An AMAZING week!

Before I explain last week, take a look at how adorable Tyler is getting in these videos.

Ring around the Rosies FHE

Happy and you know it FHE

Last Monday as I was driving my son to school I felt as if spring had come. It was a beautiful sunny warm day. All of a sudden, everywhere I went people kept talking about the severe weather warnings!!! I thought it sounded pretty ridiculous. They were already planning to cancel school and there wasn't a hint of bad weather. At about 6:00 p.m., Dave got home from work and decided to take Josh and Maddie to the park to launch the rockets he has been building. (Aren't we grateful for dads who do fun things with their kids?! I know (sadly) I will never build a rocket and take my kids to launch it.) The kids were not even wearing coats. (Another great thing about dads!) It wasn't too long before they came back freezing from the falling ice pellets in the sky. And that is when it began...
The next day was literally "ice pellets" all day long. We looked up the weather online and read the hour by hour report. 6:00 a.m. ice pellets. 9:00 a.m. ice pellets. 11:00 a.m. ice pellets. On and on and on. My kids were laughing by the word "ice pellets". We looked ahead at Wednesday. Each and every hour had nothing to say but "ice pellets." And sure enough, all we got for two days straight was pure ice falling from the sky. Most of the city shut down, all the schools and campuses shut down, all public transportation shut down. Just about everyone was home bound, except for those professions such as my husbands' who still had to somehow make it to work by 6:30. The sick people in the hospital are not going to do well if the doctors decide not to show up, in fact Dave got piled high with additional hours last week. (Well over 80 hours which is supposed to be the maximum limit a resident can work.)
I think if I wasn't pregnant, I would have been going absolutely stir crazy at home every day with my kids. We literally never left our property for 3 days. Someone asked me what I did during those days. At first I said, "Nothing." I couldn't really think of anything, but here are a few of the things we did at home. Cooked lots of good food, chocolate chip cookies, watched Anne of Green Gables 2 times, read most of a Joseph Smith book I am rereading, cleaned, made big messes, lounged around, invited neighbors over for a blueberry pancake breakfast, played the Wii at our neighbors house, practiced piano, invited more close neighbors over for lunch, and (saving the best for last), when Dave got home one night, we all put on our ice skates and skated around the neighborhood for a good hour!
We took a little video and I will show it soon, but honestly, it was one of the funnest things I have ever done. We went up and down people's lawn, through backyards, across the soccer field, through the streets, over the lake, and visited a few neighbors on our way. We found some great hills, little jumps, and it felt as though we were rollerblading up and down the neighborhood. I was holding Tucker on the leash to get a little extra speed. Dave was pushing the big stroller with Tyler and Maddie while Josh skated beside us in his hockey helmet. It was an absolute blast! Our fun abruptly ended when Maddie froze her bottom lip to the silver bar of the stroller. She was gushing blood pretty bad, so we rushed home, got the kids all settled with a movie, and then Dave and I went out for 15 more minutes on the ice. (Maddie was fine once we cleaned her up. As sad as it was, it was pretty funny too.) The ice was truly amazing. At first I didn't even want to go out in the freezing cold, but Dave told me it was a once in a lifetime experience-and he was right.
So, that was our week. Only one day of school for Josh and Maddie. This week we are back to the boring old routine! This was a record breaking storm throughout so many parts of the country. I am grateful for a warm and cozy house and my wonderful family to spend quality time with.