The one where...it WORKED.

Holy crap this sort of thing almost never happens with Hadley. She WILLINGLY ACCEPTED the epic "paci removal." She slept through the night. It took a little longer for her to fall asleep and she cried a little once, but she SLEPT.

We had an "I'm a big girl with no paci and slept!!" party this morning and plan to do so every morning until she's 4. Ok, not that long, but at least until next week when we can deem her "broken" (of the awful habit) and buy her a toy. Because isn't that what good parents do? Bribe children with toys for being awesome even though the awesomeness would be forced upon her eventually?

Parents: 1
Hadley: 1

That's what you call a win-win, folks.

::please dear God don't let this be one of those crazy "honeymoon phase" things::

The one where the pacis … were gone.

Holy crap you guys. The past few days, Hadley has been obsessed with the little plastic slide in her daycare room. So much, in fact, that she would rather sit on her cot and stare longingly at the slide (and perhaps cause a little ruckus too) than go to sleep. (the teachers brilliantly have decided that tomorrow, they're going to move her cot.)

Discussion of Hadley's slide-love made me wonder if Hadley still took her paci at school so I asked. Imagine my SHOCK when the teacher said, "No…she hasn't used a paci since she came to our room (in January)."

Open mouth. Gaping. Shocked eyes. (look like a moron, I'm sure). WHAT!? I immediately decided that due to this little nugget of golden information, I'd push the issue at home. We decided this was going to happen in summer when we could sleep it off the next day(s).

Me: "Hadley!! You don't use your paci at nap time at school!?"
H: "No!"
Me: "Do you think we should make you a big girl at home too and put them away??"
H: thinks… "Yeah!"
Me: (ponders what I've just done) "ok!"

Rinse, repeat this conversation x2 with YES! each time…we were going for it.

Two "mommmmmmmmyyyyyyy"s later and a little extra time, she's sleeping. She hasn't fussed since. I'm hopeful for the overnight but we'll see. This could be exciting, folks. Hang in there and pray for us! If she can make it a week, she gets to pick out a new toy!

The one where we order a deck.

And it cost over twice what we'd planned. Joy. But no, really - JOY will be had by having this deck. I can't begin to tell you how excited we are to have a real-live deck as we've never had one. Our Iowa house didn't have a deck right off the kitchen and we pretty much never used the "patio" off the basement door.

It's going to be 14'x20' so it will be plenty big. I see us relaxing on the deck while the kids run around with their friends. I see us out there enjoying drinks with friends now and as we get older and I see many a meal had on the patio furniture we'll order once we get the deck in place (ask Adam to store one more thing in the garage he's still working on cleaning out? I'll take my chances on missing a sale on patio furniture.) ;-)

As soon as things dry out a little bit and the "spring" weather comes back, we're anticipating a deck in place in the next few weeks. We have a confirmation meeting to set it all in place on Wednesday after work as well as to pick out the exact composite material we want. I'm quite excited - one more outdoor space to add to our almost none at the moment!

In other news, I finally got confirmation that I'll be at MacArthur/Keller next year in the Green Bay School District. I was so very pleased as this was my first choice of 3 initially, 4 at the end. It's amazing how God works and knows which way to send you - initially I was quite upset about the entire thing but I've been shown that this is a huge opportunity to be even more in love with my work. I'm leaving behind good things which saddens me, but a new chapter means new, exciting things and I'm eager to share what I know/can do with this school. In addition, my second year means a gain in confidence, straight up knowledge of the WI system/paperwork, and growing as a professional in general. I'm so thankful I get to go do something I love (most days). ;-)

The girls are doing well. Adam traveled last week which proved to be VERY difficult with no yard for the dogs and being forced to walk them every time they needed to go out. Adding to the challenge was taking the tiny humans with me if I went down the block instead of just across the street (our neighbors are so kind - they said to come over and use their lawn whenever we needed - obviously we clean up messes - so I don't have to go far when I'm alone with the girls). The neighborhood had a fun snapshot of crazy as two dogs were pulling me down the sidewalk and I'm yelling at them to slow down and twogirls to keep up.

