Several days ago: an alarm

Several days ago Ben, Isaac, and I were playing a game at night and suddenly an alarm goes off!  BEEEEEEEEEEEEP!  It is a continuous beep, not a "this battery needs to be changed" beep.  It seems to be coming from the kitchen.  The only alarm (besides fire, and it wasn't that) in the kitchen is the water alarm behind the fridge.  Unfortunately, the string to pull up the water alarm had fallen too, so we had to pull the fridge out and pull out the alarm, only to find that it was not beeping.  The fridge fits in place just perfectly, so Isaac and I spent a minute pushing it back in...while the BEEEEEEEP is still happening.

Ben checks the garage, the room behind where we think the beep is coming from.  Nope.  I check the light fixture.  Nope.  Ben opens up the dishes cabinet.  Ah ha!  It is coming from there!  ...but I only have dishes in there. 

Well, it turns out I also have a digital kitchen scale in there.  Earlier in the day, Joshua decided to see if my kitchen scale could weigh itself.  It could.  However, it didn't turn off properly after that and after three hours it decided its best course of action was to emit a loud and piercing beep.  I had to remove the battery before it would stop and reset itself.

Friday: LEGO group

Friends came over tonight.  It was a lovely time.

The kids had seen each other on Sunday for Isaac's Profession of Faith and made plans.  They all made LEGO cars and played a hide-and-seek/tag game.  I think Joshua was the main force behind making the plans and I was so proud of all of them.  1) No adults were involved in the plans.  It was amazing.  2) Most of them participated!

We also played a game called "herd mentality".  I wasn't too sure of it at first, but the leader of the game kept it running well and it was a ton of fun.  It was with the adults and the kids and it was just easy.  I would totally play it again.

Thursday: will there be a snow day?

Tomorrow morning is supposed to be very cold, but we've used up our allotted snow days (without having to request more from the state).  We got a message from our school saying that while they normally follow what the local school district does, for the rest of the year they might not.  Especially tomorrow as it might only be cold and we don't have kids waiting for buses.

To be fair, there are no school districts that have school closings yet.  The prediction for our school district was "very high", so with the above information I guess that Eagle Crest is about 50/50.

I only fish tailed once today, so the roads have gotten better.  It was in a really random place and I have no idea why there would be any ice there.  Fortunately, I just needed to keep going forward and I didn't actually need to stop - it was just surprising.

Tuesday: snow day

It was...another snow day.  I've been so happy that the kids are able to stay home alone.

I came home to this.  We have a firm rule of "no toys in the kitchen" because when the kids were young they would just leave their stuff in the kitchen and I was always stepping on it.  The kids didn't do this though, oh no.  Tornado did it and even left a note.

As Isaac and I were leaving rock climbing we saw this cool snow.  It is slowly sliding off the roof, so there are multiple rows of icicles.  The blustering snow has also stuck itself to the icicles, so they look snowy instead of icy.

Monday

Today I realized that Isaac has really red hands compared to me.  Joshua's hands are also on the red side, but not as red as Isaac's.  Apparently this is a normal for him.

Saturday: rock climbing

Isaac had a rock climbing competition today.  This one was for the community, so the feel is much more laid back than the USAC ones.  He got 6/9 routes, which was a huge improvement from last time.  He got a few right away or within a few tries, worked on one for a good half hour, and then got another one easily that he originally had problems with.  Oh!  There were also a bunch of Christmas lights that had been strung for the finals in the evening.  Isaac asked...I wonder how they got those up there.  I replied with a ladder.  "Oh yeah.  I forget about ladders when I'm climbing."  Hilarious and understandable all at the same time.

Some of the holds are still new and they tore up his hands.  It meant he didn't try one route more than a few times because it was pretty much like rubbing his hands with sand paper as he fell off.

Tornado cuddled with him in the afternoon.  Right up by his head, because that's where Tornado likes to sit.

Friday: snow day

I went out to snow blow this morning and didn't find it all that cold.  (Cold, yes.  Just not that cold.)  But it turns out that I had gone out while there was a wind break.  Five minutes later I was almost done with the driveway and the wind picked up and I decided that was good enough.  I was now cold.

It was a relatively normal day.  Chores, games, stuff.  Joshua and I took a picture of Tornado and then printed it out four times.  He then drew Tornado into a bunch of monsters.  Tornado watched to make sure Joshua made them..regal...enough.

Tornado has also taken to napping on my chair.  Most of the time this is nice because he keeps it warm and is willing to sit on my lap if I do need to sit there.  Sometimes it's annoying if I just have a few minutes of work and so I try not to disturb him at all.

During my second snow blowing session I misjudged the wind direction.  (Or!!  The wind changed after I had started.)  By the time I realized it, I was committed.  By the time I finished, I decided that I shouldn't have been so committed as I really couldn't see anything.  A fine layer of snow coated my glasses.