Snowmageddon

The view from our street today:

Some sainted neighbor shoveled our walk AND driveway!  Wm and I went out and played until we were wet and cold.  Thank god it's not a work/school day!

Baby Steps

Well, we are baby stepping our way back to normalcy.  The door guy came today and put in our new door.  But, the foam has to expand or something before he reframes it, I guess.  So it looks hideous for now.  He's returning Monday to finish it.  It does look a lot better than the boarded up and broken old door! And this one is a steel door that we reinforced with steel frame/lock guards.  He said they'd have to kick in the wall to get through that thing (then, helpfully pointed out that they'd just throw a brick through a window to get in - but said that's "unlikely" as burglars are "wimps.")

Just for funsies, here is Wm with green fangs he won at the bowling alley yesterday:

And here he is playing the keyboard Guy is letting him borrow.  He loves to mix a good beat.

Wm's Latest...

Steve was telling the story about when a tornado hit Niles when he was a kid.  Wm says, "Was it an F-1?" And Steve goes, "No, it was definitely worse than that - it destroyed a lot of stuff!" Then he went on to describe the damage.  Wm goes, "Maybe an F-3.  I know it wasn't an F-5.  An F-5 tornado is capable of picking up trains and the winds are over 300 miles per hour."  

Interestingly, we looked it up and the one that hit Niles WAS an F-5!  

Post Christmas

Christmas wasn't over after we opened at home - we went over to Mimi and Guy's later in the day for even more Christmas!  When we got home, Steve looked at all Wm's presents scattered all over the house and he goes, "man...that kid is spoiled - we may have gone overboard." Wm screamed from the other room, "NO!"  So he clearly did not agree.

Present-palooza at Mimi's!

One happy kid

Playing the table ping pong set Guy got Wm for Xmas!

As you can see from the above pic, we are still without back door.  We are hoping now that Christmas is over, we may be able to get one up there soon!  Hopefully by the end of this week.  Other than that, all we have to do is send a bunch of paperwork to insurance to get reimbursed for everything, then everything will be done.

We got a big 'ole snow storm today.  We drove all around in the Subaru and it handled great.  But, even with that, it was SCARY out.  Thankfully, we didn't have to go far and didn't have to go to work!  Wm had a blast playing outside.  We had a snowball fight, made snow angels, had a failed attempt to make a snowman, and shoveled the driveway and sidewalks.  I think I will be feelin' that tomorrow!

Christmas '12!

Wm was up and at 'em at 6:15.  Steve was a real crab about getting up - and when we came downstairs I discovered why!

LEGOS!!!!!!

Skylanders!

A ninja hat.  Wm says this was a fail.  He was not impressed.

Our present from Wm - an ornament

More fancy athletic pants - just what Steve needs!

My present - and why Steve was so tired

The end result.  And Wm building away.

I made vegan cinnamon rolls for breakfast

Wm says he is having a great Christmas so far. Although, Santa got him a Skylander he already has (Wm goes, "I'm surprised he didn't know that.")  But, he got the Lego set he most wanted, so he is currently busy putting that together.

Steve was also pleased.  He said he was ready to "put on his game face" when he opened his gift.  But I sneakily found these ridiculously expensive athletic pants he wanted for sale nearly half off.  So he could be authentically happy!  He is currently back in bed asleep, another Christmas present: uninterrupted sleep.

I, too, am happy as a clam!  I have been asking Steve if we could paint our orange fireplace since we moved in.  He has never been game.  I have been pining for this really pretty painting (the pic above does not do it justice).  So, after I went to bed last night, Steve stayed up super late and painted the fireplace a gorgeous green.  Then, he crept down this morning when it was dry and put up the painting he had bought!  Yay Steve!

Our thoughts are also with Griffin, who has to spend Christmas in the hospital.  I'm sure Drew and Jess are making it as special as they can under the circumstances.  And Santa doesn't skip the hospital!  

Lastly, Wm surprised us again this morning!  We were talking about dust mites and my allergies and Wm goes, "did you know there are more dust mites in an average bedroom than people on the planet?" Again...looked it up - he is correct.  And....EW.

Christmas Eve

We've had a busy Christmas Eve!  Wm and I made Christmas cutout cookies.  I had to make them vegan, so the came out sort of weird looking - like extra puffy.

But then we tasted them and they were the BEST sugar cookies EVER!  Yay for being dairy-free!  They were crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and super good!  Steve has been stealing them all day.  He said they are the best he has ever tasted.

