tomorrow.

Buried

Snow, snow, and more snow.

My goodness.  We got a lot of snow.

Blizzard of 2013 will not soon be forgotten.

While it started on the slow side, by Friday night it was snowing fast & furious.

So fast & furious that we got stuck at our neighbor's house for the night.

That we definitely weren't expecting.

But, it worked out just fine.

And we will all surely remember this blizzard for years to come.

As will all the kids.

Here is the back deck at around 5:30pm.

And here is the deck after the storm.

So. much. snow.

The snow was coming down so fast that our town had to pull the plows off the roads because it was too dangerous for them.

I think at one point there were 4 town plows that got stuck in the snow because it was too deep.

That has never happened before.

But I will say that our town public works department did an amazing job of communicating through its Facebook page.

And they did a great job getting the roads pretty clear once they were able to get back on the roads.

Hubby stuck the yard stick into the snow on Saturday after the snow ended.  Yup, we got 34".

And most of that 34" fell in a period of 14 hours.

Crazy.

E and S playing out in the snow.

Having lots of fun.

The kids played outside a lot.

And they came in a lot.

And R & I dried their snow stuff in the dryer a lot.

Happy kids playing out in the snow.  Note I am inside.

From front to back are: J(my friend C's son), M(R's son), E, and D.

They had so much fun playing together.

Here is a view outside my kitchen window.

Snow drift up to the windows.

Again, crazy.

This storm will not be forgotten.

Our streets have been plowed really well.

But there are other towns where there are still streets that haven't been plowed.

School is cancelled tomorrow again.

The buses and school lots still need to be cleared.

And there are snow drifts up to the windows at a couple of the schools.

Today there were volunteers helping shovel the roofs of the schools.

There is rain predicted for tomorrow and there was worry about the weight of the snow on the roofs.

This is not anything new to us here in our town.

Two years ago, during the winter of 2011 we had record snowfall and the roofs needed to be cleared then too.

I am pretty sure all of us never thought it would happen again so soon.

And our town is not the only one with closed schools tomorrow.

There are many, many towns in our state with closed schools.

At this point I am really hoping the kids are able to go to school on Tuesday.

I think they will, but really who knows at this point.

Crazy.

Spring can't come soon enough.

The back deck.

In the winter of 2011 our deck looked very much the same.

But that was after 3 weeks of storm after storm.

This is after just one storm.

Almost unbelievable.

Preparation

Well, there seems to be a blizzard heading our way.

And boy could you tell out in the stores today.

Target was a wee bit nuts.

I walked into the local Target this morning around 10 and there was not a single shopping cart left to be used in the store.

I actually had to walk back out into the parking lot to get one from a cart corral.

Oy.

I was happy to get in and get out pretty fast.

Although I did pick the wrong cashier line.

Slow doesn't even describe the customer in front of me.

Oh well.

Then there was the trip to the local grocery store.

Again, oy.

Busy, busy, busy.

I was focused.

I knew what I needed and got it and got out.

Fairly quickly.

And I loved that they had just about every cashier line open.

A little bit later I stopped in the local liquor store for Hubby.

He had ordered a couple bottles of wine and they had come in and were ready to be picked up.

I chuckled as I saw that the shelves were looking a bit bare.

Of course, I did buy an additional bottle of wine and some Guinness.

You know, they are storm essentials too.

And I made sure to get my gas tank filled up too.

The gas stations were quite busy too.

When I stopped it was pretty quiet.  Not sure how I managed that one.

But later in the day,  I passed another gas station and every pump had 2-3 cars waiting.

Another Oy.

I spoke to a girlfriend of mine and we agreed that we had finally turned into our parents.

Food. Check.  Gas. Check.  Generator started.  Check.

Now the storm can happen.

And I will just hope and pray that we do not lose power.

Because even with a generator I really do not want to lose power.

And Hubby is home from his business trip.

All my chicks are settled in the nest for the next couple days to weather out the storm.

As with any other snowstorm, I am sure to be doing some baking tomorrow.

Must have something to do with that nesting instinct.

Pumpkin bread is on my mind.

Maybe a coffee cake.

We'll see what I feel like baking tomorrow.

I took the girls to go play at the local indoor fields/basketball courts today with my friends A and K today.

Along with A and K's kiddos too.

I love the picture of the girls above.

From left-right they are D, A(A's daughter), M(K's daughter), and E.

They all had been "knocked out" in the game of "Knock Out" that they were playing with the boys.

A, K, and I were talking and all of a sudden I looked to see the girls with their arms around each other.

So sweet.  So cute.

And again, I wish I could freeze them at this age.

What happens matters.  At all times.

Love the memories the girls are making with their friends.

Mega Stuff

I ran some errands today.

One stop was at Walmart.

As I was walking in I briefly noticed an Oreo display.

I.love.oreos.

My family loves them too.

My favorite are the Double-stuffed Oreos.

This display was for a limited edition Oreo.

Mega Stuff.

Ok.

I resisted at first.

Then as I was heading to the checkout, I just had to grab a package to bring home.

And they didn't disappoint.

D&E were quite happy with them too.

Yup.  I am the best mom ever.

Ha!

Well, at least for today.

I'll take it.

So, if you like Oreos go get yourself some Mega Stuffed Oreos.

No picture today.

Oh well.

~~~~~edited to add picture~~~~~

And yes, they are still just as yummy the 2nd day as the 1st day.

And I still have best mom ever status.

Boy, I really hope the Oreo Mega Stuf are here to stay.

They make me happy.

I may just have a couple tonight with my tea.

Ice-y

We went ice fishing yesterday.

It was so much fun.

We went with Sissy and her family.  Plus a couple friends of J's and K's.

My bil's family has owned land in a not too faraway town since around the Revolutionary War, I believe.

There is a large pond on part of the land that they still own.  With a cabin.

It's an absolutely fantastic place to ice fish.

There's just enough parts outside on the ice mixed in with enough parts of being warm in a cabin to make it a perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

The cabin.  Isn't it great?

On the ice.  It was good ice.

It had warmed up a few days before and then we got lots of rain.

Then it got cold.

That made for great ice.  The dusting of snow Saturday night added just the right traction.

Which was needed.

Otherwise, I may have killed myself slipping on the ice.

I just love the look of the open ice on the pond.

E ready to dig a whole with the ice auger.

D scooping out the ice to help clear a fishing whole.

E with a bass that was caught from nephew J's ice holes.

There was a little competition between J, my bil, and J's friend--also a J.

I think J may have won the most fish caught yesterday.  I think.

D with the bass too.

She was a bit nervous to hold it all by herself.

But she did it.

A snow angel.  Made by D.

That's the best part of ice fishing.

There's always other things to do while you're waiting for a tip-up.

The girls even got some skating in on the ice.

They said they loved skating on the open ice.

Looking inside the cabin from the front door.

This is the "living" area.

That wood stove keeps the cabin nice and toasty warm.

And we cook on top of it!

Cooking.

Chili in the small pot for hot dogs.  And taco soup in the big pot.

Everything was yummy.

View of the cabin from the ice.

The girls trying to push/pull my bil across the ice.

It was very comical.

Especially with my bil yelling, "Faster!  Faster!"

Surprisingly, they made it way farther than I ever thought they would go.

Lucy had so much fun running and running on the ice.

She was funny to watch as she would try to stop.

Couldn't quite come to a fast stop.

Let's just say she did a lot of sliding across the ice too.

And yet, she kept running.

She especially liked chasing Hubby across the ice when he was skating.

Once we got home, she was exhausted.

Laid on the kitchen floor and fell asleep.

She didn't even move when I started to make beef stew.

She was one tired dog.

Cute D with Lucy.

I just love that hat on D.  Too cute.

Part Deux and a Pep Talk

I have declared 2013 "Year of the Cat, Part Deux".

More organizing to happen this year.

Closets to clean.

Basement to organize.

Junk to be tossed.

Enjoy my first post about Year of the Cat from last February.

Yesterday I had nothing planned.

So I tackled our front hall closet.

It is part coat closet, part arts/crafts closet, part misc. closet.

And it was a disaster.

Everything is just jumbled up here.

Crafts are a disaster.

I have used it as a catchall and there are items that have no business being in this closet.

Like the mason jars.  Don't belong.

And all the arts/crafts needed to be gone through.

Lots needed to be tossed.

Here is the finished product.

Not perfect by any means.

But way better than it was.

