Fooled Again

 Today we carried on a new tradition; one that began a few years ago.  We prepared ourselves to return to school.  We set our alarms.  We got up at 5:30.  It was 23 degrees out and lightly snowing. I checked the news for school closings but we were in the clear. I woke up the boys.  Sam got in the shower.  THEN we got word that yes, indeed, school was closed for the day due to patches of ice on some of the roads.  Just like last year, and the year before!

The boys were thrilled and jumped right back into bed.  So did I!  I listened to a lot of walking around sounds in their bedroom and worried they'd never fall back to sleep.  But--they did.  And they slept til ten o'clock!!

This was followed by hours of lolling around, then video games.  Then Chik-Fil-A for lunch, then outside into the bitter cold for some play time with their new airplanes.

We picked these up for a song at an after-Christmas sale.  The boys had a blast hurling the planes into the air and watching them fly.  Though they can't be steered, they were still fun--particularly when they crashed into trees or sailed all the way to the road or otherwise created long treks across the yard.

 The boys got fancy and began throwing them in tandem to see what would happen.  Mostly what happened is the planes flew off in two seperate directions and the boys had to run all over the place.

After airplanes, it was extensive mom-free jumping on the trampoline time.  Then snacks, then TV, then more video games, more TV, a second round on the trampoline, I-Pad time, dinner, baths and bed.  Not a bad way to spend a bonus day of freedom.

One More Day

Has it been over two weeks already?  Yep, it has.  And today is the last day of Christmas vacation.  The men in the house started off the week by sleeping late.  Then it was up to breakfast and some gloom and doom over the prospect of going back to school tomorrow.  They remained gloomy for hours, even as they sat around in their pajamas playing video games.  But soon, they rallied.

They decorated some cookies in a kit Gram gave them for Christmas.  Yummy!

Then we headed outside for some therapeutic bouncing on the trampoline.  Benny bounced and bounced.  As always, the fun was heightened by the addtion of Mom's new camera. 

We took lots of photos and soon Sam joined us.  Most of them came out blurry and I nearly threw them out, but on second thought, they ARE kind of fun, aren't they?  Look at that dive!

The height!

The craziness.  Unless you have dirt in your eye, like Sam does in this photo.

Sam does a back flop!

Soon enough, we were done flopping, and it was time to dash out for a load of firewood.  We were nearly out and we have a cold spell coming.

First we made a stop at Green's.

Marty got Red Bull and deer corn.

Then we drove over to buy the wood.  It's on the edge of a pasture area we drive past every single day.

In fact, every day, Sam's school bus drives over these railroad tracks.

Benny and I were eager to take a picture of the goat we see every time we drive past.  Turns out his name is Jo-Jo.

And it turns out Jo-Jo has a chicken friend.  Both of them came rushing out to see us when we walked over.

We took a couple more photos of the area......

After driving over the railroad tracks, Sam's bus drives up this hill each morning.  And down it each afternoon.  I have no idea what this road is actually named, but we call it "the donkey road," because it cuts through the pasture where the donkey lives.

Loaded up and ready to go...........

We took it home and unloaded.

The boys were a huge help.  Even Mom got into the act for a few minutes.

And now we have plenty of firewood.

Following the outing, we had snacks, games, dinner, play time with Poe, baths, a football game, and of course, a fire in the fireplace.

All in all, I'd say the boys had a good break.