Day #8

I think yesterdY went much better for Jay and Cade. When I got home they were both in much better moods and our evening was mostly normal. Maybe the impending snow had something to do with their moods Tuesday
night?? Jay introduced Cade to a new website yesterday...NFL.com. I think it will help all of us. He can read about every team and player to his little hearts content. I think he wants to go to the school today so he can use their Internet. That suits Jay just fine.

Things should start improving after today. A week from yesterday our high temp will be 64...which sure beats my car reading this morning of -12!!!




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Day #7

Today is Day #7 of no school. I believe it makes 11 days total since January. My boys are about to loose their minds. It is the law of the universe that siblings must fight on snow days, especially when those days drag on for almost two weeks. The problem in our house is that Cade doesn't have a sibling to fight with. No brother or sister to pick on to relieve some of his pent up frustrations. And don't think that they grow out of that just because they are pushing 34 years old. We have the perfect storm brewing in our household….Jay and Cade are getting on each others nerves.

Yesterday I got a text before 9 am. Cade was already wearing Jay out with various football facts and questions. He wanted to know the worst teams, the best teams, had Heinz Ward (Steelers player) put on weight because he thought it looked like he had, was Auburn the best college team, was Arizona any good, etc. In the afternoon I got another text – Jay was playing NFLopoly circa 1994 with Cade.

By the time I got home last night I was tired. I ate a very late lunch so I wasn't hungry and they weren't satisfied with what I told them I was willing to prepare for dinner. We drove to Subway. On the way there Cade started using a British accent. We got him a WWII Wii game for Christmas so he was repeating the phrases the RAF pilots used so he could work on this new way of speaking. I asked Jay if we had a Will (guy from church who can imitate almost any voice) in the backseat. Jay said "I think he sounds more like Rickey Repeat". Apparently this was not the first time Cade had worked on his accent that day.

At Subway I sat down and let the two of them battle it out while they were ordering. Cade came over to the table and I could tell he was ticked. He had two little red spots on his checks and he threw himself in the booth. He told me he was mad at his dad because Jay ordered him the wrong sandwich because he couldn't hear what he wanted. And Jay didn't hear him when Cade said he wanted it cooked (toasted). At that exact moment my phone buzzed with a text from Jay, who was standing 5 ft away from me. He was irritated with Cade because he whispered when Jay was trying to find out what he wanted to eat. I about lost it.

When we finally got home everyone separated for a few minutes. Then we got the phone call that confirmed they would be out for day #7. Cade looked like he might cry when I told him the news. Jay didn't look much better. We rented a movie so a little later the three of us sat down to watch it. I was on the couch, Jay was in the recliner and Cade was on the loveseat. Cade walked over to sit with me and he had to walk in front of Jay. I can't describe it, but the way Cade looked at Jay and tossed his head I thought he gave Jay a dirty look. I said something about it and Cade whispered "maybe" as he was snuggling down beside me. That's when I decided we needed to call Memo. The two of them needed a break from each other. Unfortunately that didn't work out because we woke up to more snow this morning. Cade put his head down and cried when we told him he had to spend another day with Jay.

They have got to get back to a normal routine. I think they spent some time in separate rooms this morning. Then they went to the school for awhile. I saw on Facebook that there is no school again tomorrow. If that is true it will make day #8. I had a customer come in yesterday who knows us pretty well. His first question was if the snow days were creating a little too much one on one time for Jay and Cade. Since his wife worked and he farmed and they had two daughters I'm sure he can sympathize with Jay. He would've been the parent home with them when it snowed. Jay should give him a call. Maybe he'd have some good coping techniques….

Going on Day 6...

Of no school. It is time for things to get back to normal.
Jay is getting frustrated and Cade is starting get a glazed over look in his eyes. How many days can a boy be cooped up without going crazy? Jay has been going to school every day which has created a lot of one on one time together. I think it is safe to say that Jay is not going to be a stay at home dad any time soon.

Cade has even started Picking out his own clothes. Since he really isn't going anywhere (except to school and out for lunch everyday) we aren't saying anything. We are picking our battles...


I've got to quit being so efficient on getting the laundry done. Friday he layered this green John Deere shirt under an Arkansas football jersey that is getting too small. He then put a burgandy hoodie on over the whole thing. Today it was the same green shirt under a navy and orange
shirt. I may not do a load with that shirt in it for awhile...or whoops it may fall behind the basket and I won't see I for a
couple of weeks.