I really think I need to move more of the girls crafts.

But, I am not sure where yet.

I will call it my work in progress.

And I really want better shelves.

Hubby will need to be involved.

I love "Year of the Cat, Part Deux".

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now onto the pep talk.

Have you seen the "Pep Talk from Kid President" video that has been circulating on Facebook?

Thank you Aunt Donna for posting it on your blog a couple days ago!

It is just great stuff.

Don't delay.  Watch it now.

I.love.this.kid.

His delivery is just fantastic.

I also love how the pep talk quotes Robert Frost's poem which I wrote about a couple weeks ago in my Snowy Road post.

My favorite quote from this is, "If life is a game, aren't we all on the same team? I mean, right.  I'm on your team.  Be on my team."

And I love when he says, "This is life people, we got air coming through our nose."

Really.  Watch the video.

You will love it.  I promise.

And it brings life into perspective.

What happens matters.

Moments

Shower time is a great music moments time for the girls.

Lots of nights we are playing different music on Hubby's iPod.

Wide range of music.

Buena Vista Social Club.  Beastie Boys.  The Beatles.  Blondie.  Elton John.  Stevie Wonder.  Norah Jones.

Those are our staples.

Clearly we like the "B's".

And lots of nights Hubby plays his guitar for the girls.

Anyhoo.

Tonight,  Hubby was playing his guitar.

He was enjoying teaching himself Stevie Nick's "Edge of Seventeen".

D went up for her shower first.

And asked casually if Hubby could come upstairs too.

Hubby didn't realize it was because D wanted him to play guitar for her.

So after a few minutes I prodded Hubby to go upstairs.

Which he did quite easily.

And worked on his rendition of the song.

It was quite good.

It really is a great song.

D seemed to enjoy it as well.

Once E was in the shower, Hubby had stopped playing guitar and was playing the music on his iPhone.

Of course, with E, Beastie Boys was played.

And then Jamiroquai's "Virtual Insanity".

That's a great one to play.

After the girls were ready for bed we got to talking about the video for "Virtual Insanity".

So, of course we watched it.

Great, great song.  Video is neat too.

And as a rabbit trail will do, seeing that video reminded me of Ok Go's video for "Here It Goes Again".

Such a great video.  And worthy of watching again.

I love this video.

Such a simple concept.  But, wow.  Super fun to watch.

And the tune is pretty catchy too.

I love our music moments with the girls.

It's a great way to introduce them to all different kinds of music.

And I haven't even mentioned that we listened to The Sound of Music's "Do-Re-Mi" while E was brushing her teeth.

Such a variety of music tonight.

Great music moments.

That makes me happy.

It was a Grande 5 pump, nonfat, light water Chai kind of day.  It made me very happy on a snowy, slushy, icky afternoon.

Still Life

E took to drawing last night after dinner.

She did quite well.

She drew my wine glass, a mug, the tea kettle, and Hubby's espresso pot.

D did her own drawing too.

She also drew a wine glass, a mug, a flower, and she drew a picture of me.

They were quite happy to be drawing at the counter.

And I was quite happy to watch while I cleaned up after dinner.

E's drawing of my wine glass.

D chose to draw my glass that has my initial on it.

I just love E's rendition of the espresso pot.

She did a great job.

It's a keeper, for sure.

Warmth

It is cold out tonight.

Very cold.

Very, very cold.

I think the low is supposed to be somewhere around -3.

Windchill about -15 or even colder.

Yikes.

I feel very thankful to have a warm house tonight.

And I am praying for those that have little heat.

And for those that have no home, I hope they have found somewhere to be inside tonight.

With the cold today and tonight, my mind has wandered to thoughts of warmer days.

Hazy, hot, humid days of summer.

Sounds glorious right now.

Warm Lake Michigan last July

Sun-kissed D

Lucy loves swimming

Sweet sissies

Fishing fun this past summer with friends.  We fished a lot.  Fun for all.

Ahhhh.  The Cape.  It's one of the places that makes me most happy.

E flying a kite in August 2011.

Eating a donut during early morning fishing at the Cape.  Perfect.

Warm hike in Arizona.

Ahhhh.  This was such a nice warm day in Arizona.

There.  That's better.

I feel warmer already.

I want to be there.  Right now.

Warm summer day in Wisconsin.

I.love.this.picture.

My family.  Warm and happy.

Perfect.

146 days until the start of summer.

Hot, hazy, lazy days for summer.

Can't wait.