The great Texas snowpocalypse of 2011

So we've had some unusual weather here in North Texas this week. Freezing rain, thundersleet and snow on Monday night created a frozen ice rink throughout the area -- too much for the one salt truck in town so school has been closed since Monday. I finally got out yesterday, Thursday, after several days and it was still icy everywhere, like at Andy's school below. Yeah, I think they made the right call.

Last night and this morning, we then got four inches of snow which has been a lot of fun as the temperatures warmed up a little and it's been soft and beautiful unlike the frigid teens and ice of before. All the school holidays have taken its toll, mostly on me trying to keep everyone entertained and fed. Poor Meg has come down with a good cold in the middle of this though.

Snomageddon pictures at last

Between storms one and two. I believe I have taken more hideous photos, but not many.

The snow was so strong it kept getting in the flash. The kids on the snow tunnel Mark built.

Seriously, could they get any more adorable? We may have to take up skiing just to take this picture more often.

Mobile uploads

Any experts on using the Blogger mobile uploads out there? I followed the instructions and e-mailed myself several posts with pictures. The text came through fine, but the photos, well, not so much. Any advice from you out there?

It's been been a long week in the house and we are finally getting out tomorrow. Andy's school sent an e-mail for the kids to bring snow clothes because they're going to play on the playground in the snow. He is thrilled. And I am thrilled that he'll get to visit with his friends. I think he's bored with us. And let's be realistic, the feeling is somewhat mutual. All things considered, I'd say we all held up quite well what with six people in a four bedroom house and three feet of snow swirling around outside.

Meg has her two year old appointment tomorrow. If I remember correctly there aren't any shots at this visit (fingers crossed, but I'll bring the Tylenol just in case). Her language is good, way better than Andy's at this age, she's very dexterous and beyond adorable. My main question is about this umbilical hernia/fat deposit on her belly above her belly button. I want to know what we do about it and if/when it could/will be a problem.

I have about a thousand pictures of the snowstorms to upload eventually. My Acer laptop has imploded and I'm quite annoyed with customer service at both Best Buy who refuses to acknowledge they sold it to me and Acer which conveniently dates its year warranty from the date is ships from the manufacturing plant rather than the date of sale, therefore shortening the warranty by a quarter. Not impressed. I've ordered a wireless card for my old desktop and assuming UPS ever makes it back to my non-plowed Fairfax neighborhood, I might get some pictures uploaded.

Five-year check-up

Andy had his five-year check-up today. I'd been dreading it because I had heard from one of the nurses there would be FIVE shots so he could be ready for kindergarten. I had decided to only really mention he might be getting a shot in passing so it wasn't a total surprise, but I didn't make it painfully obvious yet either. So I was relieved to hear there would only be three shots. Andy had no idea what could have been, but I felt better.

He got a blood test (cholesterol is a good 119). He also had his eyes and ears checked for seeing and hearing. He's not color blind nor lacking depth perception, which is good, but he does seem to be slightly nearsighted so she recommended I get him to an optometrist. She didn't think his prescription would be much and might not even really have to wear glasses at this age, but she felt it warranted taking him to get him for a real test. I can see why, I think they used the same equipment at Bradfield in 1977. His hearing test was also good, which was nice since it turns out he has a mild ear infection.

He weighed in at 40 pounds even and 42 inches making and all around a perfectly healthy boy. He cried when he had to get his finger pricked (I can't say I blame him) and then really cried when he got three shots, two on the left and one on the right. All in all, I thought he was pretty strong about the whole thing. He didn't try to run or hide, he knew what was coming and took it. Pretty big stuff really. Bjorn had gotten him a Pez dispenser so we put the candy in it in between shots. They also gave him a goody bag for being such a big boy. I was very proud.

I brought Meggy too, despite my not wanting to have her running around while he had a two hour appointment, because I had to get her sinus infection looked at before the snowpocalpse 2.0 hit. Indeed her sinus infection is not better and has spread to an ear infection. Fortunately, we could get some antibiotics (Suprax for both) before getting 20 to 30 inches of snow over three days.

Lost?

Okay, so I know my focus here is mostly on my kids, but who here watches Lost? I am all about confused after last night's season premiere. Even reading the recap on Television Without Pity didn't help much. Someone in my office begged not to be spoiled by any talk, but I assured her that I couldn't spoil it since I couldn't explain it and out of context, it would mean nothing. Oh sure, I'll still watch and all, but damn that's some confusing stuff.

