The Frozen Flood

 A couple nights ago . . .

. . . I snapped a picture of our backyard with lots of cute little squirrel tracks in the snow . . .

. . . because I knew they were going to be buried the next day when a nor'easter dumped two feet of snow on us.

For some reason, seeing that thick blanket of snow on our deck was a little unsettling for me.  Maybe I felt claustrophobic because it would be hard to wade through all of that snow if we wanted to get out of our house.  Or maybe part of my brain thought, "There's two feet of water outside our door--isn't that technically a flood?"

Of course, there was nothing to actually worry about.  The snow stayed put until Daddy fired up our snowblower this morning and made his own little blizzard clearing our driveway.

Then he came back inside for some cocoa and a game of One Deck Dungeon. :)

Fluffy Marauders

 I wasn't very surprised that the food I put out for our feathered neighbors . . .

. . . also attracted some furry ones who wanted a free lunch . . .

. . . with a side of yoga.

I didn't mind too much until I came downstairs one morning and found both bird feeders lying empty on the ground.  I decided it was time to grease the feeder pole to deter the fluffy marauders.

Hmm.  Doesn't look like the grease is helping much.

Game Sifting

One of my decluttering projects for this week . . .

. . . was to pare down and organize our games and puzzles.

I asked the kids which things they wanted to keep, and they chose to hang on to most of them, but they did let go of a few . . .

. . . and the ones we opted to keep are better organized now.

As often happens when we go through old toys, the kids rediscovered some favorites they'd forgotten about . . .

. . . including this Mad Libs pad.  Anna still thinks it's hilarious that we inadvertently named Cinderella's prince Kylo Ren.

Memorial for a Little Friend

Our second anniversary with Doc was kind of bittersweet because his species of hamster only lives two or three years.  Our little elderly gentleman was still active, but he was starting to slow down, and we knew he wouldn't be with us much longer.

Sure enough, Doc quietly passed away this week.  We decided to write little messages to him on a napkin and wrap him in it . . .

. . . then snip a few flowers from the African violets . . .

. . . and bury him next to a rock by one of our favorite trails.  As each person placed a flower on Doc's grave, we shared something we loved about him.  He was a spark of happiness and fun that we will all miss. 

(Doc in December)

"What greater gift dost thou bestow,

What greater goodness can we know

Than [loving] friends whose gentle ways

Strengthen our faith, enrich our days?

When such a friend from us departs,

We hold forever in our hearts

A sweet and hallowed memory, 

Bringing us nearer, Lord, to thee."*

*Excerpts from "Each Life That Touches Ours for Good," by Karen Lynn Davidson

Joy's New Job

Joy has been debating whether to apply for a job ever since she turned 14 and could legally work at our local grocery store.  She recently decided that she has enough spare time and she wants to start saving for college, so she got a job this week as a cashier.

She doesn't love the slacks-and-button-down dress code, and she spent most her first ride to work slouching in her seat, lamenting that she looked so "derpy" . . .

. . . but once we arrived she straightened up and was eager to learn about her new position.  When I walked out of the store I had a brief parental freak-out because I had just handed my precious child over to a bunch of strangers, but I quickly recovered because I knew Joy could take care of herself.

This afternoon when I dropped her off again, I decided to pick up a few things and go through Joy's checkout line.  She was very personable with the customers as she scanned their groceries (with a trainer looking over her shoulder), and I could tell that she is really committed to doing her job well.

I Didn't Mess Up!

I'm still steadily decluttering, but this week I decided to branch out in my quest to make our home look a little nicer.

Our garage lamps have had given off a "rusty and decrepit" vibe ever since we moved in, so I researched how to repaint rusty metal . . .

. . . and voila!  I was really worried that I would do something wrong and make them look worse, so it's hard to say whether I'm more excited or relieved that they turned out well.  I kind of want to gather family, friends, and random strangers outside my garage and say, "Look at those beautiful lamps!  I somehow managed to not mess up and make them look horrible! Isn't that awesome!?!"

Home Church Again, For a Little While

This winter's COVID surge is causing staggering numbers of new cases lately . . .

. . . so most of our family plans to worship at home for a little while.  We're not worried that the relatively mild omicron variant will be dangerous for our young family, but we do worry about spreading it to vulnerable friends and putting increased pressure on overcrowded hospitals.