I'm tired. I'm so very tired but I can totally rock the next 8 weeks of school. More soon. Hopefully sooner than the gaping hole in time that was the last post to this post. :)

The one with the stereotypes that ring true

People tend to smile and laugh and share tidbits from their experiences with tiny humans when they see our girls in public, not unlike many children's parents, I suppose. Today, though, a stranger was talking about his great nieces while we were waiting to pick up our new lawnmower and I realized that so many stereotypes of kids/people/birth order/etc. ring true with our girls. For example…

Owies

Morgan: OH DEAR LORD A (teeny tiny almost can't see it) SCRAPE!! The world is ending! I might be dying! NOMOMMYDON'TPUTABANDAIDONITI'LLDIEMORE!!!! WAAAHHHHHH!

Hadley: BAM. play play play play…Me: "Hadley!! What happened to your head (while in the play place)?!? Are you ok!?" Child can be seen laughing and running away - don'ttakeawaymyplayplacetimewithowieattention. No lie - we went to McDonald's on our way out of town Tuesday (to WI Dells) and Hadley came out with a huge bump/bruise next to her left eye. We never heard a whimper out of that kid. She so badly wants to be just like the big kids.

Staying in bed at bed/nap time

Morgan: would never leave her bed unless the house was burning down and even then might question her decision because we told her to stay in bed. Now she knows she can come out of bed when her "wake up sheep" light goes off which has been a god-send for sleeping in on weekends for the parent-folk…

Hadley: bed/nap time - play talk noises Snoopy Hippo pacis (she's only supposed to have one at a time but can reach her stash on the shelf b/c we're lazy and don't want to get her one in the middle of the night). Yesterday at nap time, she'd already forced me to go in a few times to encourage quiet/sleeping. I found her GIANT white horse in bed with her and more playing/shenanigans going on. 

Following Directions

Morgan: Generally follows directions. Needs reminders here and there but rarely sees the time out step anymore. 

Hadley: similar to Morgan at this age, but about 100x more feeling behind it. SUCH a stinker. She says "no" all the time. She will look you in the eye and do almost anything you tell her not to one. more. time. After being away from KinderCare this week, I really think she's imitating the behavior of her little friends there, as we've seen a sharp decrease in some of her behaviors this week. 

Imitation

Morgan: She rarely imitated other children as she grew because she was the first kid in our family so there wasn't much to imitate besides kids at daycare. We could reason with her and remind her that we behave a certain way, blah blah blah…and it would not be an issue for long.

Hadley: While she'll do her own thing, she imitates "big kids" ALL the TIME. Morgan climbs something high? Well, so can Hadley (fall, plop, bruise, heart attack for mom…). Morgan plays with her food and it doesn't fall on the floor? Hadley plays the same way and half of dinner goes to the dogs. Sigh.

Smarts

Morgan: Oh our little genius child. It was 2:1 for a long time and we taught her many many things. She knew her alphabet and a million other things by the time she was two. She's continued this love of learning and is reading and math and thinking and growing.

Hadley: Sorry kiddo - 2:2 is a totally different story especially when kidlet #1 talks a mile a minute almost every waking moment of the day. She's learning and growing too, but not like Morgan. This kid is going to be smart but she's going to also be street smart in a way that Morgan might not be simply because she's second-born. 

There's more to the differences with these two. There are a ton of similarities - they are both good sleepers/eaters. They both love their family members to the fullest extent of their hearts and beyond. They are both adorable! They both have a love of books that makes my heart burst with joy. We wouldn't trade them for anything and we love the people they're growing into. The differences are what makes them perfect and ours. 

The one where the second one is different than the first

As a parent, no one is EVER perfect (hello! see me pointing wildly at myself! and then a quiet finger at Adam...we're totally not perfect although I know we don't suck either). Sometimes I yell and feel that the girls are being irrational even though in all reality they're just being kids and all that goes with that.

That said, Adam and I have had some heavy discussions lately about Hadley's behavior. Let me preface - we know our girls are generally good and not horrid little humans. We work hard to make sure they shy away from being horrid little humans which ultimately results in discipline and guidance and rules and such.

Something we're both working on understanding is the girls are TOTALLY different people which means what works/ed for one does not necessarily work with the other. I'm understanding this more than Adam at the moment but then we get on the same page, things suck before they improve, then they're nice, and then Hadley's smartipants little self feels the need to retest and make sure we're still on our toes. I'd like to think it's her 2 year molars coming in (which the dentist just confirmed that Hadley is smack-dab in the middle of it) or the fact that she's picked up yet another cough-like-crazy cold, or cabin fever or (insert your favorite reason for 2 y/o antics here) but really? I think Hadley's just a totally different kid who shines SUPER BRIGHT when she shines and then makes you potentially lunatic crazy when she's the opposite.

