What a Week: Part 2

Greetings from the frozen tundra of the South!  Hahaha.  What a week indeed!  Like so many others, we were blasted over the last few days with a polar vortex.  While we are safe and warm and well -- and VERY grateful -- we did not escape completely unscathed from the insanely freezing temperatures.

When Monday dawned cold and bright, we soon discovered it was a little TOO cold in the house.  Upon coming downstairs that morning, we noticed that the thermostat was struggling to keep up.  The temperature in the house -- both upstairs and down -- continued to drop throughout the morning and into the afternoon as we tried to figure out what the issue was.  Thankfully -- after Scott fiddled around with turning everything off and then on again -- the thermostat finally started going back up, and by later that afternoon, we had almost completely rebounded from our 50 degree inside weather. 

Yes -- I wore that headband all morning, along with a sweatshirt, wrapped up in blankets, and using my electric foot warmer.  It was COLD!!

Tuesday, however, brought a new surprise!  Hahaha.  While I was in the kitchen making a King Cake in honor of Mardi Gras, Scott discovered that our piano room was flooding.  The culprit?  A burst pipe.  Yay!  I mean, doh!  THANKFULLY, we caught it early enough that we were able to move everything out of the room and out of harm's way before any more water came spilling down.  While Scott and Ethan tried to figure out where to turn off the main waterline, the rest of us were able to get buckets placed and towels laid just in the nick of time to deal with the water that was now streaming through our overhead light fixture.  And I do mean we got there in the nick of time!!  We were able to unhook the giant glass "bowl" surrounding the light bulbs almost immediately after it began to fill with water, and I'm sure we saved it from getting so heavy that it would have ripped the whole fixture out of the ceiling! 

I've finally given up trying to find the perfect copy cat recipe for my childhood favorite McKenzie's Bakery King Cake and tried a different one this year.  It was a hit!  I think we'll be using this one each time in the future.  I found the winning recipe HERE.

Unfortunately, this afternoon brought another burst pipe -- this time with water flooding into the opposite corner of the same room!  While driving Alex home from OT this afternoon, I got a call from Ethan saying that water was seeping up through the floor and also leaking on the outside of the wall where we have a spigot on our front porch.  Womp womp.  Despite having all the other faucets on throughout the house for the last few days, we still ended up with another burst pipe.  Double DOH!  Haha.  Again -- thankfully -- it was caught early enough that I don't think there will be too much damage.  

We have this floor drying vacuum suction mat thing-y going on in the piano room and it is so loud I feel like I'm losing my hearing.  And it's giving me a giant headache.  We'll all be glad when it's done doing its job.

Kind of a fun shot from the top of the stairs.  It certainly is strange having the piano in the front hall!

Meanwhile, the kids have had snow days for pretty much the whole week, and I for one am GLAD that the schools didn't turn them into virtual learning days!  If a kid doesn't have a snow day to look forward to on the rare occasion that it snows in the South, what are we even doing???  Amiright?  Hahahahaha.  We're all pretty good at being lazy around these parts (except for maybe Ethan), so the freezing temps and burst pipes were nicely tempered with the luxury of sleeping in, watching lots of television, playing video games, and generally doing nothing.  What a time to be alive!  Hahaha.

So, there you have it -- what a week, part 2!  Hopefully NEXT week will prove less eventful.  Hahahaha.  Until next time...

What a Week

It has been an eventful week!!  First of all, the kids have been home from school since Wednesday thanks to "inclement weather," and obviously our Five Days of Valentine have started as well, but the most surreal happenings of the week involve Ethan and Isaac.  In less than 48 hours, I have both registered my baby for kindergarten in the fall AND celebrated with my oldest after he got an acceptance email from BYU this evening!!!  

Ethan is SOOOOO excited and I can't blame him!  He has worked so hard these last four years, overcoming the challenge of moving to another state mid-high-school, and knocking it out of the ballpark with his AP classes, and I just couldn't be prouder.  Adding to the excitement is that his cousins Hannah and Joseph ALSO got in, and they'll all be out there together this fall.  It's going to be so fun living vicariously through Ethan.  Hahahaha.

(I got this sweet text earlier in the week from Ethan's advisor, who sent in letters of recommendation for his college applications -- "Ethan is seriously THE BEST kid!  He is tutoring one of my students, someone he doesn't even know, with patience and kindness.  He is always willing to lend a helping hand.  I don't know if you know this, but his BYU application limited me to 250 words, and I was so disappointed!  I have so many good things I wanted to say about him.  Just wanted you to know.  :)"  It's always heart-warming to know that someone else thinks your kid is as great as you think they are.)

Isaac, meanwhile, doesn't really care all that much about being registered for kindergarten.  Hahahaha.  I, however,  am SO excited for him.  Hahaha.  Especially since kindergarten is full-day here -- which I think is great since he'll be one of the older kids in his grade thanks to having a November birthday.  One thing that I do think he is excited about these days is his newfound ability to sound out words.  In just the last couple of weeks, he has taken greater interest in learning how to read and is quite pleased with himself whenever he is able to recognize words in his books at bedtime.  It's always so magical when letters and sounds and words all come together and suddenly "click" in a child's mind, and I love it!  

