The kindness of neighbors

So much has happened in the last month. I got a job -- it is about a 1/2 hr from where I presently live, but 15 min from where I will be living after the wedding! It is a very good opportunity for me and was the first place I interviewed with, so it is very much something to thank God for.

Today, it was a crazy snowy day. I ran an errand at lunch for someone and almost got stuck in the snow a few times. Part of me says I was crazy for doing such a thing, because it had taken longer than normal to get to work.

Anyways, after I returned home from work, the plows had made the street fairly clear, but the apron of my driveway had a bunch of plowed snow. So, I parked the car on the street and started shoveling. (I had put a shovel in the car that morning.) Some time passes, with me slowly making progress with the snow, when this lady comes up and tells me she called a plow on my behalf. She lives across the street from me and said that the people here like to look out for each other and she didn't think it was right for me to spend the whole evening shoveling when I work all day and that I should go inside and have some warm soup or something. She knocked a little later in the evening to give me her name, address and telephone and told me to feel free to ask her for help anytime (and gave me an opportunity to pay her for calling the plow -- I felt that with my having a job again it was the right thing to do).

So, my driveway is fairly clear (not 100% snow gone, but at the same time more than clear enough for my little car to drive over). And, honestly, if I would've had to do it myself I might still be working on the apron, or at best some part of the driveway. Funny, how much longer things take when there aren't other family members around.

It has been an very interesting day. I have a lot for which to be thankful.

Italian Shoe

We had "old shoe" for dinner last night. For those of you unfamiliar with the backstory: When Paul and I were not yet married, I attempted to make him a special Vietnamese dinner. It was truly terrible. So at that point, we made a deal that if ever Paul was unwilling to eat something I cooked, he had to take me out to dinner. There haven't been very many times that I have cooked something so awful that Paul wouldn't eat it. But there have been a few times that I really wanted to go out. So I would take an old shoe and put in on Paul's dinner plate.

So we started calling restaurant food "old shoe". My severely burned beef shank was clearly not edible. So we went out to Casa D'angelo. Paul was brave and tried something new "Pollo Pamigiano" He usually gets the "Penne con salscilia y pepperoni". I had the "Insalate Casaburo" generally called Casa Salad.

Then we came back home to air out the house from the really burned beef smell. And we watched McGyver together.

Right now, Paul and the boys are making biscuits together. It's really cute.

Paul got up and took care of the kiddoes this morning and let me sleep in.

I love my husband!

Meandering topics

It was so warm today that I gladly bundled everybody up and went outside to play in the snow. Abby was the first to want inside. I took Naomi in when Abby wanted in, but really I think she would have been happy to stay outside longer. It was actually Omi's first time to play in the snow. She looked so cute in her little snow pants. None of my others had such little snow pants.

Today was also Naomi's first time riding in a big girl carseat. This is a milestone I am grateful for. I love the infant carrier as long as the infant is small enough to be easily carried in it. But it seems so much more roommy in the van without it.

My former high school English teacher, Mrs. Fettig, dropped by for a visit yesterday more. She had called on Monday wondering is she could stop by. I had not heard from her in years, so it was really out of the blue. We had a very nice visit. She has six grandchildren, so she was not bothered by the craziness of our household. She was also very positive about our decision to homeschool.

It gladdened me to have her approval. She was one of my very favorite teachers, so her opinion means a lot to me.

You are probably wondering why I am posting on my blog on a Friday night? Actually I dropped the kiddos off at Nana's house and am waiting for Paul to get home. I was fixing a beef shank for dinner. But I burned it. So I am not sure if we are going out or what. I almost cried when I saw what I had done. I was looking forward to having a quiet dinner with Paul.

Ooh I hear my love coming into the house!!!

!

Sammy's Birthday is past. It's hard to believe he is four years old! He is starting to read a little bit. I predict his reading will be caught up with Abby in another month or two. Although she is also progressing.

The Birthday party was a success. We did a double party with Isabell, who also just turned 4. We chose the Burger King with a playplace. Imagine nine littles ages ranging from 2 to 5 running around like mad. And then three little siblings crawling and being held. Plus two older siblings and about a dozen adults. We pretty much took over the whole play area.

Sam's Birthday always makes me a little melancholy though. He is such a miracle, and I feel like I just be totally happy. But it was such a frightening day when he was born that I have trouble looking back.

More science

If you take a cup of very hot water and fling it into very cold air. You will have snow before it reaches the ground. This was the science for this morning.

It is -13 F now, but it was -18 F when the experiment was performed. In other words "Man it's Cold".

It makes me wonder how Manda and Tony are doing. Only because it was so very cold a couple of years ago when we visited them in Chicago.

It also reminds of a story from "These Happy Golden Years" (book 8 in the Little House series). Fifteen year old Laura was teaching at a school away from home, and boarding with a very unpleasant family. Every Friday Almanzo Wilder (who was not yet her beau but would later be her husband), would drive all the way to pick her up and bring her home, and then would bring her back on Sunday afternoon. Well one Friday it was -40 F and she didn't expect him. But he came. And they had to stop every few minutes to chip the ice off of the horses noses so they could breathe. Their breath would freeze as it came out of them.

My children love the Little House books as much as I did as a child. They are often playing Little House, though they change which characters they are. Lately Abby has been Laura and Sammy has been Almanzo.

Olny the frist and lsat ltteres mtater

I raed taht as lnog as the frist and lsat letetrs are in odrer the rset dno't mttaer.

Seriously, the brain looks for groupings of letters and will read the correct words even when we type them incorrectly. I think that's an oversimplification, but still very cool.

Omi is definitely walking now. She is so cute.

I think the children are going to go play outside in the snow soon. (With Daddy). Part of me would like to go play too. But I will be able to get a lot done while they are outside.

I am actually going to post this time

It's so hard to write a complete post these days! I usually get about three or four lines in and then get interrupted, never to finish.

Paul has not been home for dinner all week. He went back to work on Monday, after having two weeks off, and I've barely seen him since.

I sometimes wish he would get to work earlier and come home earlier. The hardest part of the day is the time between nap and when daddy comes home (or bedtime, whichever comes first).

The children had a playdate with Isabell today. It mostly went well, except that the TV was on the whole time. I hate it when you go to visit someone and they don't turn their TV off. It's really distracting.

Omi has learned how to climb lately. Up that is. She will climb up onto the sofa, but she has no idea how to get down. It's really cute, actually.