The finished product and Crazy Willie

Then Papa and Great Papa came over to celebrate Christmas with us.  Wm got all sorts of awesome presents!!  He is one happy boy!

Wm is also a freakish genius.  Great Papa and I were talking about the Model T and Wm pipes up from across the room, where he was building his Lego set and totally uninvolved in the conversation, and goes, "The Model T was the first street car.  It was invented by Henry Ford in 1908."  I had to look up the year - and he was right! I asked how he knew that and he goes, "I read it somewhere."  

Apocalypse

Well, it looks like the apocalypse isn't happening.  Much to my surprise. BUT, in other news, we FINALLY got our first snowfall!  And The 'Bu handled it super well!  In fact, I got to work and was kind of disappointed that the roads weren't more treacherous so I could try it out better - came to find out the roads were pretty slick and there were accidents everywhere.  I didn't even know!  When Steve texted me after he got to work and asked, "are you OK?" I had no idea what he was talking about.  Woot!

Wm wrote us a very nice Christmas note.

Dear Mom and Dad,

Merry Christmas! And happy holidays! 

I'm glad you're with me for Christmas.

Ho! Ho! Ho!

You're on the nice list this year! Santa knows

you're on the nice list! He really does know!

I love you infinity more than anything.

Love you forever,

William

Adorbs, right? We are all officially on winter break now!  Steve is off most of next week, I'm off until Jan 2, and Wm is off until Jan 7!  It's a party up in here!!!

In robbery updates, we have picked out an alarm to get, Steve went to Lowe's and got some goods - but the door people are standing us up, so we are still left with a nailed shut back door - and that may be the case until after Christmas now! Steve is currently calling around to see if we can get someone else out here.

Burgled

Everyone probably already knows that our house got broken into yesterday.  Which was...no fun.  So I won't rehash it.  Everything is pretty OK now.  We all slept fine (including Wm!) last night and are getting things back on track.  Wm was mostly concerned about getting his iPad back.  This morning before work, I stopped at the OSU store and got him a new one (thank you, insurance).  I told him it's even fancier because it's an iPad 2 instead of an iPad 1 like we had before.  He's happy as a clam.  The first thing he said after walking out of school was, "did you get me an iPad?" then ran home and has been contentedly playing it all afternoon.  So, Wm is pretty much set.  I think the fact that Steve and I made sure to be really calm and confident about the whole thing helped ("That's pretty crumby, eh? But, good thing it will NEVER happen again because we are getting steel doors and an alarm.  So, we are all totally safe and get awesome new stuff.") Wm never saw us get agitated, so he never got agitated.  

The biggest annoyance is that they stole our computer that has all sorts of personal things on it (spent my day changing passwords to everything) and pictures/documents that we didn't back up.  Lesson learned, I guess.  I brought my work laptop home and we are using that until we can get a new one.  Which will DEFINITELY be a Mac.  I have to give a major plug to Apple.  I got the new iPad and could not figure out how to get all our stuff back on it.  It kept telling me to plug it in to my computer to restore it...which was stolen.  So I called Apple and told them I was robbed and have nothing and want all my goodies back anyway.  In 2 minutes, they had walked me through it and I have my iPad completely restored.  In fact, the guy goes, "while you have me on the phone, what other questions do you have about anything?" so I asked him some random stuff and the iPad is even better than before!  I'm a Mac person for life.  Best customer service EVER.  My favorite part, when the customer service rep answered and I said, "How are you?" his response was, "Livin' the dream!"  Ha!

The door guy will be here any minute to give us an estimate on replacing our doors.  The police said a dog is the best security system.  But, not only do I not want a dog...but I am allergic to them.  So I asked Wm if he wanted a dog, just curious, and he goes, "no, I want a cat."  I told him I wanted a guard dog and Wm says, "just get a guard cat." 

Tortured Husband

Me: [attempting to kiss Steve]
Steve: What stinks?
Me: Oh.  It's probably my face. I read apple cider vinegar is a great toner.
Steve: Good god.  You reek. You smell like a pickle.
Me: Hmph.  Whatever.  It said the smell will fade quickly. Give me a kiss!
Steve: Fiiiiine.
Me: Wait. [BURP]
Steve: I love you so hard right now, Cory.
Aaaaaand, that is why Steve is hilarious and I am disgusting stinky sack (in my defense, I had just drank some fizzy juice and I will have awesome pores).

