Wonderstruck

I am pretty much in awe of my boys.  It's been the longest, coldest winter I've experienced which means we have been spending a lot of time together.  Indoors.  In each other's space.  But we've survived and actually thrived.  I told the boys about my big plan to spend our winter break in DC but told them I would need their cooperation to make it work, especially since Dad wouldn't be coming with us and Dad would be in Seattle when we got back.  My boys responded with big eyes and big smiles as they committed to being good helpers, and they have been.
We got home Friday night with the temps in the single digits and I told them to leave their coats on so we could hurry and unload the van before we froze.  We worked so fast the van was still warm enough for me to vacuum it out, leaving no evidence of a day spent on the road.  It was such a good feeling and a great way to end the trip.
Minutes later I discovered the heat on the first floor of our house wasn't working.  Marcus and Ethan quickly ran to the basement for wood to build a fire and wasted no time getting one started.  Unfortunately we forgot to open the flue and had to open windows and doors to air us out, sucking out any remaining warm air.  The worst part was I couldn't figure out how to open the flue.  I tried everything, including putting on my oven mitts and opening it manually with no luck.  Randy was on his flight so he was no help so I dug through our owner's manuals and tried to figure out how to fix the furnace/open the flue.  No luck.  I cranked the heat upstairs and we snuggled up for the night.
The next morning it was 55 degrees in the house which felt really cold.  Luckily Randy told me about the 2nd lever on our fireplace that opened the flue so we could finally use our fireplace.  Yes, I'm so dumb!  The boys kept wood burning all day and I was surprised how nicely it heated the family room and kitchen.  The furnace repairman guy said he could come Monday and I figured we would be fine until then.  That was until I went down to the basement at midnight to gather more wood and realized Marcus and Ethan had used all the wood we had stored inside.  I sighed with defeat, put on my Sorels, coat, gloves, and head lamp, and waded through 3 feet of snow to our wood pile in the backyard.  Luckily the wood was under a tarp and mostly dry and after several trips had a lot of wood stacked up and a very dirty ski coat.  I only fell on our treacherous stairs a couple times so that was nice but I felt like a pioneer so that made it all better.

I "temporarily" installed a new thermostat hoping that would fix our problem.  It didn't.  If you know me at all you would know I am no handy man!  But she works fine and when Randy gets home he can finish the job.

Sunday morning we were off to church when I gave my boys another pep talk and basically threatened their very lives if they acted up while I was playing the organ.  I am either really brave or really stupid for letting four boys sit unattended through a huge chunk of church and expecting things to not end badly.  But again, I was surprised.  They were quiet, didn't attract any attention and no one had to go sit by them and break up any fights {which has happened many a time}.  We got home from church to discover that the snow/rain storm resulted in snow plows leaving icy snow and slush piles that were taller than my tires at the end of our driveway and impossible to drive through.  I parked the van in the middle of the road and no sooner had I stepped out of the van when Marcus and Ethan ran into the garage, grabbed shovels, and began clearing the driveway.  We worked quickly without coats or gloves and got the back-breaking job done in less than 20 minutes.  I was so proud of them for stepping up and acting every bit the part of the "man of the house."  Randy of course has been feeling so bad for leaving me in less than ideal circumstances but I told him the boys are taking good care of me.  These little boys are growing up to be men and eventually husbands in the blink of an eye and although I want them to stay young forever, I can't wait to see what awesome husbands/fathers they will become.  This past weekend tells me it's going to be worth watching.

What?  You don't shovel in your church clothes?

Doesn't get cuter than this!