Making the best of it...

A lot of rain, ice, sleet and snow have kept us shut inside a lot lately.  But, we're trying to make the best of it.

This one's a little alarming to watch, so I just close my eyes...

Again, closing my eyes...

Then comes the injuries resulting from indoor football, wrestling and shoulder rides.

Davis attempted to carry his older, much bigger brother on his shoulders.  Unsurprisingly, he toppled over and took a toy bin in the eye.

This goose egg resulted when Lyndon was tackled by his brothers right into the very precariously-placed oversized rock fireplace mantel in our family room that also happens to be right behind their "end zone." Smarter parents might put an end to such ill-fated games; however, we're desperate to let them get their energies out somehow...

Ice Storm Aftermath

We set out the door this morning to go to 11 o'clock church only to realize that we had not budgeted enough time to scrape the four inches of snow and ice off our windshield.  Well, truthfully we did not budget any time since we didn't even think about it till we walked outside and were reminded of it. I guess you can take the Floridian out of Florida, but as Anthony said, you can't take Florida out of the Floridian. (: 

The sun made its appearance as we headed out to the van and what emerged was a glistening winter wonderland.  So, I grabbed my camera and we all set out for a walk around the neighborhood to worship God through this wondrous display of his creation.  It was an amazing sight to behold; very tranquil and peaceful.  

Hard hats would've been a good idea for this walk--the icicles were falling from the power lines and trees faster than we could dodge them.

We marked our territory in the Rowe's front yard (:

Eventually Anthony and a couple boys walked through the woods up to Covenant to collect his car, still sitting in the parking lot from Friday's debacle.  However, they got there and realized not only that they forgot the keys, but once I brought the keys, they realized that the car wouldn't start.  So, the Volvo is still there.  Hopefully a little sunshine this afternoon will thaw it out a little and it will start right up later on today.  It's known for being a little fickle in cold weather--at 180,000 miles, I think it has earned that right.

Some pictures at Covenant College.

Some views off the mountain from one of the overlooks...

Notice the faint outline of the mountains far off in the picture below...

They say this is the worst ice storm the area has seen in thirty years.  We drove around the mountain a little and saw a lot of fallen trees, many of which had already been cut and cleaned off the roads.  Our neighbors had a tree fall through their roof, just feet from their  bedroom.  As of this morning, 1000 households on Lookout were still without power.  We saw electric trucks and crews all over the mountain, some came from far away to help us out of this mess.  We're hopeful that everyone's power will be restored sometime today.  We're also grateful that we never lost power; it certainly makes it a little easier to appreciate how beautiful it all is.

Snow Storm

Yesterday it snowed for about 6 straight hours.  We received about 3-5 inches of clean, soft, white snow--it was a marshmallow world!

Urban LOVED it!  After this, he went straight back inside and watched us all sled and have snowball fights from the windows.  This morning, I was putting my snow gear on to head outside and Urban asked me if I was going outside to "throw snow at Davis." (:

These two were enthralled when they realized that you could make balls from the snow!  Davis couldn't get enough of snowball fights.

Then, overnight the temps warmed a little and it started sleeting.  We woke up this morning to fallen icy branches on our apartment roof and resting on power lines.  We're very grateful that we still have electricity so far--not everyone has been that fortunate.

A very droopy magnolia tree in our front yard

We all underestimated the potential that this storm was going to have.  The last time a winter storm was forecasted, everything in the area shut down early and all we got was dusting of snow.  This time, not so.  Anthony had to leave work early yesterday and pick our boys up from the friends' houses I had farmed them out to for the day (before we knew we were going to get this much snow).  About a week ago we planned for Myers to have a spend-the-night at the Brock's house last night and for Bode's friend, Addy, to spend the night here.  On Anthony's way to pick up the younger three from the Brock's house and to drop Myers off there, he and Myers had to abandon the Volvo at Covenant College because they couldn't make it any further.  It is now parked in the Sanderson lot.  Marshall Brock saved the day by picking them up in his 4 wheel drive truck--he brought the three younger boys and Anthony home and took Myers back with him.  But, now with Addy here and Myers over at the Brock's house, we're wondering how long it's going to be till we can switch all our kids back (:  It doesn't look like much of this mess is going to clear up until tomorrow afternoon.

