Snowed In

I feel like a school girl giddy with delight...

I absolutely love being snowed in with my family.

French toast and hot chocolate for breakfast.  No where to go.  Christmas trees to decorate.  A lazy day in pajamas.  Stromboli and homemade/ homegrown caramel popcorn.  An epic Wii battle.

And, only my kids would be insistent to play outside during a blizzard.  Donning snowmobile helmets and gear, they spent hours outside playing in the snow.  They would come in for a couple of minutes to warm up their hands and then they were off out into a winter storm again. 

Can life get any better?


Our popcorn cross pollinated with our decorative/ Indian corn but even the purple kernels still pop!

The boys insisted dressing up the animals in holiday gear.  Boomer was a reindeer...

Rex wasn't havin' it...

But Miss Kitty would put up with a little dress-up time.

Granted, a couple years ago I would have been in tears being snowed in with two fighting boys and an antsy husband.

But, today is great.

Last week was rough.  Aaron has been having laser treatments on his leg (his 'bad' leg- I hate to say it like that--- but the leg he does not have much feeling in) and they went.... alright.  The stomach flu has been going through our house... so we had been puking and rallying for several days.  And then to top it all off, we discovered that the boys had lice.  Yes, head lice.  Awesome. 

So, I was a little.... worked up.... shall we say.  Yes, we will not say crazy.... we will say worked up.

But, today is better.  Today we are snowed in.  Puking is complete.  Head lice is done.  And only four more laser treatments for Aaron. 

And the holiday season is upon us.  It's my favorite time of year.  I know I say that about every season... but Christmas time is my favorite. 

The Other Female

{The real reason for this post is that I am trying to learn some of the advanced settings of my camera and the only cooperative subject that I have living in my house is the cat...if you can call her cooperative.  My camera is now taken off of auto as the blonde and brunette bloggers and I are taking a photography course.  So, bear with me as I try out the manual settings.}

I have had a slight problem with the other female in the house... she has been very naughty.

Us girls have got to stick together, but her terrible habits need to stop.  What terrible habits could a cat have?  Well, hers is the worst---even though the boys find it amusing.

The crazy cat is always grooming the boys!  Abram nestled himself between Mr. Giraffe and the kitty.  But, her grooming is not her terrible habit.

I know that cats have a sense of pride... well maybe it is more of a prissiness.  Anything they catch, dead or alive, they have to show their "master"--if cats have a master.  Well, our indoor cat's master seems to be Noah.  She has a very naughty habit of bringing little critters into the house.  We have found dead mice in the living room...hopping frogs in the kitchen (she never seems to put forth the effort to actually kill the frogs)...alive mice in the entryway...and decaying mice neatly tucked away under her masters bed.  Trust me, the only critters that we get in our 90 year old house are the ones she brings in. 

She hides between the plants in our bay window like she is in a jungle.

Then, the last straw came---

Noah had his best bud, Emmanuel (who is an amazing child,) stay overnight.  It was one of those sleepless nights that was riddled with storms.  So, needless to say, no one got any sleep. 

At around 0600 in the morning, Emmanuel burst into our bedroom, "Your cat dropped a rat on me!"

Still slightly sleepy I replied, "You have got to kidding."

"No, she dropped a rat on my legs!" he exclaimed.  His eyes were as huge as dinner plates.

I hopped out of bed, ran into a wall, and burst into Noah's bedroom.  Yep.  Sure enough, there was a dead field mouse on the bed.  How embarrassing!

Well, our indoor-outdoor kitty has now turned into an indoor kitty.  Her cat doors are permanently sealed up and her little habit of bringing critters into our house has stopped.  Now, she just chases, and occasionally catches flies.

"You can't help that.  We're all mad here."~ The Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland.