Posted on

HBHQ Gets Snowballed

You’d think that we’d never seen snow before the way that we’re celebrating it here…or at least the way that Maggie is celebrating it. Yesterday morning she woke up early and started poking Barry in the nose insisting that he get up. When he’d finally wiped the sleep from his eyes and wandered down the hall after her, she ran up to the window looking into the back yard and yelled at the top of her lungs “NOOOOOOOOOO!!” (which translates into snow)

So we piled on the layers and went outside and Maggie was in heaven and so was Sparky. Sydney, on the other hand, had to take a moment to herself before she got off the back stoop and when she did she too ran around like a mini snow plow. We frolicked in the back yard and I demonstrated my best pitching stance while hucking snowballs at one of the big trees in our yard. Barry informed me that I may or may not have some serious skills when it comes to my pitching of snowballs.

That afternoon when the Little Miss wanted to go out again, I was smart and brought my cup of tea to enjoy because I learned earlier in the day that Maggie just doesn’t get cold. Period. When I was pregnant with her I was constantly warm and often light-headed because I was so hot, and now I feel like I know why. The child does not get cold ever and poor little me does. So, I brought my tea and kept it close by for occasional sips while we rolled out a couple snowmen.

Today when we woke up to more snow, I found that good snow really does make a difference when it comes to rolling snowmen.  The snowfall from last night just wasn’t as good as that snowball material the other day, but we made do and put together a mini snowman.  The squirrels didn’t seem to mind, and immediately stole his entire facial structure. Poor guy.

The prediction is for more snow to dump tonight and all day tomorrow. That’s fine, I guess. We’ve been busy inside also.  Mostly in the kitchen baking breads, muffins, chili and other snow-related things. I can do this for a while longer and can battle the cabin fever by going outside and making forts, but I’m slightly excited for it to melt. Then we can crack open the windows and welcome nicer weather.

But until then, we’re going to be watching the “NOOOOOO” fall from the sky and work on perfecting the best drying techniques when it comes to our jackets and hats. It isn’t so bad. We had our yearly snowy visit from Chach, she is fearless driving her little car in this weather. I’m a wimp; however, we did go across town yesterday just to get out of the house. I decided I didn’t need to do that again, at least with the predicted snow coming.

And aside from cooking and watching the snow fall, we’ve got other indoor activities to do. For example, reading the paper and making sure that we haven’t missed an important story. Maggie, like her dad, likes to read the advertisements. [B-mills edit 1/17/2012: “That’s how you know where the best deals are.” ]

Most importantly, we’ve got a new game that we can play all hours of the day: “Night-Night”. Maggie invented it and I’m almost certain that this game is just part of the developmental process. She loves bossing us around while piling blankets on our heads insisting that we go night-night. She also loves to pop up and yell “Morning!” to whomever is playing with her. Every once in a while I only wish night-night time was as simple as a pile of blankets and a simple “night-night.”

I’ll give it a try here and see how it goes.

Night-Night.

Posted on

Work Party

Gracious. What a whirl-wind of a weekend. It all started last week when my dad mentioned that he had a bit of time open up in his schedule to come down and build us a small rock wall where part of our pond once was.  It just so happened that I was scheduled to work on Thursday, the day that he and Izak were set to arrive. I didn’t exactly get minute by minute updates as to what was going on, but the time I got home I had a pretty good idea.

When I walked through our backdoor into our yard, I discovered that there was a HUGE bonfire where our pond once was and concrete had been poured where we once had an odd collection of rocks. The work party had all but commenced without me and Maggie was having the time of her life making sure that all was right in her Construction Sal hat.

Friday morning brought the smell of coffee wafting from our kitchen, and my mom’s early arrival at our front door with work gloves spilling out of her pockets.  Eventually we were all out in the yard, digging, mixing and making a ruckus. I was informed that my rain gear wasn’t up to snuff and when the rain really started to fall, I retreated inside with the rest of the girls.

I called my grandparents to make sure that they stopped by because there is something that my grandpa loves about construction and he couldn’t miss this chance to see his own son creating something beautiful. Plus, my grandparents never, ever turn down a chance to see Maggie. Look at my grandpa’s face in the photo below. That is one proud chicken.

Work, work, work. I’ve said it before and I’ll probably say it again: working outside digging, lifting, hauling, bending, chopping and everything else is hard and extremely rewarding.  My dad and Izak didn’t complain once about the horrible weather or my endless chatter when I was ‘helping.’ My dad especially was a machine….a miracle worker, if you will.

Towards the end of Saturday night and daylight was all but gone, Barry and I started to haul gravel to cover the nearly finished pit.  I had been fussing earlier over his inability  to use power tools and ability to haul a large load of rocks.  I think he was ready for me to stop hover-mothering him because he threatened to do a blog post titled ‘My Wife Thinks I’m a [Wimp].’  Personally, I think it’d be a funny blog post to read, but I don’t think he’s going to write it. Don’t hold your breath.

Cora and Chaya stopped by too, but we were too busy eating lunch to take any photos.  I also convinced Barry and my dad to help me hack down some branches that have been bothering me and I was informed that I am for sure ‘my mother’s daughter,’ a badge that I’m proud to wear. My mom and Maggie spent time both inside and out and those of us still outside could often see her curly top perched next to the window babbling orders to my mom or through the open window to us.

Technically we’re not supposed to sit on the wall until Tuesday, but some of us got a chance to test it out earlier….you know, just want to make sure it can hold us and all. Last time my dad came and built us a wall, Kurt and Debbie literally walked in as we were putting the tools away. Today Joe beat them to the punch line and strolled into our backyard just as we were lighting the fire to test out our new digs. He invited Barry to the Seahawks game and Barry changed out of his dirty clothes and they hit the road.  [Side note: Kurt and Debbie ended up coming over for dinner (Thanks, Deb!) so they weren’t too far off with their timing!)

A short time later my mom and dad pulled out of our driveway, with Maggie ‘beep beeping’ to the dump truck and blowing kisses to my mom.  With just Maggie and I now at the house, we went back up to the fire pit and got the digger-thing and practiced moving rocks from here to there. We also dug out some dry wood and built a heavy-duty fire…..I don’t think that either of us were ready for the work party to be over.