Spring - where are you?!

Was anyone else cold this week?! The kids were out of school all week for snow and cold until Friday. Both wanted to stay home but I INSISTED they return! We did manage to have some fun despite the cold. Our hearts went out to all of those suffering from power outages and the cold temps - make sure to check on your friends and family! 

Brenner found this impressive icicle on the shop!

The girls stayed cozy warm inside! Matt looks like he was relaxing too!

Yes - you are reading that temperature correctly. Brrrr.

The sun came out later in the week and Brenner did some shoveling. We never got too much snow - it just seemed to come down during morning bus routes!

Miss Bayley begging to Matt....pretty sure that it didn't work. 

On Thursday the sun came out! Those aren't fleck on my camera but snow and sunshine at the same time on our walk. It felt balmy at 18F! 

The kids got a bit of play time outside. 

Check out the snowflakes on her eyelashes! Those rosy red cheeks tell how cold it was! 

Hard to get a good picture with glasses - not sure how he sees anything! Matt hooked up the sleds behind the guzzler and they had fun down the road while I stayed inside and worked! No snow days for me :(

Boys and their toys? Matt did a nice job of clearing the snow up our steeper driveway. He then aided a few neighbors. 

A pretty sunrise on Thursday. 

The snow did seem magical - sparkling in the sunlight. 

Nola went to the Mantles to watch the vet file Oakie's teeth. She then got a ride from Coco. 

And then behind Coco! She had a ball but didn't tell them her hands were cold - poor thing came home crying. Hot chocolate seemed to warm her spirits and fingers! As did a surprise visit from Grandma Val! 

Pretty sunrise on Saturday. 

Some apple pie for the boys! 

Nola sporting her new bibs - she is getting so grown up. On Saturday, she went to the Mantles again to help with some hoof cutting (holding the miniponies mostly). It was much warmer!!!!

The boys spent the day taking deer stands down at Hilbrenner Lake. Brenner was awesome help for Matt and also scooped Grandma Val's sidewalks! Great job, buddy!

Polar vortex to warm our hearts

I don't remember the last time that we have had a polar vortex last for this long. It hasn't been above freezing in over a week or over 8 degrees the last 4 days! Matt and the kids had some snow days this past week so I had plenty of company in the house while at work....we made it ;)

We didn't get a lot of snow but the bitter temperatures and frozen roads led to some school days being cancelled.

Brenner woke up Tuesday in extreme pain with his neck. His shoulder were actually offset 3-4 inches so he was told to rest....

Luckily (depends on how you look at it), Matt has been there so he helped Brenner work out the issues. Doctor was contacted and confirmed our strategy. After 2 days down for rest, we let him go back to school (with instructions to sit out of PE and not carry his backpack on his back). The backpack was interesting....I cleaned it out to lighten the load.....he had about 10 pounds of band books that were for home but he has lugged around for month. #teenager

Nola's class is working on angles at school.

An intense game of scrabble on Thursday.

We headed to basketball on Saturday. I really like the philosophy of the organization...I wish I could say I embodied all of these things while watching Nola's three games. There is just this one ref that doesn't know what she is doing......so I have things to work on!

Start of game one!

My camera skills with our Cannon are rusty. Plus the lighting in the facility is hard....I can't wait for the natural light of soccer this spring!

Nola took some great shots but none fell. Her confidence is increasing tremendously.

The girls running "high school".....I think all the parents know this play! They lost the first game 18-9. Th girls had tremendous shots but they just wouldn't fall for them.

For the second game, the girls were definitely warmed up and came to play.

One of the posts couldn't make the game so Nola played 4 a lot. She really improved on posting up.

The girls beat this blue team twice and were tuckered out after playing 3 games!

Sunday morning Valentines present - Swiss Cake Rolls (dad's favorite).

Later in the day it was lego world for Nola and lots of reading for Brenner. Too cold to go outside with windchills at -10 to -20.

What better way to warm up than with biscuits and gravy. Their looks are the same - why are you pestering me while I am eating!?

A special guy here that can even make a stop at Sonic something to relish! Happy Valentine's Day!  (Note Nola snapped this picture when we stopped to get her a treat after her basketball games. Matt knows better than to take me to fast food for Valentine's Day lol!)
 

Winter doldrums

Brrrrrr.I hope that you are staying warm. We are feeling the freeze here! We are in a regular routine - nothing too exciting other than perhaps some stir-crazy house organization! 

Ignore the screen time - sigh. This picture makes me laugh because they have the same lip position. 

The typical teenager.....although he can't just jump on just anytime.

Brenner was at Science Olympiad all day Saturday. With snow in the forecast, we stuck close to home. I decided to rearrange my plants (better than the furniture, right Matt?!). "Dad" (this plant) was from my dad's funeral.....think it needs to be re-potted?! It seems to like its new home in the living room.

Grandpa will turn 14 on Valentine's Day. (Yes - from my grandfather's funeral) I also heard a tree frog in it this week...hmmm. 

Nola "cleaning" her room....later she decided to rearrange - much to Matt's dismay. I remember doing that a lot as kiddo so it doesn't bother me! (Plus it means underneath her bed gets cleaned!)

I guilted Matt into putting up a ceiling fan in Brenner's room. We bought it six months ago....then the box got moved up to Brenner's room over Christmas break. But it is now up!!!!!

Yay - new clean room!

A beautiful sunrise on Sunday.

Some new lighter/brighter acscents after I failed to find new counter chairs and an accent chair online. Overstock.com drove me crazy - so many choices but none to my taste. I may have issues!

Brenner wondering around the house on Sunday. Really....just walking around a lot!

We went to Turkey on Saturday night with apricot chicken and Vietnam on Sunday with caramelized pork bowls (pictured). So good!

Ummm....no words for Little Miss.

The polar vortex arrived and cancelled school on Monday and Tuesday. I miss being at home alone!
 

Basketball, birthdays, and business in the front

Where did January go?! Blink and it is gone. We are doing well with some sinus infections but otherwise happy family. Stay healthy, everyone!

Saturday basketball at YES. These girls were born 5 weeks apart and haven't known life without each other. Hard to believe 10 years have passed!

Triple trouble in 2017 (kindergarten)

Morph into Defenders in 2021 (4th grade)

We headed to Grammy's house to help her celebrate her birthday with pizza and apple pie. The kids loved learning about her spoon collection.

Another basketball game on Sunday. The girls looked great and won! Much different from the day before!

Nola doesn't usually play point guard and you could tell! She had a couple of turnovers but also some really nice passes for goal (yay assists!). Brenner chatters, chatters, chatters during the game. As much grief as he gives his sister normally, you would think she was a basketball star the way he defends her while watching!

Family silliness.

The kids were out of school Monday so we headed to get our hair done. Just a trim for little miss.

Matt and I have reached out limit on the mullet. Our rules from the beginning were it had to be clean and look nice. Brenner has kept the clean part but the looking nice is long gone. I told him he looks like John the Baptist in the wilderness.

Brenner had resisted layering the back but I insisted it had to be done. Look at how long it is!!!! Kendra worked her magic though!

Voila! It looks like a hair cut! Brenner liked it too as you can tell by his smile. I think that he will find it is much easier to style as well.

Some of Nola's sweet work from school. These all make sense to me except the baseball and glove...

 Some other nice work from Nola! Brenner is doing well too - just everything is online!