Snow

I was listening to the radio Monday afternoon and they predicted snow for the next day in the area south of Atlanta.  I told the kids they were lucky that we lived in the path of the storm and not to the north.  That night before bed I checked the forecast and the Weather Channel predicted the snow would begin at 10am the next morning.  Nyla was super excited.

In the morning I checked the forecast again.  Now rain was predicted to begin at 10 but it would change over to snow about 4pm.  Nyla was disappointed.  Just after 10 the first snowflake fell.  Buddy called soon afterward and said he was being sent home.  I thought that was crazy but who doesn't like getting off work early.  He stopped at Costco first and arrived home before noon.  He immediately went back out to the library to get a book he wanted.  By the time he came home he said the roads were getting bad.  The snow was falling pretty fast and it was accumulating. 

Nyla was the most excited.  She went out for quite some time.  Bohdin went out for a few minutes.  Cora stayed inside.  She told me that she doesn't like the snow very much.  We watched the news in the afternoon and the tv reports were crazy.  Traffic was horribly snarled.  It was a good thing that Buddy came home when he did.  Commute times skyrocketed.  People were in their cars for 8+ hours.  They slept in grocery stores, Home Depot, and in their car.  I never would have predicted anything like it even after telling the kids in the morning that Atlanta doesn't have the equipment to deal with snow.  We weren't impacted negatively at all but lots of people were.  The base was closed for two days so Buddy didn't have to go back to work until Friday. 

Nyla had been dying to go the playground when the snow was falling but we waited until the next morning.  Nyla didn't last long because she got snow in her glove and went home crying.  Bohdin stayed a bit longer and had me take pictures of him flying off the slides.  In the afternoon Nyla and Bohdin went with a neighbor girl for a wild ride on a golf cart.  They came home frozen but had a great time.  Bohdin said "It was GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!"  Nyla would say the same thing but with even more exclamation points.  (Bohdin is watching me type and made me put all of the exclamation points in.  And now he's giggling.)

 The snow was melting fast by Thursday and Bohdin and Nyla went outside again.  What they really wanted to do was go on another golf cart ride.  Instead the neighborhood kids came by and they all built a snowman named Olaf.  I kicked Cora out of the house and she had more fun than she expected.  She was the last one in. 

 I bought a new bluetooth speaker for listening to audiobooks.  It's become easier to use my phone at times to listen to them.  Today they were listening to music and decided to have a dance show.  Nyla said it felt good to get the dance out.  In the afternoon they went back to the sand pile to continue work on the sand cake.  I don't think it was quite warm enough to be barefoot but Cora disagreed.  She even walked in the snow that is still in the backyard to prove her point. 

Bohdin and I went for a walk in the evening and he noticed that wherever we move gets a lot of snow.  We had 2.5 inches on Tuesday which is a lot for this area. The average annual snowfall is around 2.1 inches.  The record is 9.3 inches.  Two inches completely paralyzed the area.  I can't imagine what 9 inches would do.  Last year in Kansas they had record snowfall.  Bohdin experienced a top 5 snow event in Colorado.  Our first winter in Kentucky was colder and snowier than usual.  

Unpacking

Bohdin grabbed the camera the take pictures a few weeks ago and forgot to turn it off.  When the battery drained it set off a two week quest to find the battery charger and get the house in order.  I was about to give up several times.  Every move we lose random items and I thought this move it was the battery charger among a few other things.  I did eventually find it in the box with the computer.  We hadn't unpacked the desktop computer yet because we didn't have the office desk yet.  Unpacking is like putting a puzzle together and we've been trying hard to put the pieces the way we want them.  This move it's more difficult because I want it to be good.  It feels like we've had years of good enough.  I want to move closer to good this move. Nyla's room is getting a big overhaul.  She has a smaller closet than she's ever had so some of the extra things that were stored in there need to go elsewhere.  I needed to find a new home for the dress up clothes and stuffed animals.  Her nightstand is getting painted two years after I told her I would do it and she is getting a pink desk for art work.  I'll put the third coat of paint on that today. 

Bohdin likes to take random pictures around the house.  

Ballerina Cora

Nyla artwork that she hung on her window.  It's a plane but she forgot the e at the end.

Nyla in her rock star pose.

The bunny mask that Bohidn made for Nyla in art camp last summer.

The weather has been erratic here.  Some days we are victims of the polar vortex and other days it is very nice.  One nice afternoon we went to the playground and stumbled upon the local homeschool group.  They have weekly playgroups at the playground near our house.  The kids haven't made any friends yet but there is potential.  So far we've been to two playgroups and one writer's club.

Cora has been really tired lately and she's been napping a bit.  One day she fell asleep on the kitchen floor. 

 I made lasagna over the weekend and had the kids assemble it using an assembly line method.  Nyla got bored or something and decided to do art instead.  She drew a picture of the layers of  the lasagna while Bohdin and Cora finished up. 

