We got an awesome box in the mail from Grandma for 8’s birthday. They had a blast opening it.

I thought I should share this so if my children ever start showing signs of brain damage everyone can know where to put the blame. Plus they were cute inflicting it upon themselves.

We woke up to forty some degrees this morning. Although it’s cloudy it almost feels hot out. All our snow melted overnight, almost, leaving lots of mud. When 8 disappeared out the door in just a diaper and boots we didn’t try to stop him, just added a shirt. And sent his sister out too. They frolicked in the mud and water and wanted to ride Princess Onna. They wore boots and helmets, I think we had all the bases covered right?

Dad. Justin, this one’s for you guys.

The driveway was well blown in. Plowing more only makes higher drifts. Unless it’s a major undertaking, like last year. They spent days plowing snow way back into the wheat. It took forever and the wheat showed the wear and tear that summer. My very efficient husband kept wondering at the time why they weren’t just hooking up the snow blower.

This year he got to it first. He hooked up the snowblower.

As I’ve mentioned, it snowed.

I had a hard time deciding what vehicle to take to pick up The Goblin Child from school. The wind is blowing and the snow is drifting. Just out of the tree row there was a pretty good drift burying the road. I thought the car could probably make it but we took the pickup, just to be on the safe side. The first drift was bad the second, over the hill out of view from the house was worse but Billy, that’s my pickup, could handle it.

Getting out was no problem.

Coming home our tracks were drifted in but it didn’t look awful and my faith in Billy is great. We forged ahead. Billy plowed on until she could go no further. We were stuck. But no, that couldn’t be. Billy and I have been in tighter places than that!

Back and forth we went, taking care to shift slowly between drive and reverse. Billy is twenty two years old now, I’d hate to break the old girl. We rocked until she was able to get going backwards and we followed our tracks back out. I called my trusty husband, because what else does one do when the have problems? He said no, we couldn’t hope out into the wheat field and go around. Farmers are so weird.

So we tried again. With one set of tracks made Billy was able to fight her way a little farther before sticking. Again with lots of rocking we were able to back out. This time I gave up and told my concerned husband to go ahead and call his father to come plow a path with the payloader. I hate having to be saved.

We waited and watched as the payloader pushed a pile of snow taller that the bucket. It cleared the path out to us and we were able to get home. Probably still couldn’t have made it without four wheel drive. Good old Billy got us home safe, what a good old pickup.

It snowed yesterday. A nice snow, straight down with no wind. There was a good deal of it and it was wetter than the last snows have been. School was canceled, yesterday and today.

In plowing the driveway, again, the sledding hill was made better yet. It got piled good and high last time, this time it was widened. The cousins came over and they made use of it, in ways it was never meant to be used. Kids can never just go down the right way. What fun would that be? They went down the newly broadened sides and off any banks they could find. Hopefully they will sleep well tonight.

After the snow on Christmas, the children’s loving father piled the snow behind the house and shoveled a path down it for the kids to sled on. They have made really good use of it. They, and the cousins, and friends, wore it down to nearly nothing. then they had to clear the drive completely for a semi to come in. The semi still hasn’t shown but the cleared snow was put to good use.

With lots of help from his children their loving father built the hill even higher. He then spent most of an afternoon reshaping it and even digging steps into the back side for easy access. Nobody has taken a sled down it since its rebuild. No, they have found a different use for it.

It had to happen eventually. Even so, it came as a rude shock. Our lives will never be the same, nothing is safe.

Last night 8 crawled out of his crib.

He had been showing signs, standing with his foot hoisted up on the top of the rail, sitting on the changing table, subtle little things, but we noticed. Last night he stopped crying about going to bed and shortly there after came walking out of his room.

We may simply lay his mattress on the floor in the crib, that would gain a few inches and maybe some more time before he is free. He can not be allowed to roam the house at will. It would be disaster!

We have our sledding hill in the yard. They get lots of use out of it.

He decided to ride the tricycle down it. This child must be contained!

I have been meaning to get this up since before Christmas. Things got busy and I never got around to it. This was a very enjoyable play, in all three incarnations, produced by Ava and performed by The Goblin Child. They are so much fun!

The family was going fishing. A large portion of them including the cousins. The Goblin Child always want to go fishing this seemed like the perfect chance. The cold snap we’ve been having had frozen the ice on the lakes perfectly and the chosen day was supposed to be nice and warm. I chose to stay home with 8, fishing lacks the appeal to me that it has for the others and the thought of trying to watch 8 out on the ice all day. I just couldn’t do it.

They started off bright and early. The pond was a couple hours drive an they wanted to be there with plenty of time to fish. I think. They picked up uncle Leland and more friends along the way, in the end it was a large caravan headed to fish. The ice was thick, about 15 inches thick. No danger of falling through.

The fish were biting. The day was warm. It sounds like it was a perfect day. The kids spent the day running and playing, maybe fishing occasionally, and the adults sat and fished and talked. Everybody came home exhausted.