Jay has decided to not
shave until he goes back to school. But he doesn't look like you'd expect. For some reason he can't grow facial hair very well. It is a weird thing. So I'm looking at Cade in unmatched clothes and Jay with scraggly patches on his face. Yes, it is time to get back to normal!!!

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Super Bowl Sunday

Update #2 Cade did not care for the Black Eyed Peas. Actually I didn't either. It felt like it was all over the place...Slash...Usher...but it did provide the quote of the night. Said by Cade in reference to Fergie-That girl looks really pretty but her costume is so last year.

Update #1 Jay won our bet on how long he'd actually sit still and watch the game. Didn't last
through the 2nd quarter.

This fall Cade has really got into football. It has been quite humorous, especially during Razorback games. It was definitely monkey see monkey do. If Jay yelled, Cade yelled. Then Cade discovered the NFL. He has wore us out with different football trivia over the last few months. One of our newest games we play while driving is "Guess the NFL Team". One of us has to describe a helmet and the other two have to guess the team. I'm usually at a serious disadvantage.

It amuses me because I've never thought Jay was that into pro football. He likes the Chiefs, but our lives don't come to a screeching halt on Sundays during the fall like they do on Saturdays. Cade talks alot about the Chiefs and his 2nd favorite team, the Patriots. And any other football things he can think of. I'm learning more about football than I ever cared to. Sometime I don't have a choice but to listen - like when we are in the car. I even think Cade is wearing Jay down with the football talk. I guess we did well when we named Cade after my grandpa. He would be proud of Cade's obsession.

So even though our household is not Steelers or Packers fans Cade was super excited for today. Since Miller was still snowed in we did not have church. It was a long day with him asking every so often how much longer. We did venture out to buy him some snacks for the game. You can't watch the
Biggest game of the year without food! I thought I'd surprise him and set it out like I do when we have people over. Apparantly he expected it because he yelled into the kitchen to see if I had the food set up yet. Such a man in training!






Jay grilled the burgers. He was about a foot taller due to the snow.





Here he is in front of his food layout. And what is a picture of Cade anymore without him being in a dorky pose?








Jay and Cade have a bet going on. Cade is for the Packers and Jay is for the Steelers. The looser has to make the others bed for a week. Uhm....if Cade wins he is not going to see much of a difference in his life. We already make his bed...

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Somebody is always watching...

Poor Jay.  You know how when you do something silly, like trip and fall down, your first instinct is to look around to see if anyone saw what happened.  Yesterday, after being stuck in the house together for 2 days, Jay delivered me to work and then he and Cade traveled to Miller.  From what he has told me things were a lot worse there then what we got.  Funny how there can be such a difference in snow amounts in a distance less than 10 miles.  The school parking lots were not in good shape.  They got stuck twice.  Both times he was able to get himself out.  But not without a lot of yelling - which didn't come from me.  I believe I've passed on my back seat driving tendencies to Cade.  From what Jay described, Cade did me proud.  When Jay gunned it to about 40 mph to unstick himself Cade had a look of terror on his face and screamed "I told you not to do that".  That's my boy!  The snow was as deep as Cade was tall in some areas.  I'm not sure how Jay managed to get him in the school - I'd probably just as soon not know.  I'm just glad I was at work when all of this took place.  Jay told me all about this yesterday when he picked me up from work and we laughed about it.  Then last night this picture appeared on Facebook.  One of Jay's former students saw Jay in this pickle and took a picture for the world to see.  So now matter how much you hope someone didn't see you do something stupid - they did!  And thanks to modern technology even more people can see it.

Did we fly to Russia?

No, it is just Jay measuring our 10+ inches of snow in his Russian hat.



Poor Charlie could hardly walk inte snow. I don't think he is much taller than 10 inches.

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Our Weekend

Saturday was absolutely beautiful.  There was one time I looked at my car and it was reading 70 degrees.  I was driving around Springfield with my window down.  It was a great day!

