February 27

Sunrise in my neck of the woods. The only bad thing about it (aside from being up early enough to see it! UGH!) is that the view is obstructed by my neighbors' houses. It's still pretty, though.

February 26

Another week, another snowfall. Before the winds kicked up late yesterday afternoon, all of the trees and brush were coated in snow. The sky cleared up and it was bright and sunny, too. Everything looked so pretty.

February 25

Way back in November or December, I heard on the radio that the Foo Fighters were coming to town. I got up on a Saturday morning, made myself a TicketMaster account, and at exactly 10:00 a.m. the day the tickets went on sale, I hit "search" and landed 2 General Admission tickets for the show. Bill and I were SO EXCITED. The Foo Fighters is one of our very most favorite bands and we'd never seen them in concert before. Today was the concert. We had to trade our ticket stubs in for a floor-access wristband at the arena. Before I knew what was happening, we were on the main floor, vying for space as close to the main stage as possible. There were two opening bands - Against Me (they rocked) and Serj Tankian (he sucked!). The Foos came on and there was a huge surge toward the stage. We finally ended up, packed like lemmings, about 10 people back from the stage. This is the best picture I have of Dave Grohl from the crappy camera in my phone. *sigh*. It was so much fun! I love Dave Grohl and he didn't disappoint. He's got a great stage presence. They played a nice mix of new stuff, old stuff, and stuff I wasn't familiar with at all (only 2 of those). They played my three favorites, Everlong, Times Like These, and One By One. It was a great show.

The only bummer? ANOTHER STINKIN' STORMSTORM was raging while we were inside. We came out to about 4" of heavy, wet snow with it still coming down. UGH! The tollway was a breeze but the 2 lane highways we had to take once we were off the tollway were unplowed and a mess.

February 24

It was going to be another long, lazy day at home, so Bill suggested breaking out the K'Nex and making a ferris wheel. We bought this set years ago and have only built it once since we've had it. The kids were very enthusiastic at first, but interest waned. Alex ended up playing a friend's house the entire afternoon and Caty drifted back and forth between it and playing in her room. Bill plugged on all day and after dinner, they finished it. It is just strong enough to take a Li'l Kinz Webkinz for a ride, as you can see.

And see??? Alex just cannot smile for a picture! LOL!

February 23

Bill and I had a date night! We haven't gone out without the kids since the Holidays. We went out with another couple, coincidentally their names were Bill and Tracy. Bill is Other Bill's supervisor at work. He and his wife also played the football pool this year. Other Tracy was giving me a good run for my money for awhile there. Bill bet Other Bill that he and I would finish the pool better than they would. My second place finish on the year sealed the deal ;).

Anyway, I wish I could say it was a great evening, but Bill was (is still) dealing with a head cold and I ended up vomiting before we left the restaurant (the food was really good but really greasy and my stomach couldn't handle it). The margaratias were cheap, but I can't turn away a margarita. Here is my empty glass in probably one of the worst quality photos I have ever taken.

February 21

The boy needs help. What can I say? He drew on an extra eyebrow while actively avoiding his homework and he didn't even know it was there.

February 20

My Inner-Geek was on fire last night because of the lunar eclipse. I tried to take pictures of it, but my camera's lens just isn't powerful enough. This was the best I could do. I am so bummed because we had a perfectly clear night and could see the whole thing perfectly. It was so cool!

February 19

This picture shows just how crazy the winter weather we've had this year has been. I've posted before about all the snow and cold temperatures we've had. Well, this past weekend, we had one day where the temperature went to 45* and it rained all day. We were under flood watch not only for the rain, but because of the amount of snow that was expected to melt. And melt it did! There is still snow covering the grass, and the huge piles of it where it had been plowed off the surfaces are still huge (but a smaller huge - LOL), but a lot of it is gone. Of course it ran into the streets and into the low lying areas - like the baseball field behind my school. This is that field. It is under about 3' of water. It's done that before this year, in the Fall. The crazy thing about it is, immediately following the front that brought the rain, was a cold front that sent temperatures plummeting back down below freezing. In this picture, that isn't water - it's ICE. That little kid is ice-skating on it! Click on the picture to see it full-sized. You will see the baseball backstop and dug-out fences and how deep the water/ice is.

February 18

Caty had some allowance burning a hole in her pocket when Bill took her to the store this weekend. She bought a hula hoop with it. Not just a plain ol' hula hoop, either. This one has lights on it that turn on when it is spinning. She is really good and working it. This picture capture the tail end of a hula dance.

February 17

Since she was a toddler, Caty has been obsessed with horses. She has stuffed horses, plastic horses, felt horses, horse pillows, horse bedding, horse clothes - if it has a horse on it, she has it. She plays with horses all the time. In this picture, she is sharing her milk with her horse. She even got it its own straw!

Feburary 16

I have no photo for the 15th. I didn't have my camera with my during the day and I got hit with a head cold that morning. When I got home Friday night, I pretty much parked on the couch until I went to bed.

Onto the 16th....

Our new furniture arrived today! We ordered it on December 1st and have been waiting and waiting and waiting for it to be finished and delivered. All but one piece is now in our family room. The last piece, a console table, will be delivered this Thursday. I am attaching pictures of the old set up and the new set up.

Here is the old set-up (forgive the mess in the background and the overall horribleness of the picture). As you can see, it screams "We've raised 3 very young children on this furniture and it has paid dearly".
Here are two photos of the new furniture. We chose leather this time and a dark color. I think it looks really nice.

February 14

Happy Valentine's Day, Bill! I hope we are fat and happy the rest of our lives. *smooch*


Nothing quite says "love" like two pints of Ben & Jerry's, does it?

February 13

This is another reason why I love where we live. Look closely. Can you see it?


The crop farms around here, naturally, are an abundant food source for small rodents. This, of course, means there are a lot of natural predators for small rodents around here, too. One of them is red-tailed hawks. I don't know why, but I LOVE them. In the warmer seasons you see them lazily soaring above the fields , looking around for food. In the colder temps, you have to look harder to find them, but they are there - sitting on phone lines, on top of utility poles, and in trees. I usually see at least one each morning on my way to work and it is such a thrill. Yesterday I saw three. Today I remembered to bring my camera and I'm glad I did.


This guy was hanging out in a tree along the highway, watching the cars go by. He was looking at me when I took his picture. I can't believe how fat he appears (I'm guessing he was puffing out his feathers to keep warm, but he is still huge)

February 12

I tried. I pointed a camera at one of my kids and tried to capture a pretty face. Instead the stupid shutter lagged and Billy had time to "pose" instead. *sigh*

To the right I have added information about the Walk Now for Autism event I am participating in. Please read it and consider supporting autism research and treatments. Thanks!

February 11

This is how we decompress and relax at the end of the day at our house - playing on the computer or playing Wii. Caty doesn't seem to think she needs a chair.....

February 10

Bill was behind the camera today. He put a headband on Samson to keep his ears back. ????? I guess the craziness has rubbed off on him. ;)

February 9

It doesn't happen very often in the winter, but yesterday I had a houseful of the neighborhood boys. These boys are all the same age as Alex, they are close neighbors, two of them are in the same class as Alex at school, and they all play baseball and football together. Bill and I are good friends with all of their parents, too. It's a neat situation in our neighborhood - it's the reason I don't ever want to move out of our neighborhood.

February 8

Caty's class is studying insects in science. Today she couldn't wait to show me her mealworms when I picked her up from school. *shudder* They are so gross.

February 7

I've taken a lot of pictures of the snow we've gotten this winter - I know. The thing is, we've not had a winter with this much snow since I was a kid. And as much as I don't like the cold, I do like the snow. I like watching it come down and I like the way it looks when it is on the ground. Shoveling it is another story ;). What I really like is when it sticks to all the trees and bushes making them look frosty, like in this picture. Because the temperatures during the snowstorm hovered around 32*, the snow we got was wet. With the gusty winds, it blew around and stuck to everything. Our whole landscape looks like these trees. It's beautiful!

February 6

HOLY SNOWSTORM, BATMAN!! Today we were rocked with a huge winter storm. It was supposed to start early in the morning, but was slower moving through. As a result, Alex and Caty's school district cancelled classes in anticipation of the storm. Mine and Billy's district, however, did not. I kept Billy at home, though. Before the snow we had a few hours of freezing rain and the street were a slippery mess. There was no way I was trusting a bus with his safety. Turns out our district ended up cancelling PM Early Childhood, Pre-K, and Kindergarten (but the staff had to stay so I couldn't leave!) and allowing parents to come and get their kids after 1:00 if they desired.

I posted two videos of the snow. The first one I took at school from my classroom door. The second one I took from my backdoor. I was trying to capture the swirling snow in the backyard. This was when the winds kicked in and started blowing the snow around, limiting visibility and making the night time commute hellish (it took Bill and hour and 10 minutes to drive the 12 miles between his work and our house).

This picture is of the guy across the street plowing out his neighbor's driveway. He must have seen me taking his picture because about an hour later I looked outside and MY driveway was plowed out, too. THANKS, BOB!!! The stupid snowplow had left about 18" of heavy snow and slush parked at the end of the driveway. I tried to shovel it out when I got home but I couldn't lift it.

February 5

I bought myself a new pair of shoes last week. I don't typically like rounded toes, but these were too cute. I LOVE the high heels! (And so you don't think I am a total dork, I pulled up my pantleg so you could see them)

February 4

This is what happens when you have a foot of snow on the ground and the temperatures decide to jump above freezing one day - fog! This is the view from my front door, again, only this time, it ain't much of a view. (Check out January 5ths blog entry to see what this view should look like.) Don't worry, though, we are expecting another huge storm to drop about 6 more inches of snow on us Tuesday night. That fog will be gone in no time!

February 3

Yeah, it's a crappy picture. So what?? There are not enough words to describe how stoked I am that Tom Brady LOST the Super Bowl. Have I ever mentioned my deep seeded hatred for Tom Brady before? I think he is one of the most arrogant players in today's game. I don't buy the "nice guy" image. I don't think I could have handled having to hear about the "Perfect Patriots" until another team came along and did the same thing, decades from now. I don't know any of the '72 Dolphins so it doesn't bother me to hear about them. Now Brady joins ranks with the other teams that have gone 18-1, including my Beloved. The only difference is that all of those other teams WON the Super Bowl! Bwaaaa haaaaa haaaa!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS, NEW YORK GIANTS!

February 2

Well you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking
Racing around, to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older -
Shorter of breath, and one day closer to death.
-"Time", Pink Floyd

Ah yes, another 365 days have passed since we last celebrated my birth. Today was a good day. We hung out at home, just doing our thing. Caty made this and I found it waiting for me when I got up this morning:
Later in the day I did my Wii Fitness Test. I may be in my late 30's, but in Wiiland, I'm still the age I tell everyone I am ;)

We ended the celebration with a cake, of course. The kids told Bill what to write on it - I thought that was sweet. He "accidentally" put the candles on in the wrong order, though. Hmph!!

February 1

SNOW DAY!!

As you can see, we got dumped on last night.


I'm not sure who is more happy to be home, the kids or Bill and the dog =)

January 31

Caty got to read to the principal at her school today. Their Kindergarten program includes a reading program where, if you read 50 books at home, you get to read to the principal. The principal gives you a medal (on her shirt) and a book (in her hand). She was SO STOKED she finally did it.