On the television front, I have two new favorites from this season -- Modern Family and Cougartown. Well done, ABC. Well done.

I have just gotten back from a work trip and have more work to tackle than I can keep my head around. At least I don't have to worry about being bored, that's for sure. I'm also learning a lot, which is always a good thing. Next week I get to prepare someone for a congressional hearing. Well, I get to hire someone to do that dirty work. Before we can get to next week though, we have to get through the weekend. They have issued a winter storm "watch" for the weekend calling for a foot to two FEET of snow. Seriously? That's heaven for me.

On thin ice

It's amazing how 45 degrees can feel like 85 after a month of 20 degrees with 50 mile an hour winds. Today was nearly 50 and sunny so I took the kids down to the park and we all relished being outside. Andy wanted to go look at the lake since it had a pretty layer of ice on it. The lake is in desperate need of being dredged right now. Fairfax County is pretty broke at the moment though so I don't think it will happen soon. In the meantime, Royal Lake is about two feet deep in most areas. That made it pretty easy for it to freeze seemingly solid.

Andy was fascinated and we walked around the edges and talked about it. At the edge, I ran into a lady from church and we were talking about six feet from the edge. Meg decided that would be a grand time to step on the ice. I ran over to her and reach out, but the sly little vixen just smiled and walked in her Stride Rite sneakers about 15 feet from the edge. I kept calling her name and she just looked at me and kept moving. I knew it wasn't deep, but I also knew there was no way the ice was thick enough, especially in the warmer weather, to hold me. In desperation, I called out, "Meggie, come back. Let's go home and get some candy." Yup, that did the trick. She calmly walked back to the edge and we went home.

My computer is mostly better now, after a new $85 hard drive, 10 days without it and all my pictures and documents gone from my hard drive. I am very disappointed with Best Buy and Acer. It's a scam that they say the warranty on the computer starts when Acer ships it to the store. So even though I bought it in February 2009, Acer shipped it to Best Buy in December so the warranty expired last month even though I actually only owned it a year. Bastards.

Snowpocalypse, part 4

Meanwhile, I would like to personally commend the Washington Post delivery folks. Despite blinding snow on Saturday, two feet on the ground Sunday and ice on Monday, our paper arrived each day. On Sunday, we looked for it and didn't see it initially, but a little later as I continued to dig the trough out to the curb, there it was, an orange plastic beacon waiting for me amidst the white. Well done, my friends, well done.

And to guarantee we've seen our last snow of the season, today I went to the supremely awesome Unique Thrift Store and bought an Oshkosh snowsuit for Meg for less than $10.

I have also now gone to the updated Blogger format which mysteriously has taken away my spell check feature. Sure, it's easier to insert bullets, as if I'd need that, but spell check? That's for sissies.

Snowpocalypse 2009, part 2

Today was day three of the worst winter storm in Washington ever TM. It's and really been remarkable. The plows hit the main road, Commonwealth, earlier in the day. By early afternoon, we saw our first plow on Pommeroy. It was just after dark that a plow hit our street. Bjorn and the kids dug out our driveway and the cars. Not that it matters. Turns out the federal government shut down for tomorrow.

That means both Bjorn and I should have our offices closed. The kids' schools will also likely be closed. Fairfax County even announced it's shutting down tomorrow, Tuesday and Wednesday and closing now for winter break. This is all pretty remarkable. The feds close like once every third year. I've never heard of Fairfax County closing for three days in a row in advance with no more precipitation expected. Even more remarkable, we've done a good job eating through the food in the house.

Now don't get me wrong, it's not like we're going to starve or anything crazy, but we've gone through the staples like spaghetti, bagels, cheese, bananas and frozen pizza. There is still macaroni and cheese and some frozen assorted chicken nuggets and fish sticks, but in general, we're working through the cupboard. I suppose that's what happens with four adults, including a college-aged boy, and two pre-schoolers in the house. I do hope to finally get out of the neighborhood tomorrow.