I have more thoughts on this but I'm running out of brain power. Thank you time change, up for a long time with a coughing tiny human last night, and having to get up for work in the morning (whine, I know, don't we all get up…wahhhh). Only 3 more days of work this week and then some much needed time off - Spring Break y'all! Off Friday (Susie birthday lunch with the girls), Adam land during nap time (oh yeah! Toronto this week! conferences! sigh.), down time until Tuesday, and then we're headed to the Dells T-TH. Can't. Wait. I'm on a mission to find little girl floaties but I'm getting nervous…hopefully Adam knows where they are...

The one where they kicked me out

I'm wallowing in self-pity, folks. It will pass and I know I just need to get over it because it's life and (what!?) it's not all about me. I got an email from an administrator on Monday (the kind where it's all "Call me. My cell is blahbiddyblah.") and after some phone tag, found out through a very unemotional delivery that I was essentially being kicked out of my building as of the end of this year. The person whose spot I took didn't like her new position and given the circumstances of my arrival (late) and whatnot, she gets her old spot back.

I could say lots of mean things (since I've already thought them, obviously) but when it comes down to it, it's life and if that's how the rules go here, that's how they go and honestly, I'm not going to be the one to change them. Thankfully no matter what, I still have a job so that's not the problem.

Oh and I'm sad. I flat out cried after barely holding it together while she was telling me over the phone. I really enjoy my building, I finally feel like I'm making friend connections and not just professional ones here (this is so hard for me to do), and it's just a good PLACE. I told the administrator that I do not want a high school (I could go into the mess that is speech in high schools here but I'll save all that fun jazz for another day). Frankly, I don't want a middle school either (what?! why don't you want to therapize hormonal teenagers who don't want to come to speech!? I don't get it?!) but if I get a K-8 building, so be it (I don't think I will).

So now I sit and wait while all the other more senior SLPs get all the good spots and then I get the leftovers. Thankfully there are a few retirements as well, so I shouldn't be stuck with the high school opening they have...I could take the Assistive Tech position that opened as a result of the person coming back to my school but I don't want it. I want to see kids on a daily basis of all sorts of varieties. I'm not sure I'm cut out to work with gadgets all day even though I have the training and experience to get started, learn more on the job, and probably do ok.

AAAaaaaaannnndd it's conferences night tonight, followed by another night of them on Tuesday. Sigh. Such a necessary evil. I'd much rather have 15 conferences than 35 though...

POSITIVE NOTE:
Adam booked our getaway to Wisconsin Dells from March 18-20. It's just a few days away but I think it's just what we need - we need some fun, some water, some plain old family time away from the "norm." We haven't told the girls yet because they'll want to pack tonight and go tomorrow. Maybe this weekend. Maybe next weekend. I don't know but we best find their floaties BEFORE telling them...

And then we turned 32

You'd think I'd be blogging more with all this "time" I have, right?

No. No I don't have extra time. When I'm sitting on the couch, I'm ALL about the Olympics or sleeping. I'm tired, people. I'm tired. Of so many things (ahem, stupid too cold weather, ahem) but right now, we're just going to say I'm tired and need some shut eye (yay weekend starting tomorrow).

So. We turned 32 since my last post. I have to say, I think I really like that Adam and I have close birthdays because we sort of get to celebrate together and have conversations like this:

Me: "We have to have a plan. Do you want the cookie cake or the ice cream cake? I'll take the other."
Adam: "I'll take the ice cream cake."
Me: "Great - want me to order mine or do you want to?"
Adam: "I totally got this." (and he totally did. It was purple with MORE purple on top. Love him.)

We're cool like that.

Here's the other awesome thing about having close birthdays - if one is a bust, you just get to have fun on the other almost right away!

You guessed it - wahhhh everyone was either deathly ill, mostly ill, or 2 years old on my birthday (see how I did that? how the 2 y/o is just as much work as the sick ones? because I'm right.)

My birthday was fine - I relaxed, had too much cookie cake, and drank some wine. Adam knocked it out of the park by getting me some perfume I didn't even know I loved and I no longer stink to high heaven. Adam's birthday was fun and the girls had a good time eating ice cream cake. He got the driver (golf) he'd been eyeing up forever and now we're 32. Old balls.

