Spring WAS on its way...

Last week, the weather was beautiful. The snow was almost all melted off, the smell of spring was in the air... it seemed like we had seen the last of the white stuff for the year.

Then the weekend hit.

I took the kids down to Mom's place in Yankton Friday evening. Her church was hosting a Beth Moore simulcast Saturday morning from 10-4. I knew from watching the forecast that I was taking a chance, but figured if I stayed on the major highways on the way home, I'd easily be able to make it back from Yankton. I sort of forgot to take into account that I'd have to go back out to the hill country to pick up the kids before leaving town. That's where the problems struck.

Turns out our nice little Aztek doesn't handle the snow very well. It's got traction control, but not 4-wheel drive, and apparently that makes a difference. I couldn't make it up the last hill to Mom & Jim's so we had to back down and park at the horse campground at the bottom of the hill and hike to where we could get cell phone reception (not too far), so that we could call Jim to come and get us (the pickup had no problem negotiating the hill).

The snow trickled down in beautiful, fat white flakes at the rate of between 2-3" per hour until sometime after sundown. When all was said and done, it looked like there was at least a foot of new snow on the ground. Sunday morning, Jim went out and shuffled up and down their steep driveway with his new snowblower, doing both his and the neighbors' drive. Mom & I were put on deck shoveling duty. The weight of a foot of snow (deeper where it drifted) was not good for the decks. We decided that it's a much more enjoyable job to do together rather than alone.

Their road was not plowed out until Sunday at 3:00, and then we had to dig the Aztek out of his parking spot before leaving for home around 4. Got home around 6, and there were some pretty slick spots even on the interstate between Vermillion and SF.

Today was nice again, and a lot of snow melted, but I guess it's going to hit again tomorrow. Boy was my upper back feeling all that shoveling on Monday! The nice thing is, we can accept this snow with hope. It's not even that cold. You know we're getting to the end of winter when you're glad that it's warm enough to snow!

In other news:

Matt seems to be enjoying his new job, though he's glad he's got a flat commission rate for a couple of months while he's in sales training. He's excited that he gets to go to Madison, WI to tour the Trek bike factory at the end of March. We might try to make it a family vacation. He's supposed to find out the feasability of such a proposal by the end of this week. He's getting bored with his necktie selection, so I went and got him a couple of new ones the other day, which he appreciated.

Lessons are booming right now. It seems weird that last year I was just getting started with my home studio. I currently have 27 students between home and USF. I have 15 at school, and am going in 3 days a week. Wednesdays are my long day, I have 10 in a row (no lunch break), then go pick up Xander & Maia from school and daycare, then one more lesson before coming home. Mondays I have 2 at school and 3 at home in the evening. Tuesdays I have 2 at school and 6 at home after school and again in the evening. And Thursdays I only have 3, but it's my commitment day at Xander's school, so I'm there all afternoon, come home, do a few lessons, eat a slow-cooker-prepared meal, then we're off to praise team.

Fridays are my day off. Whew!

You don't care. But that's what my life looks like right now. I notice an absence of jewelry shows. I should probably get on that...

Some pictures of late:

Thanks for the Valentines Cards, Grandma Marie. Maia loves stickers. She has to either wear them...


or stick them on the nearest surface...
Xander stuck all of his on the mantle of the fireplace. His are still there. Maia's got removed by dinnertime.

We got to get outside and build snowmen last week when it started to get warm before the weekend's big snow...
We named the little one, Xander and the big one, Daddy. After building the "Xander" snowman, while the (animate) Xander & I were working on the bigger one, Maia walked over to the little snowman (about the same height as her) and said, "Well hello snowman Xander. Do you want to play Xander's Gameboy?" I guess that's what Xanders do.

In classic snowman fashion, they were just a couple of snowy lumps and a pile of mittens and hats by the next afternoon.