I have really, really loved the snow event and loved the family time, but after three straight days of making three meals a day plus snacks for six, doing dishes, sweeping the floor, digging with the snow shovel and wiping up melted snow off the kitchen floor, it would be nice for a change of scenery. Fortunately, the kids are at such an age where the little ones can play together a little. It's sure nice to be the only source of entertainment for them. Well, me and Noggin.

This is from yesterday afternoon at the height of the storm. Check out how bad the visibility is. Good thing all the airports were closed.

Snowpocalypse 2009

As you have probably heard, the East Coast got a serious snow storm this weekend. They keep throwing things around like "storm of the century" and "worst snow in December ever" on the local news, which have abandoned their regular programming to show us pictures of the snow all day. I, for one, have loved it. This is early in the day, like 11 a.m. after it started snowing last night about 9 p.m. There is a lot of snow here, maybe 6-7 inches at this point.

Here we are starting to dig out. See the trough we're digging and the snow on the roof line.

Andy with his shovel that my dad got him last time he was here. Turns out it was a perfect purchase. Thanks, Dad! Note, Andy is wearing his Cowboys hat.



I was ready for a snow day with crafts. I had the kids (including Jennifer) painting Christmas ornaments. Meg was much more interested in dipping the paint brushes into water and then smearing Jennifer's ornaments.

Here are Jennifer's artwork. Meg decided Santa looked better looking like he got in a knife fight in prison. We were thinking maybe Santa and Mr. Gingerbread Man got into an argument.

This is much later in the day, around 4 p.m. By then, there was at least 10 inches, probably more like 12-14. For a town that shuts down on 3-4 inches, this is pretty remarkable.

This is about 5 p.m. Look how deep the trough on the driveway is now.

Look how magical the house looks, with the foot of snow on the roof line, the dusk and the Christmas lights.

Snow

Here are some pictures from the snowstorm that was, geez, just on Monday. It's hard to remember that now as it's Sunday and was 75 this weekend.

Mom and Andy kicking the snow. I think we had about 8-9 inches.

Mom pulling the sled down the street. We were in the snow for about 15 minutes, which was plenty. It was cold and windy. Andy did like wearing his snowsuit though.

Adorableness.

Happy Holidays

Hey look! A picture of the four of us! Together!

We went to Alexandria yesterday in theory for the parade of lights where boats are decorated for the holidays and cruise by. This sounded great except for two things -- apparently the parade started at 6 p.m., not at 4 p.m. like I thought (that's when the music started or something), and secondly, that is was snowing. We ended up tooling around for a couple of hours and then getting home late, like 6:30. Both kids were good sports even though it was late and cold.

Knock wood, but Meg is usually a pretty good sleeper. The problem lately is that she is getting up earlier and earlier, like the unholy hour 5:45 a.m., and eagerly and enthusiastically ready for the day. The books I've read say that an earlier bedtime actually makes them sleep later, but I'm pretty hard pressed to get her to bed at 6:30 p.m. like I want to. I'm a little curious to see how things are going to go when we're in Dallas, what with all the festivities, alcohol consumption by myself and falling back an hour to Central Time.

I also haven't exactly figured out the configuration for the plane. We got seats for all four of us (thanks, Mom!). Andy will be easy so long as the batteries to the DVD player work, but I haven't decided about Meg. She's long outgrown the baby car seat that would be really easy to hook into the airplane seat. We have a cool car seat/stroller combo (again, thanks Mom!), but it's a little bulky and I think I'd like to have a better stroller with me in Dallas. We don't need car seats since my mother has an extra set in her cars for my nieces. She's really a little too small still to sit in a seat without anything propping her up, and most importantly, stapping her down so she can't run anywhere. Thoughts and suggestions?

Upper management

It snowed here yesterday. It was truly beautiful. We got a good 3-4 inches in Fairfax, enough that the roads were a little messy, but it never got below freezing so it wasn't so bad. We're expecting a big cold snap this weekend so it was imperative to get the driveway and sidewalks cleared before they froze solid. Bjorn and Mark spent some time clearing and Andy "helped" by holding a hoe and "digging." Apparently he did not stop talking the entire time they were working making Mark declare that he was ready for upper management since all he did was talk and not do any work.