Here's to 32 being slightly "quieter" than 31 was - I don't know if I can handle back-to-back years like 31 ended up being...(even though I loved it!)

Hello February!

Blah blah blah where did January go…no wait, really? Where did January go!?! With all the cold days and crazy weeks at work b/c of that and the like, suddenly it's February. I'm almost THIRTY-TWO you guys. Thankfully I'm not almost 33 which would make me just shy of a 1/3 of a century old so we're not going to go there until 367 days from now, mmm-k?

So what's new, how are we doing, I suppose I should tell you. Since it's been a while, a nice, long bulleted list sounds about right so here we go, little to big.

Hadley Elizabeth:

• This kid is getting SO VERY big. She has spent 2 nights in her toddler bed and is easily starting her 3rd. She LOVES being "big" and I don't hesitate to remind her to tell any/everyone she's come into contact with this weekend that she's being uber successful with it just to reinforce how awesome she's made this transition. 
• She's never getting rid of her paci. :-/ I lie. We're going to try like hell this summer when I can get a dang nap after long nights. 
• She's still feisty but we're working on it. I have to remember she's 2 sometimes.
• She has caught a case of word vomit. The kid is constantly talking, becoming easier to understand, and routinely cracks us up with how she says things (ie. "round-about" = "butt-a-butt").

Morgan Addison:

• Had her first softball clinic today. She LOVES hitting (and has been practicing in the basement for 2 weeks) and less-than-loves catching (who can blame her - I hate it too). 
• She starts soccer in May and goes through July and had softball for two months in there somewhere on opposite days. We still have to squeeze in swimming for both girls…
• She's in tumbling right now and loves it. She's only been to one session b/c of stupid freezing -50 windchill temps but she goes again on Tuesday and she can't. wait. 
• She's reading and loves it. I brought home some Level A books from school and she's been going to town. I can't tell you how excited this makes me b/c before I took to reading kids' books 99.9% of the time, I LOVED (and still do) reading. 

Adam Paul (ok ok fine. He goes first b/c he's a full 5 days younger than me. whatever.)

• He just got done traveling two weeks in a row. The first was to the Caribbean (jerk). The second was to Iowa (ha it was cold there, too). We have him home until the end of February when he goes to hang out with the Canadians again.
• He likes his home office gig and we had someone come look at the space to get going on actually building him a real ROOM for his office instead of his make-shift on on the concrete basement floor. I'm excited for this to happen for him. I didn't enjoy my concrete slab-ness of an office at one of my Iowa schools, so I wouldn't expect him to like it, either. (it doesn't bother him as much).
• He continues to amaze me with his patience with the girls as they test and just be 2/4 sometimes. What an amazing dad-man. He makes us a strong team. 

Melissa Sue:

• I got a new car! We traded the Highlander in for a Kia Optima (blue) and I simply adore it. It's fun and sporty and once it stops snowing someday in July, I bet it's REALLY fun on dry pavement. Morgan is hilarious as she doesn't think we can get to a new destination in the truck anymore - it's doesn't have a "map." (navigation) We'll be getting an Acadia (likely) when the time is right but since Adam's truck is wonderful and we're not hauling large quantities of carpooled children/stuff around quite yet, we're not in a huge hurry on that one. 
• Work is going well but let me tell you, the paperwork is going to be the death of me. I HATE learning an all-new system and am struggling with the change that is happening mid-year. Or next month. Or every other week. It's just new and different and not run like Iowa. I'm not going to lie - as much as I HATED all the training and paperwork there, they knew their shit. They had things going for them. And the whole state was on the same page. I'm going to stop there so I don't write a small novel on this topic alone. :-D  <-- a="" anyway.="" face="" li="" me="" my="" on="" putting="" s="" smile="" that="">
• I don't think I'm ever going to get over the fact that we have family/friends so close. I got to have a drink with my bff after work Friday. My brother popped over and had lunch with us 10 minutes after he called b/c he could. We went to a family birthday party we probably wouldn't have driven home (as the sole reason) for. The fact that we're not missing almost everything makes warm fuzzies surround my heart every time. 
• I'm loving our down-sized life. Our smaller house (that I can actually manage/clean). My smaller car. (NOT my smaller salary but hey…it is what it is and it's worth it). 
• I miss my Iowa friends. They are amazing, they kept me going while I was there and thank GOD for the technology to help me keep up with them now. Holla. I miss you guys. 
• And lastly, I get to go to New Orleans in June! Adam has a big conference there and I get to go. My good friend, Meg, might even get to meet me there (she lived in the area for a while so she can show me all the awesomeness the area has to offer). 

