Thoughts

Hayden, on Easter: "I think Jesus became invisible. That's how he went up to heaven when they moved that stone." 

Sugarland

"I don't want to, if you don't want to..."

Sugarland came on as I pulled into work today. Took me back to our first concert, Kenny Chesney and Sugarland in 2007. Before he left for his second deployment, his first to Afghanistan. Before Hayden, before fifteen months of agony, before Dave died. Some days, I'd give anything to be back there. Before PTSD. Before two kids. Before the sadness. 

But we can't do that. So we pick up and carry our memories with us. 

Today

Our life is admittedly crazy. Two kids. Three dogs. Two full time jobs between two full time parents. We are busy. We run around and fall into bed exhausted at the end of the day. We wake up bleary eyed, stumbling to the bathroom or downstairs to quiet a barking dog. And we chose all of it. 

But every once in awhile, I get a rare break from crazy. Jay works Sunday now with his switch to first shift, so he's out the door at 5am. Hayden climbs into my bed around 6 and asks when we can get up. Today, Lila is sleeping in. The dogs have been fed and are outside. So Hayden and I are in the bed watching Frozen. Again. Because it makes is both happy. He's pretty easy to please. And I'm grateful for a little time with my oldest baby, who is strangely not a baby anymore. 

Yet. Another. Snow day.

Well I'm about done with winter. Yesterday we had an event on campus and right at noon we walked out to sleet, freezing rain, and everything else you find in a wintry mix. Miserable and cold. The drive home was actually fine. But I made the mistake of waiting until after dark to drive my mom home. 

We left my house around 8.  We came up on a car with his hazards on near a bridge. As we got closer, the bridge looked like an intense game of Frogger. Eleven cars wrecked on a bridge about twice the size of my driveway. Since this was only about a mile from my house, I turned right back around. 

I woke up at 5 and kept checking and checking to see if Salem would be closed. Finally they called a two hour delay. I looked outside and saw the sheet of ice on my driveway, and my neighborhood and decided it was not worth risking the drive. Luckily we had power this time. 

When the roads melted and dried after lunch, we headed out to Target to pick up Frozen (ironically). Dinner was ready in the crock pot when we all got home so we filled our bellies and watched Ana and Elsa save the world. Lila was under the weather Sunday and Monday so it was nice to spend a quiet day with her. And her snuggles! 

Tomorrow is supposed to be near 60.  Get it together North Carolina.  

Snowmageddon: Part 2

So we packed a few bags and headed to Eric's. The kids were so excited to see their cousins! They played and wrestled and sounded like a herd of elephants, but they had a blast! Ice cream and popcorn and movies and bunk bed? Heaven! 

Although, Lila is only a good sleeper in her own bed. Not anywhere else. Which made for a super long night sharing a futon with her. But we were warm! 

We got up and hung out a bit before heading back to our house. Jay had stayed with the dogs in our freezing cold house and needed rescuing! We went home and took him out to lunch, making plans to save our freezer food. After Mexican food, we picked up 5 bags of ice. 

We pulled into the driveway and I saw our porch light on! Power! I ran inside to start the washer and dishwasher, bid adieu to the dogs and headed to my mom's with the ice we no longer needed. Victory! 

Her house was freezing so we saved her food and then packed up to come here. It was so nice to see my city returning to civilization! Stop lights and working railroad arms and power to gas stations, oh my! 

We were lucky to escape with just two days of mild inconveniences. Back to life as normal! 

Snowmageddon

The power is out. We went to bed Thursday night to the sounds of sleet and freezing rain falling heavily outside. We awoke to a dark house and neighborhood. The power went out once and came back on, but went off for good around 3am. Salem sent the closed email at 6 am so Hayden and I bundled up under the covers and went back to sleep for a few hours. We got up and ate breakfast, fed the dogs and retreated back to the somewhat warm bed. We played a few rounds of Cars Monopoly Jr and were on our third game of "Who Shook Hook?" when Lila woke up. At noon. 

We had a little lunch, of what we had in the pantry and fruit bowl. We cuddled back up under the covers and used what was left of my laptop battery to watch Shrek: The Final Chapter. That took us right to nap time and after I put the kids down, I headed outside. I wanted to be able to go out since it was just slushy and not icy. So I set out to shovel the driveway. 

What a job! 40 minutes and an outfit change later it was done. I felt super accomplished and decided to brave the cold water for a shower. To my surprise, we still had hot water!! I took a super fast shower just in case the water was a fluke but man it felt good! We packed up after nap time and went out in search of hot food and civilization. 

We grabbed some food and made our way around town without many working traffic lights. We decided to stay with my brother once Lila's lips turned blue...

Busy

Is an understatement. The house is a mess, laundry everywhere. Work is great but time consuming. Hayden and Lila are growing at lightning speed. One day, I'll have time to really update.