This was hands down the BEST snow storm I have EVER been in. It was amazing. We got anywhere between 28 and 36 inches of snow. Trees were falling down everywhere, power lines were down, and the snow kept on coming! I think the best part was how life here completely slowed almost to a stand still for a few days. No cars, just some snow plows, softly falling snow, and tons of people out walking in the streets. I met neighbors I never would have met. Even borrowed one of their shovels (not the brand new yellow one, though. He was out every 30 minutes shoveling with that sucker and I did NOT want to break his "good shovel"). It was exciting and b-e-autiful!
I tried to get Landon to build a tunnel with me, but he wanted to work on the car.
I walked down the road to see the power line that was down, and this tree limb was hanging over the road. Not yet broken, but cracking as I was almost going to walk under it. I decided to walk around. A day later, it's still there. Cracking slowly until someone's unlucky fate.
I don't think we're getting mail any time soon.
This is where the power line went down. Snow plows couldn't get down this road. Today I saw people with their shovels shoveling the road!
Again, the power line down on my road. We were pretty much stuck.
There were so many people out walking and enjoying the calm after the storm. Beautiful sunset that night, eh? This moment really did feel so calm. Except that my hands were freezing.
One of only a small handful of snow trucks here in the area. In Boston, all the roads would have been clear with in an hour after the storm.
We set up a tent in the house, just in case our power went out. It was pretty toasty in there. Here's Taylor and Landon watching old episodes of He-Man and She-Ra. They love it.
Hmmm....
We went on a drive to the DC Temple. It's only 2 minutes from our house.
Our car broke down on the way home from Christmas holidays. Yes, it was in the middle of the blizzard and yes, Taylor had to go #2
So we got a hotel and the kids got some rest.
These two pictures of Landon and Taylor are quite indicative of how Erin and I sleep. Erin looks peaceful, like Landon, while I look....less attractive (my mouth is usually opened a little wider-- I'm sure I've eaten plenty of spiders).
Audra entertaining herself by trying to put on Taylor's clothes.
Luray Caverns Virginia
We went to some sweet caves in Virginia.
I don't think any of these pictures do the caves justice.
It was a self-guided tour that lasted a little over an hour
Erin and I tried to pretend that Taylor and Audra really weren't whining and crying. I mean, seriously. We just spent over 2 hours driving to get here, spent money for this tour, still had not had lunch, but dang it, we were going to enjoy it! Our poor, starving, tired children.
Landon LOVED it! He also was trying to pretend he didn't have any sisters.
This was a column that fell over in a small quake. It ended up fusing with the wall. So cool!
My favorite part was at the end. Some guy, a while back, built this organ right into the cave. There are no pipes. Instead, it's attached to hammers that tap on stalactites to produce the right tone.
However cool the organ was, the girls were done. Audra threw herself on the ground and just laid there. Lucky for them, this was the end of the tour. Maybe they'll look back at pictures some day and say "Oh yeah, Luray Caverns was awesome. I loved it! I totally remember going there. Thanks Mom and Dad for taking us to so many cool places. You guys are the coolest parents." Maybe? Maybe not.
Jet Packs Introducing the new something to do inside on a winters day-- "Jet Packs" Easy to create with out mess or clean up, this ingenious contraption promises hours of entertainment for your little ones (and yourself after they go to bed). Created by Landon himself, simply find a plastic soda or water bottle from recycle bin, strap securely around belly with packing tape and see your kids racing speed increase ten fold. No more being late for school, or yelling to get your kids to hurry and clean up their rooms. Just try "Jet Packs" and your heart will be eased with the speed with which your kids can move.
