Sunday Fun

Last Sunday we went to the mall to let Noah run around the play area. I think he needed to burn off some energy and he ran around here like a crazy man! He was climbing on everything and going thru the tunnel and having a good time! It wasn’t very busy at all so he pretty much had the place to himself!

Here’s some pictures…

Of course, Rick had to get in on the fun too!!! I was perfectly content sitting on the bench not having to do a thing!!!

Diary of a Demented Snow Shoveler

I think this is the way Rick is feeling now. We seen on the news last night that this is the most snow we’ve gotten in over 30 years!!! It snowed a couple more inches last night and we had lots of wind to go with it. So far, this winter is not very fun!!! Noah wants to keep going outside, but it’s just too cold.

Diary of a Demented Snow Shoveler

December 8 6:00 PM

It started to snow. The first snow of the season and the wife and I took our cocktails and sat for hours by the window watching the huge soft flakes drift down from heaven. It looked like a Grandma Moses print. So romantic we felt like newlyweds again. I love snow!

December 9

We woke to a beautiful blanket of crystal white snow covering every inch of the landscape. What a fantastic sight! Can there be a more lovely place in The whole world? Moving here was the best idea I’ve ever had!

Shoveled for the first time in years and felt like a boy again. I did both our driveway and the sidewalks. This afternoon the snowplow came along and covered up the sidewalks and closed in the driveway, so I got to shovel again. What a perfect life!

December 12

The sun has melted all our lovely snow. Such a disappointment! My neighbor tells me not to worry-we’ll definitely have a white Christmas. No snow on Christmas would be awful!

Bob says we’ll have so much snow by the end of winter, that I’ll never want to see snow again. I don’t think that’s possible. Bob is such A nice man, I’m glad he’s our neighbor.

December 14

Snow, lovely snow! 8 inches last night. The Temperature dropped to -20. The cold makes everything sparkle so. The wind took my breath away, but I warmed Up by shoveling the driveway and sidewalks. This is The life!

The snowplow came back this afternoon and buried everything again. I didn’t realize I would have to do quite this much shoveling, but I’ll certainly get back in shape this way. I wish I wouldn’t huff and puff so.

December 15

20 inches forecast. Sold my van and bought a 4×4 Blazer. Bought snow tires for the wife’s car and 2 extra shovels. Stocked the freezer. The wife wants a wood stove in case the electricity goes out. I think that’s silly. We aren’t in Alaska , after all.

December 16

Ice storm this morning. Fell on my butt on the ice in the driveway putting down salt. Hurt like hell. The wife laughed for an hour, which I think was very cruel.

December 17

Still way below freezing. Roads are too icy to go anywhere. Electricity was off for 5 hours. I had to pile the blankets on to stay warm. Nothing to do but stare at the wife and try not to irritate her. Guess I should’ve bought a wood stove, but won’t admit it to her. God, I hate it when she’s right. I can’t believe I’m freezing to death in my own living room.

December 20

Electricity is back on, but had another 14 inches of the white stuff last night. More shoveling! Took all day. The snowplow came by twice.

Snowman Weather

This morning we woke up to a couple more inches of snow. Rick wasn’t happy that he had to scoop the driveway again!! We’ve scooped more this year already than we had to last year. He said that if this keeps up, we might need a snow blower. I told him that it was good exercise!!! On a side note, I heard that we got 14.7 inches of snow over Christmas!!!

While Rick was scooping this morning, I got Noah bundled up so he could go outside. He certainly doesn’t get that from me! I’d rather stay in where it is warm!!! After scooping the driveway, Rick and Noah built their first snowman! Okay, so Noah didn’t last long on the snowman part…he needed to keep moving and wanted to go for a walk. So we walked down the block one way and came back and went down the other way and back. Rick was about done with the snowman by then, so here is the finished product!

Then Rick decided a little later that the snowman needed something on its head. So out he went to put reindeer antlers on the snowman…in a cut off shirt and shorts. Yeah, he’s werid!!! (I took the picture from inside, so you only get to see the back of the snowman.)

Merry Christmas

Christmas morning we opened presents and Noah must have been a very good boy this year! Santa got him a small drum set, but it doesn’t make a small noise, that’s for sure!!! It has already made its way upstairs in his new room! Santa also got him a puzzle, a couple of books and a farm set.

Rick’s parents came down before the snow started flying. They are hoping to leave on Sunday, but we’ll see how the roads are before they take off. They, of course, spoiled Noah! He got a pop-up tent, a firetruck, puzzle, a bowling set and a couple of Hot Wheels.

After lunch, Rick thought he’d start scooping the driveway. Must have been a good time for all the neighbors because most of them on our block were all outside starting to scoop. Rick’s Dad even went out and helped for a while. It still took them awhile to get it all done!

Today, Noah wanted to go for a walk. He just kept saying, “walk, walk, walk”, over and over again. So Rick and his Dad ventured out to look for some snow boots – they actually just wanted to check out the roads. They headed to Walmart, but they were sold out of boots and sleds, so off they went to Target. They found some boots there – we would have liked a bigger size, but they only had one size, so we got those. They are a size 5, which is what Noah is wearing now, so at least they work.

So we bundled Noah up and headed outside. At first he didn’t know what to think of all the snow, then he started getting into it! We put him in a box and slid him down the driveway, which he seemed to really like. Then Noah still wanted to go for his walk and he headed down the street. I guess he was serious when he was saying he wanted a walk!!

Well, I don’t think we will be heading anywhere this year. This is the first year I won’t be with my family for Christmas, so it’s diffidently different. I do have lots of candy that I made, so that’s the plus side!!! Not that I need it, but I figure I have an excuse…I just keep blaming it on the little girl!!

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and is staying warm!!!

Noah’s New Room

Well, this weekend we officially are done painting Noah’s new room!!! Rick did the majority of it, but he couldn’t have done it without me…at least that’s what I think!! I’m a GREAT supervisor!!! Although he didn’t like it when I would come into the room and, like he says, “nit pick” everything!

As you can see from the picture, we are doing a transportation theme. Noah seems to love it already!!! He was even trying to help Rick paint one day. Rick was painting the road and Noah had a paint brush (without any paint on it) and was “painting” the grass.

We still need to refinish the dresser and Rick got his old toy box from his parents the last time we were in Mason City, so I think we are going to refinish that also. We are also going to use our neighbors crib; we think it’s a little early to have Noah in a big boy bed. But we thought we’d leave the mattress on the ground for now to see how he likes it. So far, he likes it, but I don’t think he’d actually stay in it to sleep!