SNOW BLISS: Also titled: Before the ice storm

I tried to upload these before the power went out...ahh, if I'd only known!

You could also call this post "When Snow Was Fun Before It Turned Our SkiWorld Upside Down".  Photos post-ice-storm to come later.

I took this photo just after jumping up and down with excitement. I may have teared up with joy.  We hadn't had real snow in more than a year. It was so early that the only light was from my million-watt mini UV bulbs on the front porch.  SNOW!!

What an idiot I was. 


After the sun came up...

John Paul slept through this adventure outside.  He was cozy and warm.  So was Jonathan.  Thomas and I headed out to embrace the frosty majesty of the winter landscape.  If only Clark Griswold was here with us to enjoy it.

Thomas is STANDING UP in the snow:


Right in front of our front porch, under the eave.


The major task was to check on the chickens.  We could hardly see them from the house. 


So I pulled out the sled (by using the garage door opener!  Wow!  It opened when I pressed the button!) and Thomas jumped on. We trekked out to the chickens.


And this was what we found after clearing some snow.  The Eglu seriously became a sweet little igloo for them...the water in their dish and the ground on the run was not frozen.




The baby douglas firs.  That fenceline is at the front of the property, right by the mailbox.  I now know the meaning of the word "snow-capped". 


Zeus the generator, the composter and the propane tank.  Yes, as Dan Ireland stated, that generator could power half of Africa.  But only when it's already wired into the house.  Which it wasn't.  And for which I am incredibly grateful that Jonathan didn't remind me incessantly about it, since it was my fault. He could have launched into "I told you so" a million times, but didn't.  And that's why I am a lucky wife.

But, really, when you have good weather, wiring in the generator isn't as high on the priority list, you know?  Lesson learned.  The electrician has already ordered the transfer switch for the house.  Getting installed shortly.


Off the deck.  This ended up freezing into an ice crust so when Thomas threw bones out to Maggie, they skidded across the yard.  Mommy had to go get those for our poor sweet dog.


Snow-capped.  Snow-capped.  Now I know.


And one last one of my sweet Wee Ski, throwing snowballs at me. 


This concludes the "I love snow" portion of the blog. More pics to come next week.

Survival skills of a tired mommy

We're sitting in the Starbucks parking lot in our car, borrowing their wi-fi.

I'm getting pelted by leather shoes, toddler size 8 from a Wee Ski who doesn't want to sit in the car. But this mama needs a break.

We had power for a sweet, sweet eight hours.

Eight, count it, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Eight blissful hours after being our for 144 hours on the farm.

In those eight hours, I deep cleaned and bleached two fridges, freezers, cleaned the bathrooms, ran four loads of wash, a load of week old cloth diapers, two loads of dishes, bleached the kitchen sink, tossed the food we lost from the fridges, made a tasty delicious dinner with roasted everything, celebrated our snow-packed-and-still-frozen-a-week-later meats and seafood, moved them to our sparkling clean and cold-again freezers, gave both boys baths, took showers, and climbed into bed to rest.

And then the lights turned off.

Again.

I am so grateful for how hard PSE has worked to restore power to hundreds of thousands of homes. I just wish that my intense wish for snow hadn't turned into a freak snowstorm turned ice storm turned windstorm over the course of a week.

Thomas reached for the remote this morning and when he realized it didn't work, he said, "mommy? Where's the powers? It's broken again! Are you kidding me?"

So we packed up our toothbrushes and headed early to St. Columban for Mass. They have running water, heat and a brief respite from the stress having a toddler and infant in a cold, dark, waterless house.

I prayed for grace, patience, and crazy fast response times from the crews, just one more time.

And then I looked at both my boys and thanked God that we were all in one piece, safe, and healthy, and with fresh baths from the night before.

It will be okay.

Especially after we get Zeus, our generator, wired into the house. :)

McGyvering it up in Rainier

I'm sorry we have been off the e-grid...it's because we have actually BEEN off the grid.

From an email I sent on Friday...
We lost power on Wednesday and it hasn't come back. After our snowstorm, we had extensive ice and just between the end of our road and our house, the power lines are cut 4 times. More than a quarter million homes in our area are out. Thankfully, we have a wood stove: providing heat, a way to cook and melt snow for water. That's our only source for water right now.

Jonathan had the 'come to jesus' reality talk with me. Our power is most likely not going to be on until mid-next week, if we are very, very lucky. There is incredible ice damage everywhere here, every major road out of Rainier is blocked due to trees fallen and power lines down.

