Warm!

Since that last time I blogged it was REALLY cold, I guess I should lead off with the fact that it's supposed to be 55 today. Unfortunately:

a) I'm stuck inside in a training class*
b) It's overcast
c) It's windy

Nevertheless, the snow is melting and it's warm!

*Monday morning around 11am. I'm sitting in my office at home. I haven't showered yet. My phone rings. It's my boss.

Boss: Where are you at?
Neal: Physically? In my office at home.
Boss: How fast can you get to Waukesha (where my office is)?
Neal: Uh, about and hour.
Boss: Are you presentable?
Neal: Yeah, I guess?
Boss: I have a training class I want you to take. It's a half day today, all day Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and a half day Friday. The class starts at 1p.
Neal: Is there anyway that I can get out of this? Okay, I'll get up there.

So yes, I'm sitting at my lunch break in Waukesha. This week has been a bit crazy. We've had some major changes to what we expected this week to be like:

• Laura was sick last weekend so she and Gow couldn't take their weekend away over the weekend. They're down in Chicago as we speak. Daisy and Sally have been with us since Tuesday around 8am. Laura and Gow should be back around dinner time tonight.
• I have the training class, so I'm having to get out of the house by 7am, and not arriving back home until about 6pm. Quite a different day than when I work at home ... 2 extra hours in the car, and no flexibility in my schedule.
• (probably the biggest one) My folk's house was flooded on Saturday morning. The condo upstairs (empty, being foreclosed upon) had no heat on and had multiple breaks to water pipes. It's a long, drawn out story, but my parents were the victims (even though they had reached out to the condo management company multiple times trying to ensure this did not happen). It looks like things are going to be handled, but it's been a major inconvenience for them, that's for sure. All the drywall in the kitchen, dining room, and living room was messed up!

Why is that last one a disruption to the Wildwood DeVries? Well, because throughout all of this, we've been trying to get the empty side of our duplex ready for my sister Jane to move into next Tuesday, and my folks are my head painters. I'm very thankful that despite the major disruption in their lives, they've put in a lot of time over at the duplex. I definitely have not been able to be over there as much as I had planned (prior to the training class). Friday morning, the carpet goes in, so we've been trying to get all the painting done that is over carpet. We ended up removing all the carpet, and having to paint (scent covering) Kilz on all the floors. I think it's going to be pretty nice when we're done, though. And we're very excited to have Auntie Jane move to town!

So, whew, it's been a crazy week. But (I hope) spring is on the horizon!!!

Cold

Yes, cold. When Cyndie and I drove out of the house today at 8am, it was -9 degrees. Yes, that's a minus sign in front of the nine. Youzas!

Great news on the rental house front. For those of you not in the know, we have had a renter, and I use that term lightly, on one side of the duplex who was decidedly less than ideal. He last paid in November, we gave him an eviction notice in mid January, and now we finally, after some delays, have him out. We'll be renting that side of the duplex to my sister Jane who is moving to Lake Geneva from Iowa (Yea! More on that some other time). So yesterday evening I went over to get the keys and garage door opener from the renter, and today we went over to assess the "damage" (none really, phew!), and to decide what to paint and how. Jane will arrive in about a week and a half, so there will be lot's of painting and cleaning going on until then.

Yesterday I played Timmy 3 or 4 times in foosball. He's pretty good. When he wins, I typically let him, though it's not too big of a stretch that he can start to honestly compete with me. He knows how to hit/kick the ball well, he just needs to understand the tactics a bit better to get a little more competitive. It's fun! We also did the traverse (from his tree fort bed to his reading spot) on the rock climbing wall a couple of times together too. Fun times!

Hitting Mid-week

Well, we're hitting midweek here at Wildwood DeVries Headquarters. This week looks to be filled with school (Em and Tim), work (Cyndie and I), and meetings (Cyndie and I). Hopefully we'll get a breather here and there.

I've enjoyed hanging out with Timmy a couple of times in his new room. It was really fun for me to come into his room yesterday afternoon and finding him up in his reading nook with a book reading to himself. I also managed to get in a foosball game or two with him, as well as a bit of rock climbing. And yesterday morning, with the house silent (kids at school, Cyndie there too helping with some vision testing), I hung out in his room for 5 or 10 minutes just watching his fish swim around. I think I'm a bit fatigued this week after the big rush of trying to get the room done and the whole house ready for the Super Bowl party.