Nyla spends more time outdoors than Bohdin or Cora.  She explores the woods in the back, plays in the driveway, or builds a sand tower with the extra sand in the empty lot next to us.  Yesterday we had beautiful weather and I sent the kids outside to play.  Eventually they had to come in because their bare feet were cold. 

Bohdin is learning variables in math and he needs to write simple equations.  After he had written one I told him that the times symbol isn't necessary between a variable and a number.  He erased the times sign.  He wrote the variable first and I didn't want him to erase everything so I didn't tell him that the number comes first.  He noticed that his equation now read 14 = 4 + h2.  He added a zero after the two and laughed hard as said that it was now 14 = 4 + water. 

Deer

It was a really cold day Monday but we bundled up and went outside anyway because it was the first bit of sun in days.  We walked to the clubhouse which is across the lake from our house.  We were walking across the causeway when I turned back because Nyla had strayed from us and went down the embankment to see the water coming down the spillway.  When I turned around I saw a deer behind us.  The deer kept walking in Nyla's direction.  She turned around to come back up to us and was startled and scared.  The deer followed her as Nyla came toward us and by the time Nyla reached us so did the deer.  Nyla was frightened and even I thought it was quite odd.  I told Nyla that this was probably the only time in her life that this would ever happen since deer are usually skittish.  The deer touched my gloved hand but it was most interested in Nyla.  The deer didn't care about Bohdin or Cora who was on my back.  Once I sold Nyla on the idea that this was a special occurrence she relished it.  We scared the deer a little and it walked off.  Nyla followed and I was wishing I had brought the camera.  I realized I had my phone and took it out.  I was further away from the deer by then.  It allowed Nyla to come up and pet it and feed it some grass she picked. The deer never allowed Bohdin to get close enough to pet it.   Eventually the deer turned around and left.  We didn't see it again when we walked back across although Nyla was hoping to catch sight of her new friend.  Nyla just came over and saw the picture.  She said she would name the deer Peach. 

After our deer adventure Cora must have been really tired.  She laid down on the floor and went to sleep.  It's only the second time she has done this.  I was running around frantically looking for her.  She woke up slightly from my yelling but then went back to sleep. 

Nyla and Cora are enjoying all of the space in the living room that allows them to put on dance shows.  They hide behind the couch prior to the start and then jump out.  Nyla has started saying "Are you ready?"  followed by an "I can't hear you!  Are you ready?".  I don't remember why Nyla was sad in this picture.  

Here is another Bohdin picture.  He also took the picture of Cora in front of the window above.  

I think the kids are settling into this house and enjoying it.  Bohdin is laying on the couch right now reading.  He couldn't read in his room because it was too bright.  He does have the sunniest room.  Nyla and Cora are playing in Cora's room.  Cora plays upstairs a lot also.  Bohdin and Nyla don't use the playroom as much.  They don't like to play Playmobil in dirty spaces and right now it is messy both from their play and moving stuff. 

Christmas

Bohdin likes Christmas Eve and the preparation for Santa's arrival.  He wrote a note apologizing for not making cookies and put out a variety of vegetables for the reindeer and nuts for Santa.  He tried to make a path again as he did last year but our tiny tree was on the mantle above the fireplace so he just made a large circle around the living room.

 Christmas looks a little sparse without furniture or a large tree. 

Nyla felt a little ripped off and rightly so.   I noticed it too late on Christmas Eve to do anything about it.  There were a few tears shed but she got over it.  It's not like she didn't get great presents. I had to store all of the presents in the trunk  and the contents of some of the boxes was discovered by a sibling.  Santa dropped the ball as a result and the $20 from Santa was not much consolation.  I just asked her and she said it was a good Christmas.  The only thing she didn't like was not getting to decorate a big tree.  Perhaps she has forgiven Santa. 

Our stuff arrived the day after Christmas and we are still unpacking almost two weeks later.  The kids have absolutely no patience for unpacking since it was just 11 months ago that we last did this.  I can understand the feeling. 

New House

Here are some pictures of the new house.  The shutters aren't up yet in this picture along with a few other details.  The playground picture is the playground near our house.

Waiting for Home

On the drive down to Georgia I found out our closing would be delayed.  It was unclear how long it would be until we could close.  The appraiser didn't complete the job and wasn't answering the phone.  We couldn't move forward until the report was made and there was no way to know when that would be.  Buddy joined us on Saturday and we played the waiting game which isn't fun especially since we had done it last year.  Every day we waited for news to tell us when we might close so we could make plans but days passed without finding out.  Friday afternoon we found out we would close on Monday the 23rd.  It was a long wait in hotel rooms.

The only memorable thing we did was go to Callaway Gardens for one night.  We saw the lights which are not at all as spectacular as advertised.  It didn't help that the temperatures dipped down for those few days.  Bohdin grabbed the camera and took a bunch of pictures.  These are some of my favorites.  They are all unedited.  The only one he didn't take is the one with him and Nyla.