$#*! Our Henry Says

• One morning last week while getting ready for work and school, Henry must have taken note of Daddy's sweater and shirt and my shirt and jacket.  Henry stood between us and said, "Awwww... I wanted to wear two shirts!"  We let him put on a sweater over his t-shirt.
• Henry loves being with people.  Whenever we return from someone's home or an outing with friends, he'll say, "I really miss them," or, "I want to go to someone's house,"or, simply "I need to go somewhere else."  (As in, "my parents are just boring.")
• Yesterday, when he was placing our library books in the book return, he turned to me and loudly said, "You need to be very, very quiet in the library."
• Today's note from school said that Henry wasn't a fan of the tuna sandwich that Daddy packed for him.  His teacher quoted him as saying, "This is awful!  And I just can't do it."  
• Tonight, when Cory went to check on H in bed, Henry smiled up at Daddy, who wasn't wearing a shirt, and said, "Your arms are nudie tudie."  (Nudie tudie is what we call naked 'round here.) 

Apologies for the crude title.  I just want people to know that I do know a thing or two about pop culture.

90 Years

Happy Birthday, Granddaddy! You gently command our admiration.

Your direct offspring?  Hmmmm... I'm not going to even retell the joke uttered by your son and encouraged by your daughters.

We love our Granddaddy.  (And his kids)

The cure

I didn't drive to work.  Cory drove me.  I will not drive Cory's truck in this type of road condition--no way.  No how.  Today's difference in my work schedule and Henry's school schedule forced us to carpool.

The yW opened at 10 AM today, so Cory took me to work around 8:45 then took the boy out for coffee and juice before taking him the rest of the way to school.  When they dropped me off in my parking lot, I got a little sad when H's face crumpled and he said, "Awwww... I'm going to miss you!"

Then I remembered that on Tuesday, when I casually reported to Cory that the yW was going to be closed the next day, Henry overheard and cried out, "Awwww... but I like going to that place!"  Then, that night, when I reminded him that I was going to work in the morning and he was going to spend another day with Daddy, he said, "But I want to go somewhere, too!  I'm going to go to the doctor... because I'm sick."

Cabin fever was officially cured today.  No trip to the doctor was required.

I conquered!

Part of the reason we have an all wheel drive vehicle is that I despise driving in inclement weather or across rough terrain and seriously need to feel my tires managing the road.  Well, this morning, white-knuckled and muscle-tensed, I crept to work across thick ice and clumpy snow.  Then I carefully shuffled across the ice skating rink of a parking lot before shakily unlocking the office door.  It took about ten minutes for my headache to subside and my knuckles to unclench.

The return home was much faster and less nerve-wracking.  And when I walked in the door, Henry was just beside himself with excitement.  Yes, baby, I did it!  I drove across the ice to work!  I did it!  Your Mama is a hero!  A HERO!  No clients showed, and I cannot blame them.  But, hey, if they did, I was there waiting for them.

Extra Days

Sure, it's evidenced by the change in blog design that I have a slight case of cabin fever, but we really had some good snow days.  They're extra days to (for the large part) enjoy all together.  Good job, snow.

Neighbors helping Neighbors

The icy neighborhood roads made for some fast sledding with the actual sled today.

Zoom zoom!

Taking the curve

My childhood snow disk had some trouble on the bumpy ice this early afternoon.  We more or less sczootched on it since we were all out of our Clark Griswald spray.

Some neighbors seemed to be making better progress down their hill, so they invited us to try.  A big push...

gave Cory some momentum.  Briefly.  Our other neighbor was unimpressed but reached out to give another shove down the rest of the road.  Thanks, Max.

Cory made it unceremoniously to the bottom of the slope.  Turns out, what we really needed was our neighbors' disk!  It, combined with another big push, gave Cory the speed he needed.

And, then, he returned the favor...

At this point, Henry declared himself ready to go inside, so we carefully trudged back to the house.

Yesterday's snow, Today's ice covered snow

Here's what footprints in the snow looked like this mid-morning:

Sheets of ice...

Somehow, it was difficult for Henry to keep his gloves on today.

But since they were necessary for handling the cold, rough ice, he obliged...