Yesterday Emma got home from Brownies and didn't feel well. She fell asleep on the couch for a bit, and went to bed early. She appears to be better this morning though. Cyndie speculates that she's not eating enough in the afternoons of Brownies, and that's making her stomach hurt and her get real low on energy. There will be an extra banana in her lunch box next Tuesday!

It's right at the zero mark outside today, and should be pretty cold for the next several days. No wonder my legs about froze off when I walked the dog in shorts for 4 or 5 minutes last night (I checked the temp then and it was 1 with a wind chill factor of -16)!

Fun Super Bowl Weekend

We had a fun, but very busy weekend! On Friday it was the last Ski day of the season for the kids' school, so Cyndie hit the slopes with them. As always, they had a great time. They've progressed again, and are definitely ready for bigger hills. We've talked about heading to one of the bigger resorts up by Madison, we'll see if that happens.

While Cyndie and the kids hit the slopes, I "finished" up Tim's room. There are still 5 or 10 smaller things to do, but he slept in there Friday night, and most of the "new" things are usable, so that's a relief. I think I'll take this week off from working on it! Cyndie and the kids grabbed some Chinese to surprise me with and we had a picnic in Timmy's room. Then we spent 30 or 45 minutes rock climbing on the new wall. The kids are going to be pretty good with that there to play with. I had to make it harder for them by limiting the holds they were allowed to use! Fun stuff.

Saturday we spent a lot of time getting ready for the big Super Bowl party. Many thanks to my folks for coming over to help clean up (and for all the help in getting some painting done). The kids had birthday party in the afternoon, then we had our Coffee Shop Bible study at Laura and Gow's. After that, the kids stayed at Laura and Gow's and we headed out to a Euchre party at some friends' (like I said, it was a busy weekend). It was a profitable night. For an entry fee of $10 per person, we came away with $105 ($80 for me for getting first place and $25 for Cyndie for getting last)! We're adding that to the kitty for our weekend away at the end of the month.

Sunday was more getting ready for the big party, then church, and the party itself. I think we had around 40 people at the house. We added lights for the skating rink and sled run so that those activities could continue well after dark. We had a chili cookoff. And, of course, the game. It was fun, and thanks to some help from friends, the house really wasn't messy at all after the party!

Now here's to hoping for a quiet week.

Winter pix

Pre-blizzard ... we went skiing with the kids' school!

Ems up to her waist in the snow.

The car was buried!

It's cold

Yes, very cold. Zero when we went downstairs at 6:15 this morning. After the foot and a half of snow and blizzard conditions canceled school yesterday, the cold temps and wind chills in the -15 to -25 degree range canceled school today. Last night Timmy prayed that he could have school today, but he doesn't appear to be suffering much!

The big thrust this week is trying to finish off (or at least get it to a usable state) Timmy's room before the big Super Bowl party. I think it'll be really close. It'll probably mean some crazy nights, but we'll make it. The remaining tasks are painting the climbing wall, attaching all the holds, filling the fish tank, and (the big one), cleaning everything up.

I'm guessing we'll have around 30 - 40 people for the Super Bowl, so that should be fun. I'm going to rig up some lights for the sledding hill and ice skating rink so that (assuming it's not too cold), the kids can go out there some. We're having a Chili Cookoff too. Oh, and there's a football game.

On the kid front, both kids are really into playing Lego (Batman, Star Wars) on the play station. We're trying to limit that, but with snow days and bad weather it becomes difficult at times. They are also really reading a lot. It's helped by the Six Flags promotion at school. Timmy is really getting better very quickly and totally thinks it's a kick to read books all by himself.

So, there you have it ... lots going on!

Those feet

Yes, it's been over a month since I've posted. I'd like to get back in the habit, but I can't honestly say when that will happen as most all of my spare moments are being spent working on Timmy's room. However, I had to take a second to post this.


Kohl's to buy new boots for Timmy (for next winter)


Cyndie and Timmy

Cyndie: Tim, sit here. I want to feel where your feet are in your shoes to see how your tennis shoes are fitting you.

Tim: Okay mom.



Cyndie: Timmy, your toes are starting to stick out through the end of your shoes.

Tim: Yeah, they've kind of been hurting lately.






So there's your little dramatic re-enactment of what happened. Apparently Tim's been doing a bit of growing lately. We had noticed that he's been sleeping a lot and eating quite a bit. Cyndie brought home size 3 shoes for Timmy (which he's very excited about ... he loves new shoes that boy).

Emma wears size 2.

Tim is either going to be tall, or have skis for feet!