They days are long right now -- I hauled firewood and shoveled snow for several hours today. Am so grateful that we have heat, there are thousands who don't. Thomas helped with firewood today, and he was so tired he fell asleep at the dinner table, fell off his chair and split his chin. He had some ice cream (see below) to feel better. :)

On the upside? Our sweet neighbors let us all shower today, we got to the town store and picked up diapers ( damn cloth diapers without a washing machine!), and there was literally free ice cream for the taking with the store freezers down. We stashed our free find in the ice on my car, far from the dog's reach. And if we hit 120 hours without power, we can apply for a $50 credit from PSE, so we've got that going for us. :)

And yesterday...
The fan belt in the 4runner shredded yesterday. Thankfully, just a mile from home and AFTER the major snow had cleared. AAA was only doing short run tows right now, so we had it towed home and will hopefully get it into the shop on Monday. We did get to go burn some energy at Capital Mall and have a hot dinner in town.

Today...
After Mass was cancelled at 8 am, we headed south to Centralia for a hot breakfast and to browse at the outlets. We are fueling up, charging our electronic devices and getting some supplies before heading back. And "stocking up" may have included a stash of yummy smelling goodies from Bath and Body Works to cover our "power's out scent".

All in all, at times it's been tiring balancing an infant, a crazy energetic toddler and our 100 lb dog who doesn't like the crazy weather changes. We have been blessed to have enough snow to make gallons and gallons of water for us and Maggie to drink, and hot meals on the wood stove. We have heat from the stove and have played lots of games by candlelight. It's been good for our family to be disconnected, even if stressful at times when reminded of our pending projects and work.

So grateful for those working to restore our power and those around us. Hope you're warm as well!

For the love of all things white and frozen

The blog post title is a tip o' the hat to Stella, who refuses to ever Facebook or blog about anything weather related.  It's my own personal joy to do so, since I know it drives her nuts.  Here we go...

THE SNOW FINALLY ARRIVED!

We have all been under the weather this past week, finally starting to get back on our feet over the weekend.  We kept the boys in except for a few brief moments for both of them...and then headed out today into the snow.  Jonathan had some work to do at the office, so we packed up the four-wheel-drive sleigh and headed into Olympia.  Inspired by Amelia over at Tales of a Mountain Mama, we began with a brief adventure around Capitol Lake. A mini-trip away from home, but not far from help if we needed it.  :)

[By the way -- Amelia has a ton of great ideas and goodies over at her blog on how to get your kids into the outdoors.  You should check it out!]  

It was a good first adventure.  The boys were bundled and had snacks and hot cocoa at the ready (thanks, Amelia!).  John Paul was amazing and even went to sleep around the lake...Thomas, on the other hand, reminded me that I need to grow in patience.  We ended the mission a bit early with a rescue call into Papa, who swooped in with the 4runner sleigh on the other side of the lake after Thomas shut down.  And when I say "shut down", I mean "screaming, taking off his clothes in a snowstorm, won't say a word but just wails" kind of shut down.  And yes, sweet John Paul slept through all of that. 

So we'll need some more layering clothes for Thomas that he can't get off, some hand warmers, and a new plan of attack for our next snowy adventure.

It also made me super grateful for all the places on the farm that we can hike to and still be close to home!  :)   We'll master this yet!


The boys at the beginning.  You could hardly see the Capitol.  I'm a little nervous about the March For Life tomorrow and how well the boys will do... :)  I may just put John Paul in the single Bob and carry Thomas in the sling!  :)

Thanks, Occupy Olympia, for trashing Heritage Park.  We're the 99% who like to use it, and it's fenced off until it's decontaminated, cleaned up, and restored because you guys were selfish.  Way to practice what you preach.

/off my soapbox.


On the drive, love seeing the baby douglas firs on the farm...the wind is taking down all the snow on the south side of the trees.   A nice little Jekyll & Hyde effect.


Home sweet home.  We have virtually lived off the wood stove since the chimney was swept last week.  A big pot of water steaming off on top of the wood stove, filled with mulling spices from Penzeys.  I'm going to finish up a few design projects and head into the kitchen to make some tasty delicious bread, soup, and enjoy having Jonathan home on a rare weekday. 

Snow, I love you, even if Stella hates you.

Twelve on Twelve.

Twelve snippets of my life right now.  Because I think that's about all I can handle.

