Brothers

Play Legos together

Super

The temperatures climbed above freezing last week and Tiger couldn't resist the desire to get outside and breath in that fresh winter air. 

He's really been digging this cape lately and has been wearing it every chance he gets. It makes him feel like a super hero. I love it. Not just because he's so cute in it, but because I made this cape when Sparky was just a little guy and it makes me happy to know that it is still loved.

The sun is shining

Yesterday was frigid and cold and last night it snowed, but today the sun is out and it is blazing and bright, lighting up my world with its glorious rays. You see, we haven't seen the sun for awhile which makes today's sighting quite exhilarating. Not much has happened this past week, I have been hibernating while trying to get my headache to go away. It's not too bad today and so hopefully we are on the upswing and it is headed on out. The one thing that did happen this week is that my sweet Woo had her very first strings concert. She was adorable. Aside from "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" sounding a bit like a funeral march when played all together, it was great. Here are a few highlights:

 So excited and so very cute! She had been practicing her violin very hard and we were so excited to see her play.

 Not so excited, exacerbated by the fact that I wouldn't let him play his DS. It's time the kid learned how to sit through things without having to rely on electronic entertainment.

 Not even a visit from Grandpa, Uncle Chad, or Aunt Katie could cheer up this boy, that is until the beloved Uncle Chad undid everything I was trying to accomplish and gave Tiger his phone to play with. Although, I have to admit that Tiger was much more pleasant after that. I'll win next time.

I had to be super sneaky to get this picture. His face shows how he was really feeling, but every time I tried to get a picture of him he would smile for me. I love this kid.

Don't let the sour faces of these boys fool you, we were super excited to see our girl perform and to support her in the things she likes to do. Hopefully this is the first of many strings concerts to come.

Thoughts

I am currently on day 8 of one wretched mother of a headache. Since it hurts to read, be in the light, etc., I have found myself just thinking quite a bit. Not a bad thing really. Here are a few of the thoughts rummaging around in my head right now:

1. Kids are really loud. This is not helped by the fact that Woo's ears are all clogged up for some reason and so she can't hear well which makes her talk louder and forces me to talk louder to her and forces the television to be turned up excessively loud as well. Bother. I take her to the doctor in the morning. She has no other symptoms of anything else, but I'll probably find out she has double ear infections or something like that.

2. I need to do a better job of saying "yes" to my kids. I am the master of saying "no". I can say "no" to any thing at any time, with no problem whatsoever. This comes in handy, but it's not always a good thing.

3. I love the scriptures, but it turns out that listening to the scriptures can put me to sleep just as well as reading the scriptures, if not better.

4. I have a lot of goals for this year and I should probably write them down so that they stop swirling around in my head so much. It's kind of keeping me up at night. Maybe I'll blog about them sometime soon since I am sure you are all on pins and needles wondering what they are.

5. My girl has her very first orchestra concert tonight. I am excited to see her play her violin. She will be adorable.
 

For Posterity

It has been miserably, freakishly cold here for the past several days. Apparently we are experiencing something termed an "arctic vortex". All I know is that whoever sent us this weather can take it back. The lowest temperature I saw was Monday night when I went to bed and that was -12 degrees with a wind chill of -35 or so degrees. So, that meant that school was cancelled both on Monday and Tuesday. That would have been just fine if all of this hadn't piggy backed on to their winter break from school. We've had a long time here at home. This has also been a reminder for me why I will never live in Alaska. That, and the fact that there is virtually no sun during the winter. However, as I type this it is now a balmy 20 degrees, so life is looking up. Plus, two of my kids are back at school today and that in and of itself is cause for celebration. The other kid had a nasty fever last night and is recovering up in his bed, but he's easy to have around and so I don't mind so much.

The temperature Tuesday morning.