Wake up around 6am. Erin's already left for his run to work. Workout. Kids wake up--always happy it's a new day. Make pancakes with blueberries and whip cream. But run out of whip cream when it finally gets to be my turn. Oh, the life of the mama. Landon sings "Pants on the Ground." And then sings it some more with his pants off his body and on the kitchen floor. Then puts his pants on and sings "Pants on the Landon, Pants on the Landon." Order children to get ready for the day--about a million times. Lead Landon in piano practice. What normally should last 15 minutes, turns into a 30 minute lesson. But he endures. Use the bathroom--take extra long to have some time without children hanging all over me. Sometimes I use the bathroom even if I don't need to go, just for some alone time. Flush toilet, toilet floods while I'm on it. Not cool. Landon gets plunger. Clean bathroom thoroughly while pants are around ankles. Help build Lego firetruck. Buckle Taylors princess dress--daily. Feed Audra--again. Kids clean entire room and playroom--awesome! Friend picks up kids for an hour at the gym. Hurry to get whatever I can get done in one hour--emails, phone calls, hem some pants. Kids get home--feed kids again. Let kids watch TV--hey it's a day off! Play and sing "If We Hold On Together" (our family theme song) with the girls at the piano. They sing and play with me. Love it! Sit down to dinner. Taylor calls me Captain and salutes. Eat Mahi Mahi with rice and french beans. Rice all over the floor. Landon does dishes. Taylor cleans off table. Audra roams around hitting brother and sister. I finish cleaning up while kids have a jam session on the keyboard. Kids done with jam session. They come into kitchen looking like a chinese dragon with a big brown blanket over their heads. They say they're a hot dog. The chinese dragon/hot dog walks out and Taylor runs into the couch and hits her head on the hard wood. Chinese dragon/hot dog abruptly ends. Lay kids on rug and throw blanket over them like a parachute--entertainment for hours. But it's bed time Read books--"Knuffle Bunny" for Taylor, some baby one for Audra. Brush teeth while Landon serenades us on the harp. Put girls to bed. Sing "My Heavenly Father Loves Me" to Audra and "I am a Child of God" to Tay. Family prayers--Taylor says it. She says "Thank you for my friend took us to the gym and that I came home with mommy. And bless Daddy will come home tonight." Say happies and sads--Taylors happy--the gym with Danielle; Taylor's sad--she didn't get to go to the gym yesterday with Danielle. Landon reads books--"We Can Share It" and a Curious George. He's gotten really good at reading. We have a nice conversation (see below). Carry Landon to bed like a baby--way to big to do that, but he loves it. His song pick tonight: "Love is Spoken Here." Happy--gym; sad--Dad didn't come home. Watch American Idol. Erin comes home late 9:30. I miss basketball, but I'm happy to give Erin his Hump Day (aka middle of the week hump, you sickos) gift. Email, blog, "research" internet for swimsuits. No luck. Bed time!!!
Landon: Mom, I know how Jesus answers so many prayers from so many people at the same time.
Me: Oh, yeah...
Landon: Yeah. There's these boxes...rectangular boxes....in space. And they have holes in them. And prayers float up there on pieces of paper. And then when it's full, the box floats to Jesus and he reads them super fast. Like, all at the same time.
Me: Hmmm....sounds like you've really thought about this.
Landon: Yeah, I can see it in my head right now. The boxes are purple, the meteorites are blue, and then I can see the earth too...
Landon: Mom, I bet Jesus has a big TV where he can watch everyone on earth and know how many prayers are being said on each continent. So He sits there with his remote control and can see that one continent has 12 prayers being said and another continent has, like 8.
Mom: Hmmm...you know, I bet Jesus probably knows so much, he doesn't even need a tv to know all the prayers that are being said.
Landon: You mean, he wouldn't even need the boxes?
We only have 5 months until we move to Japan! OK 5 months sounds like a long time, but there is so much to do before then. One of the bigger jobs is deciding what to take, what to sell, what to store and what to throw away. Today we tackled the dungeon (aka our cricket/mice infested basement/time-out room). Erin's concentration is amazing. When we first got married we painted our apartment and after a half hour I was ready to take a break, eat, make-out, relax. Not Erin (well, except for the make-out part). He doesn't break until it's done. If he has to study, he will go non-stop, with out even going to the bathroom, for 10, 11, 12...however many hours it takes to get 'er done. So today as he's madly throwing, piling, and organizing I'm busy reading, reminiscing, and laughing at things I'd written in old journals and at old school assignments. Here's a story I found that I wrote in 5th grade.
The first day of school is always usually the most boring. Nothing exciting happens. For instance today in math, all we did was a review and usually we talk the first day of school (in math), but this year we have a new teacher, Mr. Bording. Everyone calls him "Mr. Boring." "Hey Liz, wait up," Sara said when I was walking home from school. "Did you hear that Mr. Boring is wearing an earring? Everyone's talking about it." "Well I didn't see him wearing it," I said. Mr. Boring usually wears tight jeans (to teach in!) and has this weirdo haircut, so you could imagine him having his ear pierced. Gosh, I don't even have mine pierced and I'm in the fifth grade! "Hey Lizzy, did you know that Tommy Peterson threw-up today in music class? He had to go home," Sara said. I think Sara is a gossiper or something because every day, almost, she's like this. When I got home my brother Mitch was eating (he always does that after school). I got my food and went upstairs to do my homework. When I got done it was around 4:48 and we have dinner at 5:00, so I went down stairs for dinner. Of course, every first day of school my dad at dinner, asks what happened today and we each have to tell him (my brother, my two sisters and me). I told him about Mr. Boring and his pierced ear. When dinner was over, I went to my room and thought (I always think after dinner) about Mr. Boring and other stuff, then I went to sleep. I dreamed about this girl at school who was taking people's lunches, because it actually did happen today! She was kind of pretty, kind of, but she was big, both ways, going up and going out.
