January Part 1

We woke up to snow on New Year's.  Jill, Timmy, and Bubby went outside right away and enjoyed it for a good long time.  Henry wanted nothing to do with that cold white stuff. ;)

I thought this was funny - a snow-covered cactus across the street at the college.

The books I read last year!  Maybe I should copy and paste my review of these books that I put on Facebook.  Or maybe not.  I'm feeling lazy.  If you want it let me know and I'll send it to you. ;)

I thought that New Year's was our one and only snow, because when does it ever snow in Thatcher?!  I was wrong.  The snow melted most of the way on January 1, but on the morning of the 2nd there was even more than there was on the 1st!  Joshua, Benji, and Michael went right out to play across the street at the college.  They even found the snow discs we've saved since our days in Cedar City and put them to good use on the hills at the college.

Michael is beb.  XD  Joshua wrote that on the van.

Michael wrote this.

Joshua was out there in just his jacket.  I brought him a coat later.

Joshua made a good-sized snowball over there.

Hyrum bundled up and went to play games with JD.

Timmy made snow angels.

We still have all our snow clothes from Cedar City.  It was fun to pull them out and have the little guys' eyes go wide like I was all full of knowledge and secret gear. XD

Gotta have a fire on a snowy day!  I was glad it was still winter break so we could properly enjoy it.

Jill and Timmy made this.  That's Timmy's hat.  I thought that was a good, proper use for a mesquite bean. :)

Huddling around the heater.  The older boys call this thing The Inferno Toaster. XD  I think that's a perfect name.  It has the wires that glow red like inside a toaster, and it has a noisy little fan.  It sure helps, though.  Our air circulation isn't very good downstairs, so it's hot in the summer and cold in the winter, but things like this and a fan are my best buddies.  The Inferno Toaster was originally bought for the boys when they were living in the garage, but it wasn't as good as I hoped it'd be.  Darn!  And it's about to be replaced because the on/off switch is broken (stuck on, at least!), and it will randomly shut off.  I suppose that's not very safe.  But a new heater is on the way.  I actually went to buy one at Walmart the other day, and they only had air conditioners.  Silly.  But all the heaters were on sale online, so I ordered one.  It should be here tomorrow.  

I also got a little heater that lives in my bathroom.  I love that thing!  None of the bathrooms have air vents, but ours is the worst in the summer and winter.  It gets so hot and then so cold!  The little heater makes showers a lot more enjoyable. :) I'll have to find something else for the heat.

After a few days this is what that snowman looked like - an ice claw coming out of the ground!  Ha!

Here's Joshua's schedule for this semester.  He's also got work hours in there somewhere.  He works for Aaron.  Aaron says he's a really good employee.  He's always ready to do more things when he finishes one thing.  And he does everything thoroughly.

Michael is a "cheenager!"  He picked Subway for his birthday.  Yum!  I love these birthday lunch dates!  I wish I'd started doing them a lot sooner.

Michael got a Horde shirt for his birthday.

He always picks strawberry cake.  This has stabilized whipped cream and berries.  He decorated it himself.

Bubby got Michael a giant coloring book! :D

Henry was excited for Michael to open the one he got.

It was a new ball!

Michael likes pretty glasses, but his collection is starting to get too big. ;)

These are popsicles that Jill bought on our little birthday trip to Dollar Tree.  I didn't realize they were popsicles.  I just said, "Yes, get it!  Now let's go!"  And then they sat in my bedroom thawing for like an hour before I went to wrap the presents. XD  But he refroze them and enjoyed them.

He got a phone for Christmas.  For his birthday he got a case and screen protector for them.

I took this picture because it suddenly struck me as funny that my most-used bookmark is a square of toilet paper folded in half.  I'm still reading Les Mis, and will be for quite a while at the pace I'm keeping, but I have my own copy now. :)

Bubby helped me make pizza dough.  I think that's pizza dough anyway.

Michael had a little competition with a classmate to see who could hold more pencils in their hair.  Michael won. XD

I'm not sure what's going on here, but he was happy, so I'll leave it at that. ;)