I spent Saturday going to Springfield and spending about an hour and a half of my life at an enormous yard sale at the fairgrounds.  I've had some decorating ideas that I wanted some cheap frames for so I thought that would be a good place to go.  So did half of the county.  It was busy.  I did overhear some comments that made me smile.  One was from a lady pushing a stroller to another lady in her group - I do not know why we continue to do this to ourselves!  That one really made me laugh because many, many a time have I said that to myself when Cade was little.  That is also what runs through my head every time we go to Silver Dollar City for Christmas.  The other comment was a husband to his wife as they were exiting the event right behind me - You could not pay me a $100 to back in there.  I felt the same way.  But I did leave with 8 frames and 2 glass dishes for less than $20.  After leaving the yard sale I headed to Hobby Lobby to purchase the rest of the stuff I needed for my projects.  I tend to handle stressful events with completeing a project - the adoption loss last year netted me some new curtains and and newly decorated spare room.  This time I'm doing stuff for the kitchen and a new theme for our mantel and a birthday idea for my mom.  I spent a lot of time in HL Saturday.  Then I got groceries and hurried home so I could spray paint everything before it cooled off since Saturday was the only day that had been warm enough and would be warm enough in the foreseeable future for me to use spray paint.  

When I got home I hurridly pulled in the driveway and started unloading groceries.  It was 4:30 and the sun would quickly be going down.  I saw the air was a little smokey, but Jay is a fire bug.  He's always burning something so I didn't think much about it.  My plan was to carry everything in and only put away the cold stuff.  I'd get the rest later because I didn't want to waste the warmer weather.  I got in the house and Cade was inside.  I told him it was nice and he should be outside playing.  This again was one of those times I didn't take the time to really register what he said to me...he said that he wanted to play in the woods but since it burnt up he couldn't.  I just shrugged it off because I had painting to do.

Typical of a lot of my projects the vision I had isn't going to work.  Four of the frames are too big, which I discovered after painting them yellow.  The paint I was using on the ones for mom's present quit working after I had used a 1/4 of the can.  That's what I get for buying cheaper spray paint - I will never do that again.  The dishes I bought don't look right where I wanted to use them.  I think 3/4 of what I got at HL will be returned.  I thought I'd be able to go back to HL and buy better paint for mom's project on Wednesday after my gum appointment, but I don't know if that is going to happen now with the weather.  Mom might get her present sometime in April when it warms up and I can spray paint freely.  So all that was going through my head while I was in the garage smelling smoke...

Cade finally came outside and he and Jay played football then he rode his bike.  Cross our fingers but I think Cade finally mastered bike riding. I've decided Cade isn't slow - he is just stubborn.  He isn't going to do anything until he is good and ready.  Apparantly Saturday, January 29, 2011 he decided he was good and ready to learn how to ride a bike.  A bike that I believe we bought him in 2007 for his 6th birthday.

So that night Jay tells me he is tired and goes over his day...
He went to his parents and borrowed the donkey's so he could start breaking Cade's new show heifer.  True to their nature the donkey's didn't want to load/unload so that was physically exhausting.  Then the heifer was extremely stubborn and he had to physically deal with that.  I think Jewels kept flopping over or something like that.   Then he played football and worked with Cade on riding his bike - But none of it had to do with the fact that he caught the woods on fire and our neighbors had to help him.  WHAT???

I guess he felt the need to burn some feed sacks (he is such a fire bug!) and the fire got away from him.  We haven't burnt the woods off for a couple of years because he is trying to control the ragweed.  With two years worth of dead leaves on the ground the sack fire got out of control quickly.  One of our neighbors spotted it and called two other neighbors.  Finally the 4 of them managed to get it under control.  I think Jay's decided that ragweed is better than a fire hazard so as soon as this weeks snow melts I think he's going to burn off the woods.  If you'll remember this is the 2nd time we've had a fire on our place.  But at least this time the fire department didn't have to be called.  After Jay told me all that I remembered Cade's comment about wanting to play in the woods but couldn't because it had burnt up.  That explained it.  Oh, and the fire burnt Charlie's dog house but unfortunately it didn't get the hog house that is in the woods.  Jay told the neighbors that I was really proud of the hog house so he was glad they saved it.  Sometimes I wonder when I lost control of my life and turn into Old McDonald's wife? I'm sure your all jealous!!!  Especially when you find out that the next time he ties the donkey to the heifer I have to help.  Can't wait for that bit of fun.

What a weekend!  Seventy degrees Saturday and tonight we are expecting a huge ice/snow storm.  Only in the midwest can you use your heat and your AC in the same 24 hour time span.