This is our latest brush with fame. Check out Matt's parents in the Des Moines Register! For those of you who are not local, this is Iowa's largest newspaper. I used to deliver it when I was in jr. high/ early high school.

I made Maia take a nap this afternoon. It is currently backfiring on me. Usually on Tuesday nights, I can put both kids to bed at 7 before my evening lessons begin. Tonight I did that, and around 7:40, they came out and Maia announced, "I not take a nap!" Xander felt that he couldn't sleep without Maia in the room. I tried very hard to get him to go back to bed, but he just couldn't sleep without her across the room. I finally discovered that if I put a blanket on the bed so that it LOOKED like she was there, he would go to sleep. Maia, however is still going strong at 9:00.

*sigh*

Maybe she'll take the hint when Matt & I go to bed. He'll be home soon.

Luckily, neither one of us has to deal with her tomorrow. It's Apple Tree day (that's her daycare).

Happy Valentines Week

My Valentines Day was not the best day ever. It wasn't the worst, but it was filled with inconveniences. I guess that's part of life.

It started with Matt & I trying to rouse and EXTREMELY crabby Xander out of bed. Maia got up no problem but it became apparent after a short time that she was not feeling very well. Just a cold, but the very beginning part of one, and she was pretty droopy all day.

Xander was just plain mad that he had to get out of bed ("It's not FAIR!") and didn't seem to care that it was Valentines Day, or that there was a party and special "Gala Banquet" for lunch. Just wanted to sleep in.

Too bad.

I drove Xander to school in our little Neon ("Maggie" as we affectionately call her), and though I had just had the oil changed the day before, noticed that she was not running the best. Then the oil light came on, and it started to smell. This can't be good! I ran home, got Maia, and figured I had time to zip over to the quick oil change place to make sure they got everything plugged back up, because the lake of fresh oil in the driveway was a pretty good indicator that there was a significant leak.

My PLAN was to have them fix their mistake, take Maia to daycare and then go teach lessons at USF for most of the rest of the day. I stopped in at the school to make sure of the time of my first lesson (9:30) beforehand, which backfired on me, because a student snuck in at 8:55 and signed up for a 9:00 lesson (she didn't get one).

Unfortunately, neither did my 9:30 because the problem was significantly larger than a loose oil filter. The quick-change place couldn't take the car apart far enough to figure out what the problem was, so they suggested that I take it to a dealer. (Read: spend big $$$). They also did not recommend that I drive her. That's convenient...

I did not buy this car here, I bought it from a small used car dealership in Marion - kind of along the lines of the "Wanna buy a watch?" guys in New York City (I've bought one of those too). But the Saturn/ Cadillac/ Pontiac dealer that we bought our Aztek from has always treated me fairly without making me feel like a girl. So I called them and they said they could look at it, told me to have the quick-change guys just fill it up with oil and dribble all the way across town to their shop.

So I did. I had decided by this point not to take Maia to daycare, because she was just hanging on me and feeling miserable. They wouldn't want her there, and she just needed her mom (I recognize the co-dependence). So I stopped at the house and picked up some stuff to help her get through the day- a couple of coloring books, a favorite storybook, her blanket, some food, etc. Left a little puddle in the driveway, then buzzed across town to the Saturn place.

They had a shuttle that would take us to USF in time for my next lesson (11:00), and Maia hung out with me all day. She spent some time looking at her coloring book (not coloring), some time sleeping on our coats in the corner of my office while I taught lessons, and some time on my lap. She really wasn't a problem at all. We all had great sympathy for her.

I finished early (1:30- usually 2:00), but hadn't heard from Saturn yet, so I called them and left a message that I was ready for pickup.... almost 2 hours later we finally got picked up, and went back to pick up Maggie. Turned out a gasket (not the head gasket) dried up and fell out. I guess it's kind of common in that engine. Apparently an important part to have... The part cost about $7. The labor cost $150. I'm in the wrong gig.