It always feels a little surreal when I get out our family's sacrament "tray," and remember the early months of the pandemic when there were no church services at all, virtual or otherwise.  Part of me says, "Oh no--not this again," but then I remember that this surge is unlikely to last more than a few weeks longer, and we are choosing to be cautious, not forced to stay home because everything familiar has shut down like it did two years ago.

(In case you're wondering why there are only five cups in this picture, Daddy chose to attend church in person so he could teach his Primary class.  He blessed the sacrament for the rest of us after he returned home.)

The kids don't find virtual sacrament meetings very engaging . . .

. . . but I was impressed by their efforts to make their "second hour" of home church edifying (we're on our own for Sunday school, since it isn't broadcast).  For example, Joy and Daniel decided to draw a visual representation of the olive tree allegory in Jacob 5.  They were really thorough, and I think it helped them understand the symbolism better.  Maybe a month of home church won't be so bad after all.

Blooming

It's definitely still winter outside . . .

. . . but it feels like spring inside because the amaryllis is blooming . . .

. . . and the African violets are putting out pretty little blossoms all around it.  In a way, I feel like I'm blooming this month too, because I'm finally tackling something I've wanted to work on for a while:

. . . decluttering our house!  Now that the busy holiday season is over and the kids are back in school, I'm trying to work on a pile or project every weekday morning this month.

It feels good to get rid of tons of clutter that has been nagging at me, and to make our home a more pleasant place to be.

Winter Birds

When we moved into our house two years ago, we noticed two empty bird feeders mounted on a post by the back deck.  They stayed empty until a couple months ago . . .

. . . when I decided to finally put food in them.  I liked the idea of watching beautiful birds all winter while the rest of nature went to sleep for a while. 

The food attracted a variety of birds, including this acrobatic little woodpecker.

I didn't recognize many of our little visitors, so I looked them up online and printed reference pictures to post by our back door.  It's been fun for our family to get to know our feathered neighbors . . .

. . . including this "dark-eyed junco."  I had never seen or heard of these little grey birds before this winter, but now I see them on our deck all the time.  I read somewhere that they are nicknamed "snowbirds" because they show up in our area around the time of the first snowfall, and then head north at the end of winter.  We'll enjoy them while we can!

Screaming in a Good Way

Now the we finally have some snow to sled on, the kids were excited to head to our favorite sledding hill . . .

. . . especially since Uncle Rob sent us a couple new sleds for Christmas.  Is everybody ready for their first run?

There they go!

Well, most of them anyway.  It looks like Daniel's engine stalled.

Anna found the green sleds to be too fast for her taste, so she stuck with a snow tube most of the time.

To my surprise, Todd preferred the speedy sleds.  After he careened down the hill one time, I asked Daniel, "Was Todd screaming?" He replied, "Yeah, in a good way."

Family Shovel Sessions

After a virtually snow-free December . . .

. . . we got a proper snowstorm last night.

Daddy was excited to try out his new snow blower . . .

. . . while the kids and I shoveled the walkways.  After two winters in this house, the kids have learned that family snow-clearing sessions are What We Do when it snows, and they tend to help out in good spirits.

Once we finished shoveling, Joy went inside to heat up cocoa while Anna made a snow angel . . .

. . . then the kids had a snowball fight on the driveway we just cleared snow off of.  'Cuz that makes sense.

A New Year Piano Concert

It feels like just a few weeks ago that Daniel and Anna performed a piano book concert, but it was actually way back in April.

In the months since then, they've each been working hard to learn and polish another book of songs . . .

. . . which they were happy to perform for their admiring grandmas and Uncle Andrew.

Daniel: "Will you put the camera away already?"

Me (sheepishly) : "OK."

(At least until the after-concert discussion.) 

Game On, 2022!

The first day of 2022 looked a lot like 2021:

Kind of dismal, really.

It was tempting to just hunker down and adopt this planner's philosophy . . .

. . . but instead our family decided to have some fun and make our own happiness instead of waiting for our circumstances to get better.

We started by researching new games to try, then we picked up a few of them at Target this evening.

We got home just in time to play a few rounds of Twister before bed.  It tied us in knots, but we had a great time!