A white...Halloween???

Sounds crazy but its true. We have snow already! Not only was I not ready for winter weather yet, I was definitely unprepared for the events that occured during this storm.

Let me set the scene:
It started off like any usual Saturday. Apple pancakes for breakfast, some morning cartoons and then we were off to run errands. Off to order tile for my master bathroom, in fact, the last room to finish since the addition. But I digress. We were only on the road for about 15 minutes when the snow/slush started coming down, fast and hard. We knew of the pending storm reports so rather than get stuck in winter road conditions or worse winter road traffic conditions, we turned around. With our plans of a bon-fire and haunted house at a friends house out the window, we stopped to grab some grub and movies for a cozy night in.

We weren't home for 30 minutes when our power went out. Having lost power for 6 days during a hurricane in August, the novelty has kind of worn off. With the time of year and the weather outside, it was getting hard to see in our house already. We quickly abandoned the dinner and movie plan and were trying to brainstorm a new one.

Dylan wasn't acting quite himself so I took his temperature to reveal a fever of 102.4. So him and I went up to rest and read in bed.

Dinner by candlelight with kids is not so romantic and definitely a little interesting. It takes the usual spilled milks and dropped silverware to a new level. The kids did find it amusing when I opened the wrong side of the Parmesan cheese and emptied the remaining contents of the container onto my pasta though!

We retreated to the couch with every candle, lantern and glow stick we owned. Camryn, mesmerized by her ability to alter her shadow, provided much entertainment. Dylan played DJ on my i-phone while we danced around the room with glow sticks. When the battery died and our music was no longer, we recorded our own versions of the songs on Dylan's DSi. It turned out to be a great night.

That is until we moved everyone up to bed. During Dylan's transfer upstairs, he threw up all over me. I ran to get him into the bathroom but couldn't see what kind of trail I was leaving behind. Once we were all cleaned up, I was tucking him into bed when I smelled the dreaded odor of a puppy accident. Apparently, we had neglected Bromley in the fiasco and she had left us a present. The problem was, we couldn't see where it was. I froze while John stepped lightly with a flashlight around the room.

The night ended up to be a sleepless one. Dylan would call for me, I would take him to the bathroom just in case, which would in turn wake Bromley who would then cry from her crate. Once everyone was quiet and I was in those first sweet moments of slumber, the cycle would start all over again. John and I were overjoyed when we woke to the blinking neon light of our alarm clock and the sound of the furnace!

We weathered the storm and are one of the lucky ones who has now power. Camryn, Callie and Bromley embraced the snow this morning, in a little backyard romp!

Bromley's 1st snow

Today, we cranked up the heat, disregarded all TV limits and have an endless supply of soup and Gatorade. Not a bad, cozy, snow day!

Vandalism continues

After Camryn scribbled all over the wall last week, she claimed she was following the routine and doing her homework after school. Well her excuse no longer applies (not that it ever did) because she has found new mediums for her artwork.


First she gave herself a full body tattoo. From the bottom of her feet, up her legs, across her arms to under her armpits. Again, I asked her why she drew on herself and she replied: "The marker was tickling me!"

A few days later "Harold and the Purple Crayon" went for a more abstract look on the side of our house!! She gave no explanation for this one but I decided to finally move our markers a few shelves higher!

Meet Bromley

The newest addition to the family.

Casanova

On Friday Dylan came home with a notebook he had purchased in the prize closet at school. He was anxious to get started filling this notebook, so off to the playroom he went. Every once in awhile he would yell to me out in the kitchen:

"Mom, how do you spell "eyes"
"Mom, how do you spell "only"

I was starting to have rising suspicions regarding this notebook. But unable to keep his own secret, Dylan came running over to the sink to show me.

"This is my notebook for my best friend Leah" (This is the first time I've heard anything about a Leah)
He proudly shows me how the first page states: Leah's eyes only. So I was guessing that was all of the book my eyes were going to see. But he kept filling me in on the details.

"I'm going to draw pictures for Leah of vacations."
"Like the family vacations, we go on?"
"No, things I do with Leah. You know mom, memories!"

And the first illustration was unveiled. Two people clearly holding hands.

"Great drawing Dylan! What is it a memory of?"
"Leah and I walking. And the next one is going to be of us riding bikes. When it's all done, I'm going to show it to her."

Let's only hope Leah appreciates his sappiness as much as I do!

Homework

Today was just like any other day, our normal routine. I picked up Camryn from school, we had lunch and then off to the playroom to play. In the few minutes it took me to clean up lunch, Camryn made other plans.

I found her under the art table scribbling on the wall!! This is frustrating for two reasons. One is the obvious reason, I don't want my walls drawn on. But reason two: we have a chalkboard wall in the playroom for the kids to scribble on to their hearts content. So my question to Camryn was of course: "why did you write on the wall?"

"Because after school it's time for homework!"

Indeed, this is the new mantra since Dylan's transition to first grade! Can't fault her for sticking to the routine!!!