So Far This Winter....

...Gavin turned 8! We generally don't do a lot for birthdays, but the birthday boy gets to pick his birthday cake and birthday meal. This year Gavin wanted a chocolate and strawberry layer cake with chocolate frosting and cherries on top.

...Ian's vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds....unfortunately, his favorite consonant is "p". Therefore his newly learned (and often used) words consist of such things as:

Poup (soup)

Poo-pay (toothpaste)

Poo-puh (toothbrush)

You get the picture. His second favorite consonant is "b", though he mostly uses it in the words "Bubba", "bobo", and "baby" (who he knows is in Mama's belly). My quick yelling of "BABY!" has saved little sister from being pounced on in utero on more than a few occasions. Ian will be 3 in one month.

...A week ago we had Eli's work Christmas party. I'm the kind of person who would rather stay in the comfort of my own nest...especially in winter...and even more especially when I'm pregnant. I don't like crowds or a lot of attention. But I went. Eli, true to form, wore his "ugly Christmas sweater"...that had flashing LED lights all over it. It's hard to stay incognito when you have a walking Christmas tree next to you! The theme of the night was "horse racing" and we got to bet on races to have our names drawn for prizes. They also gave out other bigger prizes all night long. I rarely win anything, but this year I won an Amazon gift card. Eli won, to my excitement, a Nespresso Vertuoline espresso/cappuccino/latte maker with an aeroccino mug to heat and whip milk! It's exciting enjoying a "fancy" coffee without having to leave the house! Now I just need to reorder the decaf coffee pods....

...It finally snowed enough for Eli to use the snowblower I got him for Christmas! He was excited and thoroughly enjoyed it. I think he wished for a larger driveway for the first time in his life.

...We've also discovered that it takes an incredible amount of  LP gas to heat this house in the winter. We have a 500 gallon tank and need to have it refilled monthly. Because of this we're debating whether to spend a very large amount of money on insulating the whole house, or to put in a new energy efficient furnace and AC unit, along with taking down the chimney and patching the roof where it was. I think the new furnace option is going to win the debate. This means that the cosmetic things we want to replace inside the house will stay on the back burner for a while longer. Meanwhile...it can get cold in here.

...Winter is hard. I get it. But I've been giving Eli some grief lately for his new hobby. He has started feeding the squirrels. Yes, every other member of my family has waged war against the pesky rodents, and I'm sure my dear Grandpa, God rest his soul, would be appalled. I think the inspiration struck when we moved here and noticed a unique squirrel frequenting the area. He is normal "squirrel colored" on his back and tail, but his belly and face look like he went down a slip 'n' slide full of black oil. We started calling him Blackie. Our neighbor, Bill, feeds the squirrels, so Eli decided to fashion an eating platform out of scrap wood with nails in it to hold ears of corn, similar to Bill's. This was a huge hit in squirrel town. Then Eli made a special trip to town to buy more squirrel food. And THEN he upped his game by throwing his own snacks, salted peanuts in the shell, all over the tree stumps by the squirrel feeder. I was getting a bit concerned at this point (I may need to hide the peanut butter, you know?) but thinking there's still a chance that this is just a normal hobby, when he went crazy yelling and waving at blue jays for stealing the squirrels' peanuts. Blue jays. Hmmm.

This is the best photo I could get of Blackie (on the right). I tried to open the window to get a good photo of the feeder, but it scared away the squirrels...and angered the natives.

...A couple nights ago Gavin took Mojo out one last time before bed. When he came back inside he was shaking and out of breath. He said he had heard an animal snuffling around the back of the garage, and when he looked he saw a raccoon coming at him. "I knew because he had a mask and everything!" He ran inside, dragging the dog with him. The next morning there was a dead raccoon in our yard. I called the DNR, hoping they would want to come pick it up and test it for disease. I'm waiting to hear back. I'm so happy Gavin knew what to do! It's always good to explain to your children what to do if they encounter a strange-acting animal.

...Aidan (9) and Gavin have started training to be altar boys. They are so excited about it! The brothers that accompany Father from the Holy Angels Brothers Novitiate (formerly St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary) have been working with them. At home we practice what they learned from the brothers, and the Latin responses for Low Mass. Because of this we have moved on up in church, from the back pew to within four or so pews from the front. I can't quite describe the loss of comfort at leaving our "home" pew. I know it's for the best, but there's a sense of peace knowing that no one is staring at you from the back, and many many less people are witnessing the not-so-church-like behavior of some young men back there. Just last Sunday Ian decided to sprint down the pew before Eli or I could grab him, lean over the back of it and say, "Hi, Bobo!" to a little girl behind us. After Mass while we were collecting our things he sneaked under two pews, ending up trapped between older ladies with no where to go. Thankfully our parishioners are very kind and understanding.

...The boys have been busy making and building things with the sets they got for Christmas. A couple favorites are K'nex and Legos. Aidan also got a crystal growing set that makes lovely crystals.

...And boxes are being repurposed into robots! Unfortunately, one of them had some styrofoam left in it that Ian found before I did.

...Tomorrow we start week 20 of school! Only 16 more to go....oofda. Liam has been working extra hard on his alphabet, and can sound out some simple words now.

...And finally, only 12 weeks and 4 days left until we get to meet this baby girl!