Bella, Gabe and Josiah

We don’t normally get to see the northern lights. We have too much cloud cover, so even if they’re out, we can’t see them. But this year, we’ve had some crazy shows. Most of them, I’ve missed because they all happen in the middle of the night when I’m asleep. Gabe was complaining that he’s never seen him, so I promised to wake him up the next time they were out. Sunday night was the night. A friend posted they were out, so I went outside and saw a green blur. So I told Pat, but he didn’t feel good and didn’t want to go outside to look (spoiler alert: he totally missed out!!). But I woke up Gabe. I didn’t want to stop to put a jacket on him, so I just wrapped him in a blanket and went outside. Um, that was the best show I’d ever seen. It was incredible! I was trying to take pictures, but I only had one hand because I was holding Gabe. The blanket was falling off and I couldn’t put it on nicely because he wasn’t wearing boots, so he was cold and I couldn’t do anything about it. But the l...

We had another day of skiing! It was a perfect day on the mountain. We’d gotten a huge snowstorm the night before, but then it cleaned up in time but the plows to have the roads completely clear. It was completely calm, with blue skies, not cold and plenty of fresh snow. It was a perfect ski day. The only problem was that Pat had to park the truck halfway down the mountain because the entire town was up there… After lessons, we went to pick up the boys. Gabe asked Pat if he could do a run all by himself, so Pat agreed. After he made it down, Pat told him to pack his gear because they were going to the bigger hill after lunch. This meant that I got to ski with Josy. He was so cute. He loved the chairlift, but once we got off and started skiing he kept saying “I’m doing it! I’m weawy doing it! I’m wearning to ski!!” He was so proud of himself as he slowly made his way down the hill. He made it down three runs and then he had trouble getting up after a fall, so I decided to quit while we ...

Pat was out of town for Valentine’s Day this year, so it was just me and the boys. I decided to surprise the boys with valentines in their lunch boxes. Pat was jealous. Then I took Josy out for coffee on our way to school. M: Josy, I’ll buy you a special coffee drink because it’s Valentine’s Day and you’re my Valentine. J: I’m not your vawentine. I’m just a boy. Thanks kid. Josy, putting valentines into his friends bags… And I’ll just end this right here….

Sunday night tea and Bible time For some reason, he really likes having his coat on backwards… Gabe decided that he wanted to start sleeping on a pile of stuffed animals in Josy’s bedroom. We had dinner with Gram and Gramps and the boys ended up in the bathtub. Getting Josy used to ski boots Lucy, eyeing Josy’s breakfast The boys finally got haircuts! Josy was bummed because he wanted his hair short like Daddy’s “with hokey-pokeys on the top.” Friday night dinner and a movie night: Honey, I Shrunk the Kids! Puppy Josy, snuggled up with all of his puppies Nothing like story time with Gram and Gramps Gabe and Gram made hot chocolate bombs. They looked (and tasted!) much better than the ones I tried to make last year… Gabe went to Nerf Gun Night. There were only three kids, so I got to play too, which was fun.  Josy was convinced he needed his astronaut costume at school and I was not about to say no when he’s just that cute. I walked downstairs yesterday and they were all three read...

Josy had his first ski lessons! Gabe actually started lessons too, but he’s at least done a few of these already. Josy, on the other hand, was on skis for the first time ever. He wasn’t super excited when his lessons started, but that was mostly because he didn’t want to wear the vest. Once we left, he had a wonderful time. While the boys were at lessons, Pat and I got to ski together for the first time since we were dating, I think. Then we picked up the boys. I really wanted a picture of Josy on his skis, but he told me no. We had some lunch at the lodge and then we each took a boy up the hill. We thought Josy was done, but he really wanted to go to the chairlift, so he was willing to give it a try. He made it down the hill three times and then we decided to quit while we were ahead. We were all exhausted by the time we got home, but all-in-all, it was a good day.

This weekend was a little crazy. Dad and I painted the kitchen, living room and dining room. It was a lot of work. Dad spent the last week doing some prep work during the week, filling holes and taking down curtain rods. Friday night I cleaned out all of the toys and anything extra that could be moved. Then Saturday morning we started taping at 9. And noon we started painting and I finished cleaning brushes at 10pm. It was a long day. I don’t think either of us could move by the time we were done. Gabe was super excited to help. He did a really good job…for awhile. Then he got too crazy and I couldn’t trust him to not get paint everywhere, so we made him stop. He was not happy about that. Then Sunday Pat and I pulled the tape off and put the house back together. I also insisted on doing crazy things like moping before we put the furniture back. I don’t know when our house has ever been this clean!! (Minus the paint stuff that needs put away once I do a few more touch ups…) It looks so ...