Winter Craziness

We just got our first big storm of the season. Usually it doesn't snow that awfully much here, but this storm was a doozy! In one day we got 2.5 feet of snow and the storm knocked out power for 5100 PG&E customers...we were out for 3 days! The last day of our power outage we all awoke, disappointed that the power had not yet come on, and I flushed the toilet and it was awfully quiet. Yes, the pipes had frozen and we had no electricity, no water and the phone kept acting weird. It was quite the experience...one I'm glad we had and I hope to God we don't have again.

I've been getting into the Christmas spirit, the house is beautifully decorated (hmmm, I should take photos one of these days), we've been listening to Christmas music and baking Christmas cookies. We got our tree from a local tree farm and had a good ol' time doing it. The people who ran the farm were wonderful, and so helpful. The man had a Kawasaki Mule and a chainsaw, so the work was virtually non-existent! My kind of Christmas tree cutting! I had my dad come and put the lights on the tree for me, I was just not in the mood this year. Usually I'm the one who does that, but there has been a lot on my plate and sometimes I have to just give in and let others help. The tree is beautiful though. Now that the power is back on, the children have enjoyed watching Christmas movies. The only ones we have are the Classics (Rudolph, Santa Claus is coming to town, Frosty the Snowman) and Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas. I bought the Veggie Tales St. Nicholas DVD this year. I'd like to have a larger selection, but I'm just not there yet. Thankfully the children don't mind watching the same ones over and over again.

As usual, when I find the time to sit here and blog, my inspiration is seriously lacking...all day long I think of things to write, and when the time comes, it's late, I'm tired and I forget!! Oh, I do have two things that I wanted to remember, so I had better document them now before I forget:

The other day we were out grocery shopping. It was 3pm or so (Luke's nap time), but since Luke is getting older and bedtime just goes so much more smoothly when he's tired, we haven't been doing daily naps anymore (he takes about 3 or so a week). So we were at Safeway and we were all thirsty, so we went up to the little Starbucks place there to get ice water for all of us. I decided I needed a Chai Latte to get me through the rest of the day. As we're standing there (Luke is sitting in the cart), he begins to throw a major tantrum...but it wasn't just yelling and screaming, he was actually yelling AT me, "I WANT COFFEE...YA HEAR ME?? GIVE ME COFFEE!!!" It was all I could to keep from cracking up...what a sight to see a 2 year old demanding his COFFEE!! I mean, that isn't too terribly far fetched for someone such as myself, but for a two year old, it's downright hilarious! No, I did NOT get him coffee (in his defense, I often let him have coffee with me in the morning--heavy on the creamer, light on the actual coffee).

Luke now insists that he is no longer my sweet "baby", he is now, "Big Lukie". Although, as a friend of mine pointed out...technically he can't graduate to that until he's done with his pacifier and is no longer soiling his britches! Hahaha...oh, and for the FIRST time today he told me that the baby in my tummy was a "girl" as he's always insisted, BUT he said he's going to have a baby "brother". We've got another month or so until we find out!! The other day out of the clear blue he blurted out, "Mommy has a baby in her tummy!". HOW CUTE!! :) He's said it before when prompted, but this time was totally unsolicited.

I'll have to post a video when I get it from my dad. He got a video of Luke and I sledding down the driveway together today. It was a blast. We did it about 6 times or so...in between shoveling and cutting down tree branches that were blocking the driveway. I'm very happy to see this snow melting, but it's been so much fun to see the children having such a blast playing in it! They all go out and stay out until their little hands are popsicles...then we come in, watch a Christmas movie and drink hot cocoa. It's wonderful to be able to do that...to be home with my precious babies. What a blessing.