Ok, bedtime. Another week awaits and thankfully this should be a WHOLE WEEK of work (read: no snow days to make up in June since I'm already working until the 13th! Minimum!). Adios, 31. What a year. Here's to hoping 32 is a little tamer. Maybe. ;-)

And that's why I shouldn't...

blow the snow with our snow blower.

So...the hubs is out of town enjoying the Caribbean and all its 85 degree weather (waaa, he's working...whatever. It's still tropical.). BAM! Insert 7-8" snowfall here while single parenting two kids and two dogs.

I was GOING to blow the snow the night it happened, but it was so very windy that the drift that had formed would only get worse through the night so my genius brain said, "Of course! Get up early! You'll remember how to blow the snow (from running it two years ago) and you'll be greaaaaaaat!" So that's what I did.

In fact, I WAS a genius and got it started pretty much right away. I blew a Highlander-sized hole through that drift (the rest of our driveway was bare b/c of the wind - woo!) and made it to work on time. It's ok - you don't have to call me awesome to my face. You can just think it.

So the evening happens, the girls are in bed, I'm iMessaging with my BFF (b/c that's what we do), and I finally get out in the freezing cold (and windy again, mind you) to blow the rest of the drift. I of course had to fix the (not straight) sidewalk path our good Samaritan neighbor made for us with his snow blower.

Weeeeelllllll, it turns out it's hard to see with blurry, watery, snowflyinginmy eyes and I missed the sidewalk. I ended up on the (frozen) mud a bit and voila. I'm as done as done is going to be. I head up to the house, turn off the blower, only to have the dogs CRAWLING up my legs, terrified.

Beep. Beep. Beep. I hear what they hear. They think they are being shocked (remember the electric fence we had laid on the yard last week? They KNOW it's in) by the beeping sound on the box it's connected to in the garage. I rip Jessie's collar off, (Maddie's too scared to wear one right now) and unplug the box as fast as my frozen fingers will allow (which is slow. very slow, especially with 50# dogs crawling up me trying to be held.).

Finally I can think. It wasn't beeping when I came OUT...now it's beeping...NOOOOO. I totally severed the line when I did my off-roading snow blowing adventure. Wait! I'm not electrocuted! A miracle!

So now the Invisible Fence people get to come put it back together (splice?) on Monday. Broken before it's even in the ground. I wonder how much that will cost.

No, we can't fix it ourselves b/c it will void the warranty. Special, huh?

And that, my friends, is why I should be the one inside making hot chocolate (drinking wine) and HE should be the one outside running the machinery. From Jamaica. Yah mon.

Hadley the Two Year Old

And then the baby one turned two. TWO. She's two already and loving every minute of it. Hadley highlights commence (and sorry, baby, when you read this a month late when you're big. once you move an entire family/household across the Midwest in two phases months apart, you'll understand).