Wm is also hilarious...
Wm: Daddy, are you EVER going to re-grout the bathroom tiles?
Steve: Did you tell him to say that?
Me: I seriously didn't.
Wm: They just look all dark and moldy.  So you need to do that, Daddy.
Steve: I WILL.  Jeez. I planned to do it this weekend.
Wm: All you do is sit around on the couch...like a rock...watching sports.
Steve: Uhhhhh...ow.  Really?
Me: YES. A MILLION TIMES YES, WILLIAM.
The best part is that all Steve really does is play with Wm.  He hardly ever gets to sit around until after Wm is in bed.  But it is still the funniest thing ever for Wm to say.

Poor Steve.  On his birthday weekend, no less.

Birthday Boy

Happy birthday to Steve!  36!!  I can't believe it!  He did not like it when I pointed out he's closer to 40 now than 30.  He's in his "late 30's."  While I am still reveling in my early 30's.

Wm picked out some decorations (note Steve's "Birthday Boy" ribbon pin that Wm made him wear all day).

And Steve got a fancy soccer jersey he was pretty excited about:

Tonight Steve and I are going out to a fancy dinner and to see Argo.  Steve is pretty pumped!  It's not often he gets to pick the restaurant AND the movie!

Lastly, Wm got an awesome Santa hat...

Basketball Pics!

I finally got some pictures of Wm at basketball practice!  His first game in January 5, so I'll get some uniform shots too.  The small uniform is giant, so he'll look hilarious in it.  Wm made his first basket at practice this week!

Wm came home with a nice note from the teacher yesterday!

And we had a hilarious conversation on the way home from school yesterday...

Wm: How many stars are in the sky?

Me: Only god knows.

Wm: There is no god.  That is a myth.

Me: So you don't believe in god?

Wm: Nope.

Me: Me either.  Do you believe in Santa?

Wm: Uh, yeah.  Totally.  He brings me presents.

Me: So you believe god is a myth but Santa is real?

Wm: Yes.  Santa brings me presents.  God doesn't do anything.

Me: Seems legit.  But....what if someone else is bringing you presents?

Wm: Like who?

Me: I dunno....Daddy?

Wm: Haha!  He would.  He does love a good prank.  Nah...I still think it's Santa.  

You may notice a decrease in posts.  My minion quit this week.  She got a really good job managing a graduate program in the College of Medicine, so it's a good move for her.  But now I'm scrambling to hire someone new.  And I have to teach her horrible class in the spring!  I hate teaching.  So I will be very busy and very grumpy. Steve is looking forward to it.

Weekend Wrap-up

Wm had a great weekend.  He actually hit the rim at basketball practice (I, again, did not take any pictures due to my love of gab), he had his friend over for a loooong playdate (and they got to go bowling!), he got to see Suzanne (he was all, "I want to see Suuuuuuzanne!!!!!"), and he got to do lots of Christmas shopping.  But we are now all exhausted.

Wm had been in bed for about 3 minutes - so not nearly long enough to fall asleep - and he goes, "DADDY!  I am having bad dreams!"  Steve calls up and tells him to listen to his Christmas music and think happy thoughts about Santa coming soon.  Wm yells back down and says the only thing that will help is if Daddy comes to sleep with him.  Steve calls back up and says it's not happening and he needs to get to sleep and stop procrastinating.  There's a little pause and Wm goes, "can I at least just look at you one time?"  Of course, Steve can't ignore that pitiful request, so up he went.  And, as soon as he got up there, Wm told him he wanted a hug.  Steve leaned over and Wm clamped his little arms around Steve's neck in an iron grip and goes,  "SLEEEEEEEP WITH MEEEEEEEE!!!!!"  He's wily, that Wm.

Steve just asked me, "what are you furiously typing over there, champ?"
Then, he saw a commercial for some movie and says with serious intensity, "God...I hate Tom Cruise.  I just see him and think 'I really hate you.'"
He cracks me up.

Man Cold

Steve has a VERY SLIGHT man cold.  Heard just this morning (and it's 10:30AM)...
Steve: [moan]
Steve: My fwoat hurts
Steve: I think I'm dying.
Steve: [sigh] [cough] [moan]
Steve: I think I'm having a heart attack.
Me: Why?
Steve: I feel weak. And sweaty.  And sort of swimmy.
Me: Shut it.
Steve: I'm DYING!
Steve: [sniff] [moan]
Steve: Ahhh...ohhhhh...my glands!  They're swollen!
Steve: My throat...is on FIRE.
Steve: Oh god.  Ohhhhh...I'm definitely dying.
Me: My throat is a little scratchy too, ya know. It's fine.
Steve: I don't have a cold.  I am clearly DYING.  [moooooooan]

Also, this man cold is making Steve a bit crabby...
Me: Ugh.  I have a big, huge zit on my chin from my evil PMS hormones.
Steve: Yeah, that is hideous.  I can't believe you're going out looking like that.  [evil laugh]
Me: Oh, really?  Well, I guess you can take Wm to basketball by yourself and socialize with all the other parents...ALONE.
Steve: You look BEAUTIFUL. You can hardly see it.  What zit?
Me: That's what I thought.