The next day, my mom came in and woke me up and said to go down and get some breakfast. So I did. All I had was cereal. After breakfast, I got my books and kissed my mom and dad good-bye, then went to wait for my bus. I only ride the bus in the morning because after school it doesn't go by my house. When we got on the bus we found a seat near the back and sat down. "Sara, have you seen that new girl that steals everyones lunches?" "Yeah," she answered. "Well, do you know her name?" "Yeah, it's Melody but she likes to be called Bub," Sara said. "Why do you want to know anyway?" "Well," I began, "She steals and I'm gonna stop her!" "I don't think you should," Sara said quietly, "She's tough." "I'm gonna do it anyway!!" I yelled so loud the whole bus turned silent and looked at me. My face probably turned bright red. When we got to school I went to put my books away and this girl, Bub, came up to me and said, "Where's your lunch?" "I buy," I say with a smile. "Well, give me your money or I'll punch you, then spit all over you." I still didn't give it to her so she took a swing. I ducked and she hit her friend. She swung again, not even caring what happened to her friend, and got me in the eye. So I punched her back and gave her a bloody nose. Then the principle came and sent us to his office. He gave us these little notes that look like this:
I have to give it to my parents. I'll probably get grounded and stay that way for a million years. But luckily I got through the rest of the day without getting into trouble and fights, but I got this note from Bub. It said:
Meet me after school on Friday, 3 weeks from today on the hill behind the school . And if you don't show up, I'll think of something. Sincerely, Bub
The note kind of scared me but I was gonna show up--with muscles. From today on, I'm gonna lift weighs. I told this to Sara and she thinks it's a stupid idea (she wasn't in her gossip mood). "I'm still gonna do it!" I shouted. "And get what you got today from her?" My eye still hurt, but not a lot. "I'm going to start lifting weights," I said as I walked to my back door. "Well bye Liz and be careful!" she yelled. "I will," I said happily. But now I have to show my parents the slip my principle gave me. I walked into my house and asked mom and dad if I could talk to them. "Sure, why not?" I showed them the slip and they looked at my eye. "So what's my punishment?" I asked. "let us talk for a minute" they said. So I sat there as patient as I could. If they didn't let me have a short punishment, I couldn't fight; and if I couldn't do that , Bub will do something to me. "We've decided that your black eye is your punishment and we hope you've learned your lesson," my parents say at the same time. "I've got something else to say. I need to fight her in 3 weeks." "It sounds fine, but if you come back with two black eyes, youll have a much more painful punishment," my mom said. I couldn't believe they said I could fight. "Well I better start lifting weights!" I laughed. "I'll be down for dinner."
When the 3 weeks were almost done I looked really strong. I even beat Mitch in arm wrestling and my mom thought I was taking some kind of drug, but I really was strong. I lifted weights for 3 hours everyday. Everyday at school people are saying "Look how strong that lady is" and Bub and I never talked. Today at school she kind of looked at me and looked scared. That night I had a dream that it was 3:30 (that's what time school ends) and we were fighting and Bub punched me so much I died. The next morning was terrible. I kept dropping everything and at school everyone was saying "You can do it Liz" or "I know you'll win. Look how strong you are." Then when the bell rang everyone raced to the hill where Bub and her friends were and me and mine. When I was about to punch her she held up her hand and said "Don't punch me. I don't want to fight. Your'e stronger than me and you'll win. I don't want to take anymore lunches. I'm sorry about your eye, Liz. Will you maybe just forget all of this happened?" "Please?" Bub said again. "You know I'd really want to be your friend if it's all right with you." And when she said that everyone clapped and cheered. "I won!" I said Bub hangs around me and were not best friends, but friends. Now, no one calls her Bub. They call her Mel for Melody and she doesn't take anyone's lunches. I guess that means that she's not the 5th Grade Bully anymore!
Question: Would I make a better A) bodybuilder (my obsession with muscles started early) or B) writer/illustrator (you seriously can't deny my skills)--you decide!
The miracle has finally happened. After 3 long years of pain and suffering (literal pain for Taylor) Landon and Taylor have become friends. I really don't know how or why it happened. Maybe it was because Landon was out of school for a couple of weeks and realized his only playmate was his sister. Maybe it was the fact that Taylor is just plain growing up and doesn't cry every second of every day. Maybe it was Taylor's persistence in trying to kiss Landon whenever he'd bug her. Whatever it may be, happiness abounds in the Palmer home when Landon and Taylor can play together (without fighting) for longer than 5 minutes.
Erin was MIA for 5 weeks for officer training in Newport RI during July. He was looking forwardto gettin muscles and shooting a gun. Unfortunately for him (and me), he did not enter the muscle man contest when he got back, nor did he get to shoot a gun. Landon was the most disappointed--about the gun part. He still had a great time though. I have sweet memories of spending the Fourth of July with just my kids at a beautiful beach. I can still taste and smell that day. It was wonderful. Landon got to use his boogie board for the first time (and so did I), we found tons of sand dollars and the kids were happy. It's nice to think back on that day and the summer. It felt like 5 weeks with out Erin would never come to an end, but now it feels like it flew by. We picked him up at his officer training graduation. The officers in training had to stand at attention for an hour. A few of them passed out, which made the whole ceremony quite entertaining and enduring for a mother with 3 young children. I tried to keep them quiet, while the rude woman a few seats down kept glaring at all the mothers of young children, telling them (so politely under her breath) that they were being rude and their children were "not funny at all." I stared (ever so politely) back and laughed at her. I must say, though, that my kids were well behaved.
