This Is Forty ~ January

I kind of like the idea of a photo collage for the highlights of each month. Of course, now that I look at it, it seems we didn't do much in the last 31 days. And, upon further inspection I realize that I've forgotten this little gem from the very start of the month...

New Year's Eve at the Great Wolf Lodge. Because nothing says good times quite like balloons in the bath tub.

Moving on...

I did a whole lot of waiting in the parent pick up line (1.) this month because temps dipped into the -10 wind chill area and my kids are not hearty.  God forbid I have them walk the half mile home from the bus stop when I can stress myself out to get out of work in time and pick them up as the bell rings instead.  And when the icy, wet stuff (2.) starts to fly, they'd surely be frozen solid since neither one of them will wear anything heavier than a sweat shirt to school.

When I wasn't picking up kids, I got all crazy like and Youtube-ed how to clean the dishwasher (3.).  I dismantled it, cleaned it all out, and put it all back together... with no extra parts!  We won't go into what I found in there.  You're welcome for that.

(4.) Should really be (5) as it happened first, but because I was distracted by all things boys I didn't realize I put them in the wrong sequence.

Anyhoo....

We saw Garth Brooks on the 25th.  It was the last on our concert bucket list, and it did not disappoint.  Floor seats, 19th row.  The only down side was that we had to stand the entire show and the people behind us were subject to my dance moves.

The real number 5, (4) is of course the blizzard last Tuesday which dumped an official total of 30.1 inches of snow on us.  The post office closed down and Tony finally got to use his new snow blower on the driveway, the neighbor's driveway,  and two of the other neighbor's driveways.  The door is from the first pass outside about 7 hours into the storm. The 7th picture is Tony preparing to go out again.  The winds were 50+mph and bitterly stung any skin that was exposed.  Number 6 is how I prepared for the snow-ma-geddon, Cadbury eggs and candles.  Turns out, we didn't need the candles at all as we never lost power. When it was all said and done (8.) we were left with mountains of snow everywhere 4-5 feet high.  It was beautiful but a real pain to deliver mail in. Then of course, the plow drivers slept off their 2 day plowing marathon and were sent out to widen the paths, scraping mud and dirt up everywhere, making it not so pretty.

We wrapped up the month with report cards.  Youngest just missed honor roll with a 78. He was not happy, but again that is a story for another day though.  The real story is that Oldest made straight A's for the first time ever.  Considering that his math is an advanced class and he's got a full course load, we couldn't be prouder.  For all his efforts, he wants new sneakers.

So, February is sure to find me out shopping for some new kicks, and eating nachos at the Superbowl party tonight.  Just as soon as I restock the storm supplies for tomorrow's storm...

*sigh*