Maintenance Tuesday

So I like to play video games...in particular World of Warcraft. The only reason that it is important for you to know that, is that on Tuesdays the Warcraft Universe is shut down so that they can do server maintenance. Why is this important? Well it seems that every time circumstances work out so that I have nothing to do but play video games, it is a Tuesday. Take today for instance...

It has been 132 days since I last went to work, but I got the call last week that the Bureaucracy had determined that I could return to work on today. I spent all day yesterday getting my lesson plan in order and getting myself mentally prepared to go back to teaching. We knew that there was some freezing rain coming last night, but the school district had been a little more brave this year, and so at the worst I figured that we would have a two hour delay in the morning. I woke up at 6:20 and checked the school website, and sure enough it was a 2-hour delay. So back to bed I went (because you will get no better sleep than the 2 hours you get when school is delayed) and 2 hours later we all got up and ready for the day. As we were almost getting ready to leave I decided to check and see if I had any email or anything, so I went back to the school district webpage to log in. I was very surprised to see that the school status had been updated, and all schools had been canceled! So my lesson plans are done and the boy and I are stuck inside all day (It is one giant sheet of ice outside), but it is Tuesday...see how that works? Oh well, my sister Carisa updates her blog every Wednesday with her "Wednesdays with Weston," so maybe I will just start "Maintenance Tuesday" updates!

So we have been taking turns getting sick at our house, Beki is finally getting better, but that meant this last week has been my turn to feel miserable. While I was stuck inside drinking juice, Owen and Beki got to go play in the little bit of snow that we got last week. (I apologize for the blueness, I was inside taking pictures through the window!)

 Beki was giving the boy a lesson on using the Snow Shovel (This is come in handy later)

 Sure, you can ride your bike in the snow!

 They were going to build a Snowman, but there really wasn't enough snow, so they used buckets to make a little snow wall. (The flames you see are the reflection from the nice fire I had inside waiting for them.)

 Owen found his own bucket and doubled their production!

 And of course, the best part about building a snow wall is smashing it!

 Not sure if he was about to sneeze or what...

 A was a little late to catch the boy throwing a snowball at Beki, but check out the size of the one she is about to throw at the boy! That's right, we don't take it easy on the boy!

 "Take That Mommy!!!"

With Beki feeling better, she decided to clean the house a bit, which involved vacuuming. Owen is kind of like a small dog when it comes to the vacuum...he hides!

 Taking refuge in the closet...

 And he found something to play with, I'm sure it is something disgusting...

 It has been a while since the boy has walked around the house with the colander on his head.

 Space Captain Owen!!

And while we are on funny things that the boy does, check this out! As the title says, just wait until you see the move he does 15 seconds in!

Lastly, the boy got a Piggy Bank at Targets after Christmas sale, and so he has become very interested in coins, and especially putting them into his piggy bank.

 He found some pennies in my old childhood bank that was in his room for some reason.

They have been assimilated!!!

Christmas Lights, New Years and a Christmas Concert in January

If you recall - and I am sure you do - almost every Christmas Light display out here in the East charges you to look at them. Last post we discussed our trip to the Zoolights - but as unimpressed as we were, we decided that we would go to the one other free Christmas Light Display a couple of days after Christmas. Go Mormons! The Temple Lights were much more impressive than the zoo, and they had an entire room of nativities from around the world. (Did we take pictures of said Nativities? Of course not, I think we were overcome by the awesomeness.)

 This is typical of us going anywhere...by the time that we get there, the boy is asleep.

 It didn't take him long to perk up once we got his eyes open and he saw all of the lights.

 I always like pictures like this...

 Another typical picture of the boy, Beki has mad skills to hold on to a squirming octopus!

 Much better!

 This tree had musical instruments and bulbs filled with sheet music!

 Even better than a picture with the boy and me is a picture with the boy and his mommy.

 These are my favorite lights on the grounds...they look like flowers!

 While the Nativity was nice...

 The giant camel was awesome!

And we finally managed to get a good family photo!

For New Years we went to a friend's house and played "Munchkin" all night. (If you don't know what Munchkin is, go here: http://www.worldofmunchkin.com/game/) As a result, we kind of ignored the kids, who were playing on the other side of the room. We did get one picture however...

Unfortunately Owen had just taken the pot off of his head, but still proof that our New Year's Celebration included someone ending up with a pot on their head.

Lastly, back before Christmas we had a little snowstorm - which of course caused widespread panic and caused schools to close early and cancel all evening activities, including Owen's Christmas Concert at school. So we had it this week instead. 

 As you can see, the boy wanted to make sure that he was looking his best, even if it meant flinging water all over the place.

 We don't know what to make of this face, but we think it is funny!

 Owen's class up on-stage, apparently he and the boy next to him are peas in a pod, and we have no clue what they are up to here. (But it is the girl in the red dress with her hands on her hips that totally had the audience in stitches)

Take a bow little man!!

And yes, you can listen to their performances...(I am going to refrain from making any other comments.)