Texting

Wm sent his first text today. It was mostly pictures, but he did tell Steve he loved him too! I told him that when he has his own phone one day, I am going to text the hell out of him and he made a disgruntled face. He has no idea...

Terribly

Wm: Can we play a game with matches?
Me: Um....no.
Wm: Why not?
Me: We are not playing with matches!
Wm: NO.  Matches - like when two things match each other.
Me: OH!  Yes, we can do that.
Wm: Although, a game that involves fire does sound more fun.

Wm has also taken to peppering the word "terribly" into every other sentence. Some examples from today:
"This spaghetti is terribly hot."
"This shoe is pinching my foot terribly."
"The iPad is being terribly slow."
I pretty much love it.  He sounds like he should be smoking a pipe, wearing an ascot and smoking jacket, and reading leather bound first editions of Great Expectations in front of a hearth.  Wm is terribly funny.

He is PUMPED for tomorrow.  After basketball his friend is coming over for the whole afternoon while his parents go out to see Cirque De Soleil.  Wm said he wants his friend to stay overnight for a sleepover. When I asked if he wanted to go over there for a sleepover sometime, he goes, "no - I like sleeping in my own bed."  Damn.

Card

Just when I thought Steve didn't care - he sent me this:

Sixteen Candles

Wm HATES this sweater, but I think it is adorable.  So, I set it out for him to wear this morning and he was all, "I don't like it!  It is embarrassing! I just want to wear a long sleeve tshirt!  I am warm blooded - I don't need a sweater!"  Using my wiles (sad face and pleading eyes and saying, "I would feel so much better all day knowing you were warm....") I got him to wear it!  I couldn't resist snapping a picture.

Note his twig legs.  Cutest.

Today is the 16 year anniversary of when Steve and I started dating.  Steve doesn't give a flying fig about said anniversary.  He says it's "not important anymore" since we got married.  Yeah...meanest guy ever.  But, he did agree to some "anniversary celebratory poses" this morning.

Shooting the anniversary lighting

I think he's trying to run away...

No idea what's happening here....

or here so much

SIXTEEN YEARS, MAN!  That's a long time.  Steve pointed out this morning that if he had knocked me up with an illegitimate lovechild, they would now be getting their driver's license.  He's such a romantic.

In other interesting news, the neighbors came over and knocked on the door a little after 3:30 yesterday and said there was a squirrel in their house.  So Steve went over and captured the squirrel.  He returned home, triumphant, and no sooner had said, "hopefully there was only one!" than the doorbell rang again.  There was, in fact, another.  Their kids were screaming and crying and this squirrel proved to be much more elusive. So the women and children stayed at our house and, after the arrival of the other husband, the menfolk spent HOURS trying to get that squirrel out.  It was quite the event.  I told Steve he could now have his own reality show.  STEVE: Squirrel Hunter.

Acronym

Wm: I know what an acronym is.
Steve: What is it?
Wm: Letters that stand for something.
Steve: Can you think of any acronyms?
Wm: COSI.  Center for Science and Industry.
Steve: Good! Any others?
Wm: DSW.  Designer Shoe Warehouse.
Me: THAT'S MY BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(I may have dragged Wm to DSW one too many times.)

Snuggles

It was a rainy, dark morning and I was laying in bed, not wanting to get up this morning.  Wm walked in and got in bed with me and goes, "I want to snuggle."  So we were laying there listening to the rain and cuddling and I go, "will you still want to snuggle with me forever?" Wm thinks about for a minute and goes, "No."  I ask, "why not???" and he says, "I don't think I'll want to snuggle anymore when I am in my teens."  I guess he is at least preparing me for that eventuality.

Wm also had his first basketball practice yesterday!   He LOVES his coach (a lady coach!) and his BFF is on his team, so he is loving basketball.  I didn't get any pictures because I was too busy gabbing with other parents.  Then, we took Wm and his friend out to lunch with the other parents after practice.  So, Wm had the time of his life.  He says basketball is much better than soccer.  This is funny since he came nowhere near even getting the basketball at the rim the entire practice.  He would scream, "Look!!  I hit the bottom of the net!!" and that was a success.

Meanwhile, Wm found a zombie hat that is hilarious: