5 days!

That's right - 5 days.  We have had 5 days of school called off for the cold weather.  It may not seem like much to some from the rural areas - where the school year is typically filled with late starts, early dismissals and snow-days....but up here it's something unusual.  I think in the last 6 years that we have been involved in the school system the most we have ever had is one a year.  The teachers are really freaking out that they are so far behind and the superintendent just announced that we will not have President's Day off.  We also lose our 2 late-start mornings.  They are erring on the side of caution because we still have a lot of winter left.

The kids were off school Monday and Tuesday this week.  Luckily, we pretty much saw it coming and by Sunday afternoon they had officially canceled school.  I was scheduled to drive down to Rochester on Monday for our annual audit at work.  It's the first time we have ever had to arrange schedules to accommodate a no-school day!  So John worked from home that day and I headed south. 

I cannot even begin to tell you how weird that whole day was.  It was so surreal to be back in that same environment like 10 1/2 years hadn't passed.  Thankfully they were in a new building - otherwise I think my head may have exploded.  I've had dreams over the last 4-5 years of being back at work - at the same job.  Those dreams revolved around me forgetting that I had left the kids at home by themselves or not ever being able to leave work.  And now I was really there.  (Without having to worry about the kids.)  It was a really fun day - stressful at times, but overall it was a nice step back into who I was pre-kids.  I found out she's still hanging around.

And then on Tuesday I stayed and worked in my PJ's 'til 3.  That was pretty darn nice too.

 

Not too cold

Hans and I finally were able to go for a walk this morning - it had been a while.  It's in the 20's here which made it seem so nice out!  Even though there is no sun and everything is cloudy, it was so much warmer.  So when we got back to the house I was even able to pick up the dog poop in the front yard.  I know, I know - it's a glamorous life I lead.

The kids had a short week this week - only 3 days.  It seemed harder to go to school on Wednesday after being off those two days than it did last week when we went back after the holiday break!  They have a full week next week and then are off a day the following week.  It's kind of nice to have a few shorter weeks in there for them because February is usually a long month (oddly enough).

I get to go to school today to do "Book Nook."  I read 5-6 books that I bring from home to the kids before lunch.  It's always fun to see them enjoy books that we read ALL the time at home and are our favorites or see them get so excited because they have the same book at home. 

Katie started choir at school yesterday morning.  She decided to join the optional 4th/5th grade choir at school.  They get to do fun things throughout the rest of the year like touring other schools to sing or sing the National Anthem at basketball games. Her rehearsals are at 7:45 which means we have to get up a little earlier than usual, but I'm sure we'll get used to it. 

Work has been going well - it's getting a little easier to communicate back and forth with my boss.  It certainly helps if I can get away to run on the treadmill for a half hour or so.  It's not a daily routine, but I'm trying to squeeze it in 2-3 times a week.  I have this whiney voice in my head that gets going every once in a while and all it says over and over again is "I'm so busy......I'm too busy.....I'm so tired......." etc.  Do we all have a voice like that?  Looking for excuses?  Some people's voice isn't just in their head and instead this stuff spews out of their mouth.

Then my much louder voice shouts back "Too bad!  It's tough all over!  Deal with it!  Just do it, then it'll be done!"  That usually works really well. 

What's that?  You want a Friday Funny?  Ok.  Quit whining.

2014

Happy 2014. 

I'm one that likes even numbered years, so I'm looking forward to 2014 for no other reason than that. 
We had our family Christmas here the weekend before Christmas and then spent Christmas week down in IA.  We came back up here and John took off New Year's Eve to do fun family stuff.  So today is actually our first "back to normal" day.  Almost 2 weeks of being off schedule sure makes it hard to climb back on the wagon.  By 1:00 today I was ready to call it a day.  How can there be so much stuff to catch up on already?!

We went down to IA on Christmas Eve.  My side got together that evening.  We played cards, dice and some of the younger ones opened a few gifts.  It was pretty low key and it seems everyone had a good time.  My brother had been going through some health stuff recently and so it was good to talk with him.  He seemed to be doing very well. 

Wednesday we went out to the farm and had a partial Christmas there, which included tubing down a hill.  The kids had a great time.  Will really liked his mini pool table and Katie had a good time experimenting with her new microscope.  We finished up Christmas at the farm on Thursday evening when John's aunt could join us.  Again, the kids got quite the haul and there was even an authentic Mexican piñata. 

I had to leave a bit early that evening because I got word that my brother was being taken to the ER after suffering (what we thought) was a seizure like episode.  He spent the night there, with no real answers.  We decided to stay in town a bit longer so that my older sister, my niece and I could take him to the big city hospital the next day for an MRI.  Long story short - we still don't know what's going on.  His headaches, tremors and shakes that he was having have seemed to improve, but the MRI was all clear.  He was diagnosed with Lyme's disease years ago and struggle with that for a very long time.  They are exploring whether these episodes and symptoms have anything to do with that. 

We, as a family, have been keeping it pretty quiet - especially since there is nothing to tell, no answers to why these things are happening.  But, I shared on here because I felt like it.  So there. :)

By New Year's Eve the kids were pretty tired.  They didn't even ask to stay up late.  We went roller skating that day....it was awesome.  John has a great video of Will skating that I must share - and will -  as soon as I get it from him.  John and I stayed up - like we usually do and watched TV.  Now that the expanded cable is gone, we were stuck with what the networks were showing and I must say, most of it sucked.  Today everyone was a bit slow getting up and out the door, but it's a short week and I think we can do it.  Play practice starts this weekend - we'll see how that goes!