Other than that, we've had a nice and lazy last few days with no school {even though they all had some virtual work to do}, and I know they're looking forward to the alleged snow dump we're supposed to have sometime this weekend.  Chances are looking likely that they'll have more "inclement weather days" next week as well, but at least for Monday, we'll have a true holiday with no work for ANYONE thanks to President's Day!

(I kicked off the 5 Days of Valentine with a tube of mini m&ms for each of the kids.  Poor Alex managed to drop his and spill the entire tube almost immediately after opening it while riding around on his hoverboard that morning, but luckily for him, I took pity and got him some more.)

(For Day 2, I made sugar cookies -- which are such a pain to make and ALWAYS a labor of love -- but I kind of forgot to set a timer after putting them in the oven and they all got a little over-baked.  Or a lot over-baked as the case may be.  Hahaha.  It didn't deter anyone from eating them, though, so we'll still call it a win.)

And with that, I bid you goodnight and have a pleasant weekend.  :)

The Supermuppet Turns 14!

Hahahaha.  Sophie, Sophie, Sophie.  What a ride it's been!  From arriving 3 weeks early; to introducing us to the brave, new world of asthma, allergies, and eczema; to growing into an intelligent, kind, and lovely young lady who is not afraid to use her voice (loudly) to let us know what she thinks about pretty much everything -- she has kept us on our toes. 😂

(Fun fact -- apparently I don't know how to spell Sophie's name.  Hahahahahahaha.  Or at least not while bubble-letter-ing it out.  It wasn't until I had started coloring in the letters on her birthday poster that I realized I had left out the "H."  And then it made me laugh when I remembered that I had done the EXACT same thing on her 8th birthday banner.  Except that time I didn't even notice it.  It wasn't until I heard one of her friends asking if that's how she spelled her name, that I realized I had forgotten the "H."  The more things change, the more they stay the same, I guess.  Hahahaha.)

This year Sophie's birthday fell on a Sunday, and we did our best to celebrate Covid-style.  Although, if we're being honest, we were already practicing the pandemic approach to parties LONG before the coronavirus reached our shores.  Hahahaha.  Aside from key birthdays (5, 8, 12, and 16) when the kids can have a "friend party," our celebrations are ALWAYS just the fam.  And usually right here at home.  Occasionally we've gone and done some kind of activity as a family -- Sophie has had more than one outing to an ice skating rink, for instance -- but more often than not, we have our birthday parties at home with cake and presents provided by the rest of us.  

Sophie is rocking the "curtain bang" look while growing out her pandemic bangs.  ;)

Sophie was pretty low key this year and didn't really have any requests or suggestions for what she wanted for her big day, other than sirloin tips and rice for her birthday meal and a Criminal Minds themed cake for the "party."  I was only able to come through for 1 out of 2 of those requests, so you could argue that Sophie's 14th birthday was a bit of a flop, but thankfully, SHE didn't think it was.  Hahahaha.  She very graciously authorized a pivot on the cake front when it came out of the oven, but wouldn't come out of the pan, rendering my design plans un-salvageable.  DOH!!!  I don't know what the problem was, but it was a crumbly mess.  And the cupcakes I ended up using instead were almost just as bad!  It was a highly aggravating situation, made more aggravating when the frosting I whipped up ALSO had issues.  Double DOH!  Oh well -- she handled it all with grace and aplomb and for that I was grateful.  {Because I really didn't want to have to start over and make another cake from scratch.}

It's a little ironic that her cake ended up looking like a crime scene, don't ya think?

Voila!  The finished product.  Seriously -- just look at that frosting.  🙈

Sophie was happy and excited about all of the presents that the kids picked out, but if I had to choose the real winner in the bunch, it would definitely be Grace's.  In case you didn't know, it's apparently possible these days to hire C-List celebrities to record messages for money.  I know, right??  We are living in the strangest of timelines.  Hahahaha.  Be that as it may, Grace forked over some cash money to pay a former kid star -- from the Nickelodeon show, Victorious -- to wish Sophie a Happy Birthday!  It was kind of hilarious and Sophie was absolutely tickled pink.  {Side note -- is it possible that Grace is overtaking ME as the world's best gift giver???  Hahahahahaha.}

The excitement was real, let me tell ya.

  

Sinjin Van Cleef -- circa 2012 or so

We finished off the evening with a rousing game of Balderdash (Sophie's final request) and -- in the end -- I think her birthday was more hit than miss.  Which is always a good thing.  😊  My birthday is the next one on the horizon, but before we get there, we have the 5 Days of Valentine to celebrate.  February is the funnest!  Amiright??  Hahaha.

A label maker from Ethan -- because as he so dryly put it, "We went to WALGREENS." 

Lots of candy for her gifts.  I guess Walgreens only has so much of a selection.  Hahaha.

Happy 14th Birthday, Supermuppet!!!  We love you.  💖