But, today we're grateful for a heated home, hot water and a roof over our heads...

Krispy Kreme

Thank you, O'briens, for our Krispy Kreme coupons!

Body Painting

This is more of what I posted pics of yesterday.  (I had a hard time getting it uploaded yesterday, so tried again today.)

That Ubie's a real trooper...

Lost tooth

We're all very excited for Myers that he lost his first tooth on Sunday!  We were all hoping that the first tooth to go would be the dead one on top that's been hanging around for three years, but no such luck.

Myers very eagerly put his first lost tooth inside his tooth pillow Sunday night and left it for the tooth fairy--unfortunately, three days later, his tooth is still there.  When Bode began losing his teeth a few years ago, I tried to convince him that we just got assigned a very forgetful tooth fairy.  But, about a year ago they both cried foul on the tooth fairy idea and googled her to confirm their suspicions.  Now I'm being blamed for her forgetfulness.  It's hard to catch a break around here.  (:


On a separate note, I'm beginning to think I'm going to regret my decision to say yes to using the finger paint as body paint instead...

Photography

Okay, I've been experimenting with my "new" camera lately, but mostly for my Bags website.  I don't usually use our family blog to cross promote, but I rarely have opportunities to post "pretty" things on this blog.  (:  So, I thought I'd post some of my recent rbt Bags photos.  Needless to say, I've had a lot of fun learning to use my new camera (which is actually a five-year-old used camera I bought off ebay, but love it!)

I've decided that I'm going to use my Bags website this Spring as a blog.  We'll hopefully be posting lots of fun ideas for our products and even offering giveaways (if I can get my act together enough), so tell your friends!

Family Puzzle Night

Sweet Moments

So, I've been trying to pay better attention to the sweet moments lately.  Seems like some days they are fewer and farther between than others, but lately they've been happening often--or maybe it just seems like it because I'm actually trying to pay attention.  Either way, I thought I'd document a few of them here for prosperity's sake...

So, I'll start with a quote of the week.  Last week, when I was doing my usual huffing and puffing and sighing as I sweated over dinner preparations, I hardly noticed the Davis was standing beside me, watching me cut cantaloupe.  After one of my many sighs, he must've caught on to the effect I was going for and he said, "Wow, mom, you sure do work hard."  Nearly cutting off my fingers from the surprise of such an observant statement coming from so young a child, I set my knife down, leaned over and hugged him.  I proceeded to tell him that it takes a lot of work to take care of five boys and he said, "And Daddy!"  True that.

Here I have a picture of Urban with six bottles of salad dressing and one bottle of barbecue sauce.  Why, you might ask?  While I was busy cutting five pounds of pork chops up into tiny little pieces so that little people could actually chew and digest dinner, unbeknownst to me Urban was quietly transporting all these bottles from the fridge to the table, assuming that we were having the standard salad for dinner.  Unfortunately, broccoli was the vegetable on the menu this night, but it was funny when he finally realized that we didn't have any salad on the table and he started wandering around the kitchen looking for a salad to go with all that dressing.  It was a very thoughtful gesture and eventually all the other boys got to put it all back...

Last week after Bode and Myers came home from school, I asked Myers to make lunch and then settled in with my face to my computer and my back to the kitchen.  Of course, I only meant that he needed to make his own lunch, but that's not what he had in mind.  About twenty minutes later I heard him tell me that lunch was ready.  I turned around to find two paper plates on the table.  Each one contained one whole pickle, a couple tablespoons of yogurt and a dallop of applesauce.  I quickly realized that one of those plates was intended for me and the other for him.  I took that as his invitation to dine with him.  It was not the most appetizing lunch ever and I'm pretty sure I was hungrier when it was over than when I started, but it was a lunch that I hope I never forget (:

Below, is a picture of Myers, Davis and Lyndon doing "school" together.  The three of them hiked to the shed and hauled this 4 foot folding table across the yard and into the house for this game.  Myers, logically, was the teacher.  A heartwarming scene.  Unfortunately, it was two days before they finally hauled the table back out to the shed...

10 years

A lot has happened in 10 years.  Happy Anniversary, Anth!