Bad at Winter

So here's the deal. We live in South Dakota. It's winter--complete with snow on the ground--for nearly 50% of the year (or at least that's what it feels like). And aside from a short stint in Iowa for college (which let's be honest, is pretty much the same as SoDak anyway), I've lived in South Dakota my whole life. So you would think I'd have this whole winter thing down. But to be honest, I don't. In fact, I'm pretty terrible at it. And that's been increasingly evident as the boys have gotten older. William will be four in April, and he has never been sledding. He's never skied (downhill or cross country), never ice skated, never snowshoed, never really spent any extended time outside in the winter for any reason. And before you think that he's too young for those "sports", rest assured that I have friends who have taken their kids William's age (or younger!) to do all those activities. Meanwhile, William doesn't even have a proper pair of snow pants. Or gloves, for that matter. The only ones he has are unlined fleece ones that get wet pretty quickly. Which we've discovered the handful of times we've played out in the front yard. And by "we" I usually mean Darrell and the boys, because I usually find a reason that it makes more sense for me to be in the house getting something done than outside playing. Which is weird. Because I grew up sledding. I grew up downhill skiing. I grew up having snow ball fights. And for the most part, I'm fairly certain I enjoyed all of those things. But as an adult, going to play outside in the winter seems like a chore. There's so many layers to put on (and no matter how many I layer on I always seem to get cold!), there's snow that gets everywhere, and there's always (always!) a mitten or a boot falling off. Plus there's all the wet stuff that gets dragged in the house and makes a mess. Not to mention the fact that buying decent quality outdoor gear isn't exactly cheap--especially with as quickly as the boys outgrow stuff.

I don't mean to be a fun-hater in the winter. In fact, I pride myself on finding lots of fun (indoor!) activities to do with the boys. But thankfully Darrell (the North Carolinian, of all things!) seems to have a better tolerance than I do for playing in the snow or my boys might really never get to experience at least a fraction of the fun that can be had in the snow.

Photo Every Hour: January 21st



For what it's worth, I've had some other posts that I've been meaning to write in between these Photo Every Hour posts... But, well, clearly that hasn't happened. There's always next month, right?

 



It's a Saturday and the boys slept in until after seven. Win! 

8:00 Seriously. These boys and their "show". At least they are cute while insisting to watch a show every morning

9:00 Coloring has become a pretty serious pastime in this house. I mean, at least for the past three days. They'll be bored with it and not pick up a crayon for three more months #toddlers

10:00 Jonathan may only be able to hold one ball at a time, but don't worry--Garrett has two more ready in case he drops that one

11:00 The ladies ready for some freezer meal prep at my sister's Wildtree party

12:00 Lunchtime!

1:00 Getting settled down for nap time

2:00 When you have a friend who is trying to learn Italian (like--wants to pass some language test to eventually get certified to lead tours in Italy) what else is there to do but buy her some Dr. Seuss in Italian?!

3:00 Again with the coloring. And they're weirdly obsessed with coloring with highlighters. We'll find out later this week if they are washable. Good thing I buy their clothes cheap

4:00 Reading a story downstairs with William while Garrett does, well, something else

5:00 My little laundry "helpers"

6:00 Dinner is a wrap. With plenty of leftovers to spare (for now. I'm convinced that with as much as the boys eat we're going to have to start doubling recipes)

7:00 Nothing says calming down for bedtime like playing tickle monster on the couch

8:00 Ugh. Putting away the laundry is the worst part of doing the laundry

9:00 We're super awesome. Sometimes we actually talk to each other... And sometimes we just need some down time. Even from each other

Lest you think we spent the whole night checked out from each other and checked into our devices, we did eventually turn on an NCIS episode and cuddle a little bit. So there's that. And there's the whole forgetting to take the last few pictures. Whoops.

Photo Every Hour (December 21st)

The fact that it's taken me a week to get this post up should be pretty indicative of how life has been lately: Crazy. Some days I'm not even sure what exactly we're so busy with, but it seems like everyday is just constant from sun up to sun down (and beyond, since let's be honest, the amount of sunlight we get this time of year isn't exactly anything to brag about). Since late is better than never and something is better than anything, here's my measly December contribution to this poor, neglected blog!

7:00 Totally spaced on taking my "wake-up" photo, but I was up at 6:10 and this boy was up at 6:50. Up and ready to build with Playdoh, apparently

8:00 Nothing says helpful like a little boy who pushes a chair around the whole kitchen so he can get into (and usually empty) all the drawers

9:00 A brief moment of peace and quiet. Time for me to run and get ready quickly before Garrett starts stealing William's puzzle pieces or William starts taking Garrett's books

10:00 Puppet show at the Outdoor Campus. Every month the have a (free!) class for 3-5 year olds where they learn about a different animal through stories, crafts, a puppet show, and other materials. Garrett usually goes to my mom's house so William and I can have a little one-on-one time, but today my mom had a conflict so Garrett got to come to class with us

11:00 Class is over, but we can't leave without saying goodbye to all the animals they have inside! (It's hard to see in the picture, but there are two turtles in that tank.)

12:00 One boy is done with lunch and ready for a nap but...

12:00 (continued) The other boy clearly is not

1:00 Quiet reading time so he will (hopefully) settle down and take a nap

2:00 Successful nap time so far--both boys are sleeping and I'm getting bills paid

3:00 And this is why I normally don't light candles before the boys to go bed--Garrett wanted to blow it out as soon as he saw it

4:00 They were begging for more to eat after their snacks, so I gave them each a candy cane. It kept them busy and didn't fill them up (because they didn't exactly eat them), so it was a success in my book

5:00 Surprise birthday party for my dad. Because our family has nothing better to do than plan more parties during the already busy holiday season.

 

6:00 A happy (and surprised!) Grandpa with his four grandkids

 

7:00 Someone is a little partied out

8:00 Running late with bedtime due to the party. And did you know that is physically impossible to get a one year old and three year old to move quickly when it's late and already past their bedtime? True story

9:00 Baking a cake to be served a funeral at church. And yes, I cheated and used a boxed mix. I really wanted to do one from scratch, but the time I saved was totally worth it

10:00 Totally forgot to take a picture. Spoiler: We were watching NCIS

Bedtime. Much too late, but that's been par for the course lately

 

Photo Every Hour (November 21st)

Another month, another day spent taking photos every hour. I've got just one thing to say, though--if any one of us is (or ends up getting) sick when I get around to doing this in December, I might just have to bag these posts. Not only were the boys sick when I did this back in October, but they (and then me and Darrell) were sick/recovering from being sick this time around as well. Although I guess I'm glad I chose the 21st instead of the 22nd--I definitely would have had to bag taking pictures every hour on that day since most all of them would have been taken from the couch, where I spent most of the day. Anyway, without further ado, here is our oh-so-exciting November 21st!

Rise and shine! I'm not brave enough to shower when I'm home by myself with the boys, so a few days a week I get up a little early and shower before Darrell leaves for work

7:00 Rise and shine for this boy, although he woke up pretty fussy. Consequence of having a pretty bad cold for the past few days

8:00 Watching their morning show--today's choice, a little bit of Thomas

9:00 When one boy has a cold and the other is recovering from spending the previous day puking, this is how we roll. Resting and still in pajamas

10:00 Our super exciting outing for the morning--the grocery store!

11:00 Lunch prep for the boys. Something I know they will eat that will also be easy on William's stomach

12:00 A little bit of play time before nap time. As you can tell, all things with wheels rein supreme in this house

1:00 Ah, nap time. Closed doors, quiet boys (at least for the time being...)

2:00 So apparently it's almost December already?!? Time to start working on our photo calendar for next year!

3:00 Turns out that although William was quiet at 1:00 after I put him down, he never actually fell asleep. He came out of his room a few times for different books or to go potty, but thankfully he spent the majority of nap time doing this

4:00 More play time while I get the lasagna in the oven for dinner

5:00 Not the greatest quality photo (Darrell was taking pictures on his real camera as well, so his flash majorly over-exposed my shot), but William decided to kill the last little bit of time before dinner teeing up his football and kicking it

6:00 The musical stylings of Daddy and Son

7:00 Sure sign of a great husband? He takes care of bath and starts getting the boys ready for bed so I can make a quick solo run to Target

8:00 I swear, we do these dishes every night and yet someone just keeps on getting them dirty. It's starting to get old...

9:00 Darrell heads off to bed after we watch an NCIS episode and I debate being productive but instead putz around on Facebook for a little bit. I decide shortly thereafter that I could use an early bedtime as well



Lights out for bedtime, although it certainly wasn't the last time either of us were up that night. I probably could have taken pictures at each of the remaining hours of the day, although I promise you no one would have wanted to see them. All I will say is Thank God it was a short-lived bug and everyone is back to feeling better. And it only took me a week to get this post up, so I consider that pretty successful as well, all things considered!

The Curse of the (Clean) Socks

If you have been a Minnesota Vikings fan for anything length of time, all I need to do is mention Gary Anderson and the 1998 season and you know exactly what I'm talking about. But for those of you who aren't familiar, here's a quick backstory: In 1998, the Vikings were having a spectacular season. They became only the third team in NFL history to win 15 games during the regular season, and scored a then-record 556 points. They cruised to the NFC Championship game--with home field advantage--where they faced the Atlanta Falcons. With a seven-point lead and two minutes left in the 4th quarter, the Vikings had a chance to essentially put the game away with a 38-yard field goal. Despite going 35 for 35 on field goals in the regular season, Gary Anderson missed. And that miss gave the Falcons a chance to tie the game and push it into overtime, which they eventually won (by kicking a 38-yard field goal, ironically).

What you may not know and what I previously failed to mention is that it is MY fault Gary Anderson missed that field goal. On that particular Sunday, I wasn't feeling the greatest, so at halftime, I changed out of my church clothes and into something more comfortable (which was only something we were allowed to do when the Vikings were losing at halftime, which in this particular game they weren't). I also spent most of the second half lying on the couch, and during all of the games earlier in the season I had sat upright to watch. So really, it should come as no shocker that Anderson missed that field goal--and clearly, it was all my fault.

Sounds ludicrous, right? Not to my sister. I kid you not, for YEARS I had to deal with her telling me it was my fault the Vikings didn't make it to the Super Bowl that year (and truthfully, she'd probably say the same now, but I just avoid bringing it up). My sister is what you call superstitious--and a little obsessively so. Candidly, my dad is too, but my sister is definitely worse. Which brings me to this year--and the curse of the socks.

The Vikings started this season 5-0--a surprise not just because they are the Vikings, but also because their starting quarterback suffered a season (and possibly career) ending injury in practice just weeks before the start of the season, plus their starting running back suffered a serious knee injury early in the second game of the season and has been out since. Admittedly, it hadn't always been pretty, but the Vikings still managed to find a way to come out ahead in the first five games. And then they had a bye, which by all counts, should have been a good thing. They had extra time to really work with the offense and cater it toward the players who were healthy and playing, not the ones who they had thought would be playing when the season started. Plus they had time to rest a few minor defensive injuries. And statistically, teams have a slightly higher odds of winning coming off a bye week. But for the Vikings this year, none of that was good enough.

You see, what the Vikings hadn't counted on and couldn't prepare for during their bye week, was the fact that my sister's husband WASHED her Vikings socks. So when she sat down for their game against the Eagles, she was wearing the same outfit she'd worn for each of the previous games--but her socks were clean (I'll let you infer what that means for the rest of her outfit). And that, ladies and gentlemen, ruined it for the Vikings. They lost that game--and they haven't won since. All because her socks were washed during a winning streak--and everyone knows you don't mess with the mojo when there is a winning streak going on. I promise you my brother-in-law won't be forgetting that anytime soon after the "spirited discussions" he had with my sister after the sock-washing incident.

In all seriousness, though, I really hope the Vikings manage to find a way to win against the Redskins on Sunday. Because if I have to listen to my sister complain one more time that the Vikings can't win because her socks got washed, I think I might lose it. I may not get into the games quite like some of my family members, but I do enjoy my purple and gold football Sundays with this crazy family.