January Minutia

Santa brought our family “Settlers of Catan” for Christmas and we’ve all been playing it non-stop. I thought it would be a fun game for Aaron and I and the older boys to play.

And it was!

Until Thomas learned how. Now, it’s inevitably Aaron (or I) and the three boys. (It’s a four-player game). Thomas is insane when he plays. He’s a trash-talking, revenge-seeking, development card-hogger, merciless Scrooge. He understands the rules perfectly but the strategy part is still a little above him. We’ve try to help him…but help is one thing HE IS SURE THAT HE DOES NOT WANT. In fact, he’ll usually do the opposite of what you suggest.

oh boy. You know he means business when the shirt comes off.

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Still. Sunday afternoons playing Settlers (while the beast naps) is quickly becoming a favorite tradition.

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With the freezing temperatures outside and the crappy air quality outside, we’ve been playing a lot of “Just Dance” after school. And having random dance parties…

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Two times in the last week, we’ve heard rustling noises only to look out our bedroom window and see something like this:

THEY’RE EVERYWHERE.

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Fun, right?

Right. Until the spring …when I want to plant a garden.

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The other night for family night we were going around saying things that we were thankful for. When we got to Seth, he said

“I’m thankful for…

LUKE!”

(oh cute.)

“AND SAM!!!”

(awww.)

“but NOT THOMAS!!!”

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These are his “bad guy eyes” :

“Hair Man”

This is what he wore all day yesterday.

You know what I’m thinking, right?

HE’S WEARING CLOTHES!!!

That thing on the top of his head is the inside of my salad spinner. He calls this outfit his “THOR costume.”

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One night last week, it started snowing. Like, blizzarding. I was on my way home from picking up Luke from basketball practice and, after sliding off the road into a huge pile of snow, found myself stuck at the bottom of our neighborhood. Luckily, three guys hopped out of their cars and houses and came and helped me get unstuck. Total strangers. They were so fantastic and helpful. A couple of them had to park their cars at the bottom of the hill, so I did the same and Luke (in his basketball shorts!) and i began the half-mile uphill trek home. It was so cold and so snowy. After i got in the house and warmed up, Aaron and I both decided that four wheel drive is in our future. Snow chains until that’s a reality.

While Luke and I walked up the small hill, we watched several more cars veer off the road, wheels spinning. I’m so grateful we came out of that uninjured. This is the group of guys that helped me, helping another lady get on her way.

Our walk home:

Earlier in the day we had the ULTIMATE PLAYDATE. So glad none of these friends were in the car during the worst of it:

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Seth and I were playing Blues Clues Memory today and when it was his turn, he flipped over one of the cards and gasped. WHAT? HOW DID THAT CARD CHANGE TO A PAWPRINT? IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE PURPLE KANGAROO!!

as in. He wasn’t wrong. The card OBVIOUSLY (and magically) changed images.

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While I was driving the kids home from school, Thomas piped up,

“You know, Mom. We’re not ordinary kids.”

“what?”

“Yeah. We’re not ordinary.”

“what do you mean?”

“We’re really helpful. And weird. And good. And silly. And really good. And weird. and…and just NOT normal.”

“You said weird twice”

“Because we ARE!”

“Thanks for letting me know,”

(Sam) “Yeah Mom. But don’t worry. It’s a good-weird.”

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House stuff:

It’s slowly coming along. I found two pictures that show the main living area pretty well:

These were taken before we moved in.

The two doors on the left are the office and master bedroom.

The front door is behind that partition

On the right hand side is the dining room, the stairs that lead downstairs to the rest of the bedrooms, and the hallway to the kitchen and family room.

Also. Is that not one EPIC chandelier?

Aaron was taking that picture in the step down part of the living room. Here’s that angle:

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We’ve been working hard on a million projects.

I’m not 100% done with this one yet, but we’re close so I thought I’d share pictures anyway.

There is a little closet in the downstairs hallway that used to be a phone booth.

Unfortunately, the door broke off of it, and it was used more as a dumping ground for random objects. Here are a few befores:

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That wallpaper is original to the house (1969!)

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Aaron took this picture of the boys on Sunday.

When the budget and time allow, small shelves for forward facing books will go in on either side of the chair. (Sorry for the crappy iPhone pictures. Someday I’ll take real ones.)

We left the wallpaper up in the back, painted the walls an inky blue (they look way light in the pics. In real life, they’re almost look black). and put their little chair in there.

Phone booth to Book Nook:

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When plugging in the humidifier in the family room. Seth saw the “tank” of water and yelled, “OH GWEAT! NOW WE CAN FINALLY GO FISHING INSIDE!”

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That’s it! have a great week.

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