• Our little talker - she's now using 2-3 word sentences that are getting longer every day. It's nice that she's really caught up on her language now - we understand her more, she's frustrated less, and we all laugh at the hilarious things she comes up with.
• Our little stinker - she's still up to no good often and loves to be the sassy one. She's the one we'll find egging Morgan on until she "pops"...but she's a good egg, too, and isn't fully sassy, if I do say so myself. Adam may disagree sometimes. ;-)
• She likes:
• babies. toy and real.
• her baby cousin, Calvin. She will kiss him no less than 1,239 times in 10 minutes if allowed to do so while leaning on his tiny baby tummy (if unsupervised).
• her big sis. No wait - she LOVES her big sis. They play together all the time and Hadley will do almost anything Morgan tells her to (at this point - another short-lived gem, I'm sure).
• the McDonald's play land, especially the one by our new house with the giant slide she and Morgan go down together (and even alone sometimes! big girl!)
• SLEDDING. We have a GINORMOUS sledding hill a few blocks from our house. this kid is afraid of nothing and as soon as the tube stops (with the parent sitting under her), she jumps off and waddles her padded self directly straight back up that mountain.
• her Grandpa Al. It must be a second-born bond or something. They are in cahoots at all times. Got an owie? If Grandpa Al is there, mom/dad might as well not exist.
• tickles. she'll tell you she doesn't want tickles but she's lying and actually means she wants more.
• to eat. She eats fairly well and if it's a soup she loves, she'll devour it and beg for more. Favorite foods include mac 'n cheese and hotdogs, my chicken noodle soup, white cheese shells, kilbasa (love it when she says this - BASAAAA), popcorn, clementines...she's a good eater.
• Her stats at her 2 year well check were great! She was 26.4lbs (50s for percentile?...can't remember) and 35" tall (80th percentile!! Woah growth!). She's still easily fitting in 2T clothes so it will be interesting this summer, unless she has another growth spurt, of what she's going to wear...Morgan was in 3T during her 2 y/o summer so we might have to revert back to last year's 2T clothes that were big on her.
• She has discovered the word "no" loudly and clearly but will usually be talked into what we need her to do eventually. She has a mind all her own and a free spirit who knows exactly what she wants.
• Hadley loves to dance. She dances anywhere to any music. She also quickly catches on to lyrics of a song and was singing one in the car this morning I didn't realize she had learned. She's also singing one about a bus and very clearly knows what she's singing even though the rest of us have no clue other than this "song" is triggered any time we talk about/see a school bus.
• She's been having a hard time going down on the first try the past week or so. She stands and yells MOM! DAD! (like that - like a big kid) and then won't tell us what she wants. We're trying to go super nanny on her and just lay her back down, cover her up, and leave. I hate that. I would rather snuggle her but then I'd be in her room until 9pm and that's not cool.
• Old news, but she's totally potty trained during awake hours. She's dry about 1/3 of the time she wakes up from naps, depending on how long they are. She's getting "driER" overnight, but we're a ways off from that and that's totally ok with me.
• We kept her in her crib for the moves and in a few weeks, we'll transition her to a toddler bed although something tells me this independent little girl with a mind of her own will not make this as easy of a transition as her older sister did for us... ;-)

Our little Hadley keeps us busy and entertained for sure. She snuggles us and makes so many people smile. We love her like crazy and are excited about the big kid she's growing into. Happy 2 years old, Hadley Elizabeth!

Aaannnnnndddd we're back!

So. Behind.
But so many amazing things!
I will be back to chronicle December 2013 at some point, including a "Hadley turned 2!" post (because she's an awesome big girl now - who are we kidding - she's still my baby) and try to get some pictures posted of what's "finished" in our house. Right now that would be ... the kitchen. I think I can safely say the kitchen is done except for decorating and even that won't be much because there are more cabinets than wall space by far (opposite of the Iowa house). The girls' rooms are done too, except for decorating, curtains being up, and blinds in Morgan's room.

But for those we didn't talk to over the holidays, we've settled in nicely, we're still "roughing it" without blinds in the master bedroom or Morgan's room (they should be done this week, early next week hopefully!), but we can fully function around the boxes that are immediately visible and are very much enjoying our new home.

Highlights:

• We LOVE that the girls can play in their rooms without supervision. At the Iowa house, their ages and distance (an entire flight of stairs that made hearing them without a monitor almost impossible) didn't allow for independent play in their own rooms. And they're suddenly playing so nicely together...ah, the joys of 2 and 4 (I know this is temporary but for now we're choosing to love it).
• Kitchen. My kitchen. The end.
• Proximity - we're relatively close to everything and when we found Calvin this referee outfit he HAD TO HAVE, we could drop it off on our way home without a bat of an eye. LOVE!
• So many more but I must move on for now. :)

Lowlights:

• OMG Is it January 10th yet? We can't wait for the dogs to have their electric fence (it comes Jan. 10th, see?) so they can go outside unsupervised. It is SO COLD and let's be honest - we hate taking them out on leashes.
• Cold. Ok, I get it, it's winter, but I'm CRINGING at the thought of the HIGH on Monday being -10. (did you see that big fat minus sign!?) And almost daily it's been going down a degree. Someone said -14 for the high and I almost fell off my chair. No. No school Monday. Please dear Lord no school on Monday for the very sake that I'll freeze to death.
• No other ones! Just whining about the cold we're all experiencing!

I'll get back to such things as Hadley turning two soon...for now, Happy New Year 2014!