Weather Outside is Frightful

I can't believe we are near the end of January - already - wow - this month has really gotten away fast. We haven't been doing much this month. It has been record breaking cold lately so we've beens stuck inside a lot. Last Sunday when we were headed to church at 9am our car said the temperature was -23. I drug three crying kids into church by myself. The baby was screaming, what is wrong with you child?! I suddenly realized her hands were bright red and she was shivering cold. Poor baby. I wrapped her up in a blanket and after a bit of warm snuggling she was back to her happy self. These cold temperatures are no fun! The high during the day last week hovered between 1-4 degrees. It got up to 14 degrees this week and if felt like a warm spring day, I even went outside without a jacket.

Beside shivering, here's what we've been up to:

January always starts with my birthday. There weren't any special plans this year. We went to the store and I bought myself a cake ... well, a pie anyway

Being 30 doesn't feel much different than being in my 20's. Happy 30th birthday to me. I also bought my birthday present. Jake told me to get some things I've been wanting for my sewing machine. I was able to get a few items to help when quilting on my machine.

I'm trying to sell some baby items, included was this sling I made specially for Jake, he never used it. I took a picture to show how it works, even with a 6 month old:

This is one silly 3 year old. I cut up limes to eat with dinner. Didn't think it would be a problem to leave them in a bowl on the table. Next thing I notice, some kid had eaten out the center of all my limes!

It is often necessary that I take all the kids to the grocery store by myself. Sometimes when unloading the groceries at home I'll find random things I know I didn't pick up but somehow they made it onto the conveyer belt and I bought them. Last time I pulled out a small bottle of lemon juice, Alexander came running in declaring "that's mine! Open it, I drink it". He has been carrying that bottle of lemon juice around ever since. He is very serious about wanting to drink it directly. Sometimes I'll appease him by pouring a little bit in his water. I guess this kid likes it sour. I also pulled out a block of smoked cheddar cheese on that trip - now to figure out what to do with that.

Breahna seems to always have her hair in her face. It was time to give her what my sister calls a 'bop-bop' on top of her head.

 It's so much nicer not having hair in your face:

Grandma Stevens gave the kids a great playdough playset for Christmas. We've been having a lot of fun with it.

One evening we were all sitting around playing the Wii. We were sharing a package of Oreos. I thought they were all gone when suddenly I look down:

 "oh dear!" Breahna grinned at me from ear to ear and said "hi" I guess there was one that fell on the floor. She was very excited with her treat. She was also very quiet and sneaky. How did she consume that so fast?

Jake has been really busy with school, tutoring on campus, and his calling. He is gone from sunup to sundown 7 days a week. Poor guy never gets to sleep in past 7am. It has been difficult with the cold weather being cooped up all day with the kids. Often we watch too many movies, and usually we are a little on edge and cranky.

This one morning starting out around -20 degrees. We were quite literally frozen into our apartment:

Jake was gone by 6 am and the grumps were started early when the first kid woke up ornery and the other two followed in the same temperament  I knew it was going to be one fabulous day, not. I was just about to force them to watch a movie when I got the crazy idea ... lets make this a no electronics day. It was easy for me, my computer cable is broken, again, so my computer doesn't work. I didn't have Pinterest to run to for ideas to entertain two cabin fever crazy toddlers. I made it up as the day progressed:

We built elaborate forts:

We painted, colored, practiced out letters with cookie cutters and playdough, made cookies, washed dishes ... otherwise known as, making a big watery mess. We acted like animals, "waddle like a penguin!" -  "Roar like a lion" ...
I made fishing poles and little fish

We enjoyed a picnic lunch in front of the fire, jumped on the bed, had a pillow fight, read lots of stories, sang lots of songs, acted really silly ... and ... we survived.

Breahna smiles with her mouth so wide open it sometimes looks like she's very angry about something:

It was a good day. I'm grateful we were able to have this special day that will forever be treasured in my heart and mind. I know I don't want this to be a rare moment. I need to make this happen more often.