The snow also delayed my doctor's appointment from yesterday until today. Apparently the doctor's office cancelled all their afternoon appointments with the theory that it was safer for everyone to reschedule than try to get to see them. Unfortunately, moving it to today meant I had to take Andy with me. Bad since I knew I'd actually have to take my clothes off for this one. I stressed about it, but it turns out all I needed was his Thomas catalog. When my sister sent Andy his birthday present (a cool Thomas tunnel), it came with a catalog of other Thomas items. That catalog is apparently the most interesting publication he's ever seen because he "reads" and rereads it over and over again. At my appointment, he quietly read his catalog and could barely even look up when my doctor talked to him. It ended up working out perfectly.

The other good news about the appointment is the baby seems fine and healthy as do I. The bad news is that she seems perfectly happy where she is. No movement, nada, despite my encouragement that she can go ahead and come out now. This also goes completely against my gut that was telling me the last few days that something was happening. Turns out it was just wishful thinking. Sigh.

Yeah, thanks

Andy is learning to shorten his words. It's fun and kind of strange at the same time. For a while, when you asked him if he wanted something, he would reply in the affirmative, "Yes." Lately, he's been shortening that to "Yeah." And just this week, he started saying "Thanks" instead of "Thank you." Both are fine of course, although I'm less likely to melt when he says "Thanks Mama" compared to "Thank you, Mama." Maybe it's just the inflection.

Week two at the new school is going fine, but my friend was right - it is almost harder. He's figured out that it's not a one time thing, it's a regular gig. Yesterday I dropped him off during our freakish "Alberta Clipper" snowstorm and he cried. It was so sad to see him look around, get scared and them tighten up his face. I was so sad to leave, even though I knew it was the right thing to do. Sure, he was fine minutes later, but it really did put a damper on my whole day.

Andy did like the snow though. Yesterday afternoon he wanted Bjorn to make him a snowman. Unfortunately, it wasn't the right kind of snow, it was too powdery somehow so it wouldn't stick together. Andy was quite disappointed.

Snow and soccer

It dropped snow, sleet and freezing rain all over the D.C. metro area yesterday. It's beautiful. And very slippery. I leave for Mexico tomorrow so I'm hoping the airports are back to operating normally by then. I'm meeting my mom in Dallas and continuing on to Cabo together. I hope the travel gods don't conspire to missed connections.

In other news, Arlington County where I play soccer is trying to change the residency requirements and limit team sports to only Arlington County residents, which means folks like me won't be able to play any longer because our team which is made up of residents from many counties will have to break up. I get limiting reserving activities for residents when it comes to individual classes like yoga or swimming, but for team sports, it's hard to require that everyone come from the same area. It's hard enough to find good, reliable and funny players, much less mandating that they live in a certain county. If you are interested, please sign the petition telling Arlington not to do this. It's online here http://www.petitiononline.com/ACK/petition.html.

The double ear infection

It turns out the ear infection from two weeks ago has decided not to go away after all. Instead, it spread to the other ear. Dr. Staats gave Bjorn a prescription for another antibiotic and suggested that his ears bugging him could be the reason for his colic-esque behavior of the past week where he comes home and manages to let little things set him off. I was blaming the antiobiotic, turns out it's his ears. Great.

In better news, a little snow is expected tonight. Not much is expected, but considering it's 12 degrees outside (seriously, it is 12 degrees-I'm not exaggerating), whatever does fall is guaranteed to stick.

White

We have returned from what was eventually sunny California. We stopped in Los Angeles on the way out to visit Bjorn's brother and his family. Andy loved playing with Zane, who is 4, and was quite entertained by the toys for the 11-month-old Simone. Zane is a pretty energetic kid and Simone is a pretty quiet, content little girl so I think their personalities were a little more in sync. It was really funny to see the different stages just by looking at what each kid was doing.

Andy was so tired from the travels that he fell asleep on takeoff yesterday and slept for two hours. I hadn't been paying attention to the weather and was shocked to come home and find that it had snowed several inches and was icy on the roads. It took us a lot longer to get home from Dulles due to the sand and salt trucks on the Beltway - not that we minded, we were glad they were there. Andy finally got to bed around midnight and did not want to wake up this morning. About nine, I finally went in and picked him up. He was ready to stay asleep until I pointed out the window to the snow. He was so surprised. "White, white," he kept saying. He liked the snow, except for the fact that it's wet. How I ended up with a kid fastitious about being clean is beyond me.