The week our world froze!

Remember, last week was awful due to sick kids?

We then went to Monster Jam, thinking they were all better, but Alex started to feel sick again :(

We kept him home from church, just in case, but by the afternoon, you could tell he was all better! :)

So, what do you do with two kids that are so tired of being cooped up inside and no longer feel sick, but are still quite exhausted from being sick?

You make homemade swords and play Knights of the Round Table with Dad :)

(luckily, I didn't throw out the many paper towel rolls I had been saving for so long and this was possible) :D

then this week started with some normalcy... On Mon, I tried to get my house back in order and Thomas went back to school, but by the evening ice started to fall from the sky... it wasn't hail, but it wasn't snow... Weird! Apparently, ice storms are really bad, because everything turns to ice and then causes many problems. I heard this repeatedly, but did not fully grasp it until the next couple of days. School was canceled everyday for the following week. Even Damond's classes were canceled for three days!

The first time Damond went out to chisel the ice off the car, he stepped onto our steps, only to start slipping so he quickly stepped onto the grass thinking it would help him get his footing, but quickly learned it was no longer grass, but a solid layer of ice as well! I looked out the window to see him laughing (on his backside) :D We let the kids enjoy our new ice hill, but thought it would be wise to protect their heads! Thomas is holding one of the huge chunks that came off the sidewalk.

you might think we totally scraped our car, but no, it's just the layer of ice covering our car that has cracked.

that night, we geared up for a second round of ice storms. By mid-day of the following day, there was at least two to three inches of ice covering the ground. Our backyard was a gigantic ice rink.

Our front steps and sidewalk were almost impossible to walk on without slipping, so Damond had to take a hammer and just start breaking it apart, piece by piece.

People worried about power outages and I was told grocery stores looked bare. ( I am so glad that we have been counseled to prepare ourselves! I did not need to run to the store due to food storage!) :D Most schools stayed closed, because their parking lots were like my backyard, ice rinks!

For the most part, it was fun to be stuck inside... we played dress-up, danced in the kitchen, went to the Children's Museum (once the roads were better), played with cars and legos, watched old movies like Rudy :), and at least once a day Damond would take a break from studying and take them out to the ice rink to slide around :)

By Friday, the kids and I were so stir crazy we braved the icy conditions and went to the store. For the most part, all the main roads were ok, but the store parking lots were bad. have you ever ice skated with your car? :) not so pleasant!, but we wanted out and I didn't want to drink powdered milk :)

side story: when Damond got home Friday night, Thomas informed him that he didn't go to school with a very gloating voice. Damond asked him why not. Thomas answered, "Mom forgot" and started to giggle. I, quickly informed him that it had been canceled and I would never "forget school". I then asked him, "how come you didn't remind me?" he giggles again and answers, " I wanted to eat lunch with you guys."

So basically, he went the whole day thinking he was so lucky to have such a forgetful mom! :D

Then, as if we weren't frozen enough, we woke up Saturday to a couple of inches of snow and it kept snowing until mid-day! It was almost better though, because the snow gave the ice a little bit of traction and everything wasn't so slippery (at least when you were walking).

Damond and the boys took advantage of the fresh snow and made an awesome football stadium!

These crazy kids even wanted to eat Popsicles out there!

not to be left out, this cutie basically stayed inside :D

When we got home today from church, Damond looked over at Jacob and saw that Alex had put this on his little brother! :-) so funny!