Kaleb was recently diagnosed with a type of Autism, the real title is Unspecified Pervasive Developmental Disorder. It is just a slight step below high functioning autism. He's been working with a language therapist for almost a year now. We decided he needed further testing after some concerns when he was in preschool. We went to a neuropsychologist for 3 different appointments and came away with this answer. We are now trying to work with this diagnosis and figure out what it means and what we can do to best help Kaleb learn and thrive.
He really struggles when it comes to social settings. Preschool was a big milestone for him and a huge blessing. Being able to attend on campus is kind of hit or miss. You can only attend every other semester and other restrictions. I was trying to find something else for him around here and wasn't meeting with much success. It was Thursday evening as I was falling asleep I felt an urgency to call the local school district. Soon as I woke up I called and was talking to the early childhood specialist. She informed me that the school district had a preschool and she was just about to sit down with a committee to fill the few slots they have. I gave her all Kaleb's information and then prayed he would be selected. Friday morning I got a call, they wanted him to start the very next Monday!
Monday morning at 5:30am we were startled awake by a deathly silence. Even at night there is always a hum in the air. We always have fans running for white noise. At 5:30am, there was nothing. We quickly realized the power was out and it was below zero outside. Not even our cell phones would work. Thankfully we have a gas fireplace. The fan wouldn't turn on, being electric, but it would still keep us warm if we sat close. We pulled out our camping lantern and snuggled up close to the fire to enjoy our breakfast.
Jake headed off to school and soon returned. Power was out all through South-East Idaho.

I sent Jake out, braving the snowfall and cold to gather up our neighbors. Most people only have electric heat. The school was able to get messages through the phone letting everyone know that they had heat. They had the main gathering center open for people to show up and stay warm. We decided to stay put by our fire. This also sadly meant, Kaleb wouldn't be starting school since the whole city was shut down. By late afternoon power was thankfully restored and life resumed. Jake had school as usual, and we still weren't going outside! It makes me realize what it means to be prepared. Do we have an alternate source of heat, especially if our fireplace isn't working? I'm grateful we're a camping family so we have the stoves and lanterns, sleeping bags, and other such things. But I know there is more we could do.

And lastly, this baby girl is 7 months old!

She still doesn't crawl but man she gets around fast. I was observing her yesterday trying to figure out how she gets around and it's such an odd combination of everything. She scoots on her bottom, sits up, changes directions, lays on her belly, stretches out far as she can go, sits up, repeats. She's pulling herself up and getting into a lot of mischief, but I can't figure out how she really gets around, she just does it in her own chaotic, unique way. She tries to crawl. She puts the top of her head flat on the floor, straightens her legs and puts her feet flat. It looks like she's going to do a somersault. One of these days she's going to go right over!
She is still the happiest baby, although she doesn't sleep very well. I'm working on getting her to go four hour stretches at night, she's really fighting against it!
She loves attention and will greet everyone with an ear-to-ear grin, "hi" and a backward wave.
We all love her dearly:

The boys, especially Alexander, are very protective of her. They are always bringing her toys, snacks, her pacifier, blankets. They especially love playing with her and getting her to laugh. They come tell me when she's crying, "mom, go get her, she's sad!" And they love to hold, kiss, and hug her:

I love being a stay-at-home mom. I'm so grateful Jake is taking on so much that allows me this opportunity. Some women aspire to be a business executive, doctor or teacher. What would the world be like without women like these? They make a difference on a grand scale. That's not for me, though. I want to make a difference on a smaller scale. I aspire to be the best stay-at-home mom I can be. And that's enough for me.

Alexander

This will be a boring post for most of you but I want to remember this time. Alexander has been having a lot of fun with his new camera. I'm going to start posting some of his pictures. I've already deleted 300+ of the walls, ceiling, and other random such things. He's really good at photographing the everyday that I don't see anymore. His toys, bear, etc. This also means he captures a lot of our everyday mess and what we really do all day - stay in our pajamas. It doesn't take long before we're all getting annoyed of the flash that keeps blinding us but I'm glad he has been having so much fun. Here's a few of my favorites:

wow, could her shirt be any dirtier? This was the day her brothers gave her licorice an then later I came in to see her with chocolate, who gave her that?!