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!

I am glad this week is over!

This has been a week of throwing up, fevers, coughing, runny noses, not getting enough sleep. Yep, we are a house full of germs!

When we got out of church last week, Thomas was complaining that he was hot and when I felt him, he was very hot! (which don't most people feel cold when they have a fever?) anyways, that evening his fever continued and lasted until thurs., but came back friday for awhile. He threw up a bit, but it was mostly his fever and loss of appetite that wiped him out for the whole week. It is very strange and sad to see Thomas falling asleep during the middle of the day and not hearing him laugh! He eventually started coughing as well, so if it wasn't the fever that was keeping him up it was his coughing. :( (three children and two parents in a queen size bed= too small! I think we are all exhausted from not sleeping well) One night when Damond got home, he felt impressed to give Thomas a blessing. I am so grateful that he is a worthy Priesthood holder and that we have such a good and kind home teacher. He willingly came over late at night to help Damond. On Wed, Alex woke up from naptime with a temperature of 102! He hasn't had the flu as bad as Thomas. He will start feeling sick in the afternoon and wanting me to hold him, he'll then have a high temp during the night and then wake up fine. It's also been quite strange. This is the first night since Wed. that he hasn't gone to bed with a fever so I am hoping the worst is behind us! I am also hoping that Jacob continues to stay healthy and that neither Damond nor I fall victim! :)

I am pretty sure that we are all very stir crazy as we didn't leave the house at all until friday afternoon and that was just to get groceries since we had none!

Oh, and I miss the sun and it's warmth! Wishing I were enjoying that 70 degree weather AZ is having :D

Arctic Winds

Believe me, I never heard those words on the news/weather section in phoenix! Here they seem to be quite common :)
Due to these Arctic winds, we don't get out much. ESPECIALLY with an infant! I feel bad keeping the older boys cooped up inside all the time, but I enjoy using Jacob as my excuse to stay inside :)
The other day we had one of Thomas' friend over and I decided that with the all of the fresh fallen snow, we had to go play in it. Luckily, since our park is in our backyard, I was able to leave Jacob sleeping and I could play with the boys outside for a bit. It was quite fun and I even pulled the boys on the sled, but snow dog I am not! They each got one lap and that was enough for me! :D
Though, the other day Damond took the boys outside and he was running them all over the place on the sled. He even built a ramp that they would speed over! He is a much better snow dog :)

Other news... I have begun my marathon training! I am quite excited as I have always had this goal. This will only be a half marathon, but I figure it gets me one step closer and helps me get into the flat club as Thomas calls it.
side story (a few days after I had Jacob, a friend of mine came to visit. I was still in the swollen, body readjusting stage. Anyways, she had a baby in August and you would never know it! So while she was holding Jacob, Thomas was talking to us and turns to me to say, "Mom, when are you going to be flat like Marty and Karen?" {Karen is my other friend that had a baby last May. She is also looking amazing!} I could tell Marty didn't know what to say at first, but then I started laughing because I knew what my body was doing.
Anyways, I can no longer use that excuse as Jacob will be 3 MONTHS tomorrow!"
Basically, I am racing/running/ ok, walking to be in the FLAT CLUB again ;-)
(the other day, it had started to snow during the night and I ran "in snow" (there really wasn't that much on the ground) but it was a new experience. -- I am used to running in extreme heat, not so sure about this extreme cold!
I have also started to work on publishing my blog! It is going to be alot of work, but so far it is pretty fun and I am so glad that I have an extremely talented SIL that will answer all of my lame questions, {though, at least I am not as clueless as the snowbirds, right Linsey? ;-) }

Let's go sledding!

This week Damond called me wanting me to put on the calendar that we were going to go sledding! He was hoping to stay on top of everything so that he'd have a some extra time to go sledding on Saturday and Monday. Well, it worked for Saturday. We headed to a little park not far from our house and went sledding. We could park right at the base of the hill (literally! there were a few times I thought they might run into the cars) so we left Jacob in the car and I was able to watch the kids and take pictures. Then every once in a while I would check on warm and toasty Jacob.

The boys had a blast!

It was not very steep, so the injuries were minimal! :D Always a good thing!

I went down one time, but only because Damond pushed me the whole way down. For some reason, I really don't like that feeling of loss of control. I am a weenie!! ;-)

Damond and Alex riding the "centrifuge"

A couple other friends joined us which made it even more fun! We had hoped that it would snow again, so we could go tomorrow, but it didn't. :( Hopefully, Damond will be able to work in more time!

Damond riding his broom (I mean shovel)

Jacob Feature

Can you believe how much he has changed in one month!
Look at those chubby cheeks! Jacob definitely did his part of putting on the holiday weight! :)
Which we wouldn't want it any other way!

As you can see, he is starting to watch his dad and brothers very closely.
Especially Thomas! Maybe it's because he is wary of the million kisses Thomas gives him each day! ;-)
But I think it's probably that he notices how much fun they are and wants to be just like them!
He is such a sweet baby and is only demanding when he is hungry. (ok, so that's every 2 and half hours),
but as long as I stay on top of that he is a happy baby! :D

Alejandro Feature

Sometimes, I think this adorable little boy is still my baby and then at other times I realize that he is growing up as quickly as the rest of my boys. I want to grab him and hold him a little tighter. He is as rough and tough as any footbally player, but he is also very sweet and will come and put his arm around and say, "I luv you, mommy!" He sometimes has a temper, but it is usually provoked by his brother. If he is by himself, he is a very easy going kid!
I luv my Alejandro!

It's 2011?

Last year I had made some goals. Some, for example family prayer and scripture study we did a lot better on. But my goal of blogging and record keeping more did not happen :( So, once again I am going to work hard at achieving this, because it is something that generations could enjoy!
So if possible, I will try to do a special feature each week. Hopefully, at least one of each child! ;-)

THOMAS FEATURE

I can't believe it is 2011! And to prove to me that the boys are growing so fast, Mr. Thomas lost his tooth today!!!!We were at a friends house when I noticed that he had a HOLE in his mouth. I asked Thomas, "where is your tooth? Did you notice your tooth fell out?" My friend said he probably swallowed it when he was eating his cookie. I asked him if he had noticed any hard pieces. He said that his cookie had a seed and he had thrown it away. I looked in the garbage for a little bit, but then decided to give up :( But then I looked down and found it on the ground!

He is a cutie! I love Thomas and his desire and ability to laugh. (unfortunately, he also can scream and throw fits with the best of them) This is something I fear will continue for the rest of his life (as I have seen his grandfather, father, and uncles) ;-) They don't grow out of it, just the frequency decreases :)

It has been fun to watch him learn new things in kindergarten and I look forward to the new things we will encounter with him this year!