Meanwhile, Xander had gone home from school with a friend, and I thought for sure he would be in a better mood when I went to pick him up.

No.

I let him play there until 4:30. When I went in to get him, he cried, yelled at me for "forgetting his Bionicle" to take to Isaac's house, complained all the way to the car, and when I asked him how his class party was, his reply was "it wasn't any better than any other day, except we got to have ONE piece of candy at the very end of the day." I didn't bother asking about the Gala Banquet.

We got to go to a friend's house for dinner that evening. Our small group had a gathering, and there were quite a few of us there. Very fun, but the kids were so tired we couldn't stay long.

The positives about Valentines Day: I got chocolate. That can fix a multitude of problems. Or at least mask them. Matt was so thrilled with his gift (we gave ourselves a $14 spending limit)- he got chocolate and beer. He was the envy of every guy at work. I got chocolate and bath stuff- lotion, body wash, etc. We both enjoyed our gifts.

Also, it wasn't as bad as the year when Matt & I were dating and I broke up with him a week before V-Day and he had already gotten me a gift. What a rotten person I was!

The saving grace of this week is that Bruce & George (Matt's folks) called yesterday and asked if they could take the kids for the weekend. We have a 5-day weekend from school, no school Thursday, Friday or Monday- Happy Presidents Day! At first we were going to only send Xander (cousins Cassie & Lexi were going too) because Maia was not feeling too good, but this morning, I called them and begged them to take her too!

AHHHHHhhhhhhhhhh!

I'm feeling a little guilty about how happy I am that Matt & I are without kids for 3 WHOLE DAYS!!!

AND we got our tax return today. Things could be a lot worse.

Here's hoping we'll appreciate the kids more when they come home. And thank you, Grandpa & Grandma!!! Hopefully they'll be less horrible for you than for us.

Stir Crazy

Xander stayed home from school on Thursday and Friday, and pretty much acted like a potted plant for 3 days. Both Maia & Xander had nasty head colds, but I found it interesting how they responded differently to the same virus.

Xander got all pale and limp, turned green a few times, tried unsuccessfully to throw up, went to bed early, got up late and stayed in one place for most of 3 days.

Maia went insane. She loved the sound of her funky new voice, so she coughed and sang and made funny noises in her croaky little voice. She had an energy overload, and requested about 300 times to go outside and play in the snow (the answer, an emphatic "NO!"), and "helped" me in the kitchen doing dishes, making brownies, etc.

Maia also chose to take medicine out of a medicine cup instead of a dropper for the first time. She used the dropper to drink water (one teaspoon at a time). Soon they'll both be driving. *sigh*

Both kids seem to be feeling better today (Monday morning), so all told, things could have been a lot worse! Our friends, James & Tina are heavy in our prayers for their son Alex, who is in the hospital with a bone infection. Please join us in praying for them.

Neither Matt or I caught the cold the kids had (knock on wood), but that doesn't mean I haven't been lazy. I have. Sadly, I suppose I'm going to have to get myself off the couch and go outside and play with Maia in the snow today- provided we still have any left. I think it rained last night. I'm just glad it's above freezing. First time in about a week and a half! Balmy!

Matt starts his new position as Bike Manager at Scheels this morning. For various reasons, he only slept about 4 hours last night, so he should be a walking zombie by the time he gets home.

We have our first full staff meeting at Mercy tonight. We will meet with Lee & Crista Saeger (youth), Amy & Charles Miller (children), Shel & Anne Boese (senior pastor) & I don't know who else. Maybe more. We don't have the best staff communication really. So far.

But things are going really great at Mercy, and I have to say, I love this church. It's messy and small and doesn't have money to throw around, but it's loving and worships with abandon, and it's all "post-modern" and such. Solid leadership and theology, humility, missions-minded, lots of baby Christians and lots of very mature ones as well. Good stuff! Plus, they have this awesome band! We're blessed to be a part of the work going on at Mercy.