1. December was crazy busy, joyful, at times heartbreaking, and full.  We celebrated my dad's birthday with a fabulous surprise party, had a very successful retail season on the farm (weekends were nuts!), learned how to adjust to life with two Wee Skis during the holidays, and spent a ton of time together as a family. Jonathan even took a rare, full day off (the day after Christmas) which we loved having together. 
2. My Uncle Tom (married to my mom's only sister, Darcy) passed away suddenly a few days before Christmas.  Mom, John Paul and I were able to find airline tickets to get us back to Iowa for the visitation, funeral and home early Christmas Eve.  A whirlwind trip in 55 hours with four flights, and more than 400 miles on the road.  My cousins and aunt have been on my heart nonstop, and am so grateful that they have years of great memories to fall back on as they adjust to a new normal.  I had the privilege of being able to lector at his funeral Mass, which meant the world to me. 
3. I am so glad that I kept January's calendar relatively quiet, because it holds the 'overflowing' part of 2011 in it. Thomas has been fighting a fever the past few days, and his nightmares at night have returned. Thanks to the great power of Facebook, my friends gave me a ton of ideas on how to overcome them...so we started by blessing his room with holy water (I read the blessing, he sprinkled everything in sight), gave him a special Cars blanket that protects him from monsters at night ("Lightning gets them") and a small flashlight to look for monsters, and talked a lot about how Jesus, the Holy Spirit and his guardian angel are always with him. I know it's awful to say, but it's a sweet change from his 100 MPH insanity when he doesn't feel well. "Mommy, will you cuddle?  I scared of cia-tees (coyotes) and monstas (monsters) are in my rooomer (room)."  His fever dropped today under 100.
4. There hasn't been a spare moment anywhere.  Thomas has not wanted to sleep (see monsters above), so most days he's refused an afternoon nap.  The morning he was most sick, I turned around in my office at 5:10 am to find him standing there, wide awake. "Papa and John Paul sleeeeeping. You want hot chocolate coffee?"  Most of my normal 'work times' have been set aside to comfort him.  I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world...so I'm working on dissolving my "mommy guilt" as I work late at night.  It actually hit me that I am not so much a 'stay at home mom' as a 'work at home mom' -- which both shocked me and made brilliant sense at the same time.
5. The Mommy Police.  I struggled a bit with this last month.  I had a rare anonymous comment from someone in Everett who chastised me for "lying to my kids about Santa and his minion, the Elf on the Shelf".  At first, I thought it was a joke, and then I realized that this person truly thought that I was selling out Jesus for the commercial side of Christmas.  And then I was equal parts amused and annoyed. [Sidenote -- when offering "advice", have the courage to sign your name.  If you don't, you seem like a snarky holier-than-thou person who doesn't truly have the courage behind their conviction.  Which I'm sure you're not, because I am giving you the benefit of the doubt.]  I do appreciate that Anonymous was concerned for the boys and their eternal salvation, but seriously, these boys go to Daily Mass with me, love Jesus (as best you can as an infant and toddler) and LIVE ON A CHRISTMAS TREE FARM.  If I had it my way, I'd celebrate Christmas year round.  I relish the fact that I can say "Merry Christmas" to each one of our Sprouffske Trees customers and feel warm and fuzzy knowing that something we grew is helping thousands of families celebrate Christ's birth.  Santa originated from St. Nick (a little fist pump for our Catholic saints), so yes, my anonymous friend, we do talk about Santa. 
   /off my soapbox
6. Where's the freaking snow?  We have been waiting and waiting and waiting, and it's not here yet.  We found a sweet snowsuit, hat and mitten for Wee Ski 2.0 at Animal Crackers, brand new from LL Bean -- for $9!  So of course, Thomas found it and put it on for one of our walks.  Welcome to my life.  Good thing John Paul is still fitting into his blue bunting ($8 at the Creme Brulee consignment sale!) and it keeps him cozy.  Perhaps I'm addicted to blue snow clothes with the boys' blue eyes.  I don't know.  All I know is that I CANNOT WAIT TO SHOOT MY KIDS IN THE SNOW TOGETHER.  Finally, the temperatures are dropping and it may come in a few days!  Right now, I'm settling for calling the frost on the farm "snow". 
7. Just in time.  I had the chimney swept, the heating vent under the house cleaned and our dryer vent scrubbed and cleaned yesterday.  Things are in tip top shape now and I'm ready to blaze some fires in our wood stove.  And just like that, the temperatures dropped down last night into the 20s.  Just in time.
8. December Daily.  I have enough to finish my album, I just need to find the time to do it.  I have hardly taken a single photo since the clock rolled into 2012, but that's okay.  I LOVE capturing the days of December and I shot tons of things throughout the month.  Pages to come!!
9. Finian Road.  Wound down in the final days of December with a newborn shoot (that I'll actually blog!).  Lots of design projects are in the works:  sweet spiritual adoption posters for St. Charles, projects for Relay (for our team and the upcoming Mega Event Experience at the end of the month in Seattle), Lenten goodies for our parish, and the normal workload that happens at the beginning of the year.  It's a love/hate relationship with being busy -- especially with the boys at home.  But each day, I feel so blessed to be able to spend my days with them AND use my creativity to my heart's desire!
10. My iPad.  An awesome gift from Jonathan for Christmas.  Hilarious that Thomas is a whiz at running it, and can pull up PBS Kids and change my music from the spa station on Pandora to his Cars soundtrack on iTunes while I'm in the shower (ugh to that second one).  I'm slowly becoming a Mac convert (said while writing on my Dell).   My favorite apps?  AllRecipes, Pandora, and IMDB.  Totally predictable. 
11. John Paul is a growing tiny human.  He's eating all kinds of steamed veggies and fruits, making incredible messes, and is crawling like a madman.  He's not yet pulling himself up, which is totally fine by me.  He's learning how to get on Thomas's nerves, which Jonathan and I find hilarious.  The other day as Mass was starting, Thomas burped.  After a sharp mommy glare, I hear "scuse me, Mommy."  Then John Paul burped (stay classy, Wee Skis!) and Thomas glared at him.  "Mommy, he burped.  Needs to scuse.  Scuse you, John Paul.  SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!  He's not quiet, Mommy."  Oh, child, the irony. 
12. And a few shots from the end of December.  Love these.  Thomas pushing John Paul in the stroller.  I had to hang back a bit when Maggie had to take a break from walking on her bum leg.  Thomas picked up the stroller and pushed him all the way home. 

And my absolute favorite, as I cherish not having to deal with year-ending tax sales in the market before 1 pm on 12/31 anymore.

I was making dinner and looked out to find Thomas sound asleep in front of the TV, watching the market reports from the day.  Ahhh, how times change. 

On four years

Four years ago today, I married my very best friend.

I thank God every day that he gave me the gift of my husband.  I am especially grateful to my father-in-law and mother-in-law who raised him. We visited the cemetery a few days ago with a handmade Sprouffske Trees wreath to lay at the gravestone.  I thanked them for being great parents to him, which has given him the chance to be a fabulous dad himself.  We both teared up a little when Thomas added "BearBearMomSki" to his prayers last night before he was tucked into bed.

I love that Jonathan picked out the perfect Christmas gifts (a sweet tricked-out iPad + new video cam for the boys' room). And we spent the night before our anniversary laughing at the boys on the iPad screen as we watched Thomas and his pre-bed antics. 

Do you see his new hiding place in his room?  This is how he normally gets out of bed, climbs off the end, crouches down by the piano and sneaks along the base of the piano and comes out the other side.  I love that the nighttime vision of the camera picks out his green, beady little eyes.  :)


This just makes my heart happy.  Thomas climbed in bed to give John Paul a kiss before he laid down next to him for a bit. 


On his way out...


And one of our new favorites:


The very first Ski bunk bed. 

Jonathan snuck in a little while later to make sure that Thomas wasn't stuck, and found that there were several inches between him and the crib.  He just wanted to be close to John Paul and protect him. 

I woke up this morning with Thomas and John Paul between Jonathan and me, and thanked God again for all I've been given.  Totally love reading this year-ending post from 2006, just a few short weeks before I met Jonathan.  Seriously, the more things change, the more they stay the same.  Just now they have the blessing of 3 Ski boys as well!

Quick Takes: The Week before Christmas Edition

What a whirlwind.

Seven snippets of right now, in no particular order.

1. Silence.  
   Right now, I'm relishing the silence of two Wee Skis napping and the whirr of the computer hard drive. No Pandora, no television, no Netflix online. Just silence. AND IT IS GOLDEN.
2. Joy.  
   We had a chance to see the Ross fam last week, and Thomas was in heaven (as always).  I adore this photo of him and Angelica together. 
3. Hustle bustle.  
   I always thought life was busy when I worked at Merrill Lynch with all of the tax year-ending deadlines.  Now, running two businesses which peak in November/December with two small ones underfoot, I know a brand new kind of busy with a few parts crazy thrown in. This year, I closed my Finian Road schedule on weekends in December, which was a godsend for my sanity.  It also gave me the freedom to be able to support the tree farm with more of my energy.  I feel for Jonathan, because at least I get Monday mornings to recover.  After a full weekend on the farm, he is back at the office bright and early on Monday mornings, without a break.  He's been a champ throughout this season.  But we're both looking forward to New Year's weekend!
4. Contentment.  
   We had the 12th annual Mausski Christmas dinner at the house this weekend.  What started out as brunch in my tiny apartment in University Place in 1999 for my parents, brother, aunt, uncle and one-year old cousin now is a big dinner on the farm with 9 adults and 4 kids.  Planning effectively ahead made this year's dinner the smoothest and least stressful we've had, even with a 24 pound turkey (thank you, Costco) and the fullest house yet.
5. Grateful.  
   So love that I love Jonathan's family, especially since we are around each other nonstop during the Christmas tree season!  They're funny, love sarcasm, and are just generally good people.  
6. Touched.
   My mom surprised Jonathan with a new chainsaw after ours was stolen from our front porch a few weeks ago.  Theft is not a common problem on the farm (one of the first events in many, many years) so it shook our security a bit.  Jonathan was so touched by her surprise and still couldn't believe it when he woke up this morning.  Thanks, Mom.
7. Party Rock Anthem., one more time.
   I love this version.  Enjoy.  :)