After checking the weather for the umpteenth time this morning, we finally decided not to brave the potentially treacherous Nebraska roads in the midst of the predicted storm. So we’re hanging out at home for Christmas after all. Although we’re disappointed to not get to spend the day(s) with our families, we’re enjoying some sweet family time with just the three (well, four) of us.

This picture isn’t the best quality; I had to do lots of adjustments because I had my camera on the wrong, wrong, wrong settings. But it should give you an idea of just how desperate I was this morning to keep the little one happy. We blessedly did get out of the house this afternoon for a glorious trip to Super Target with Rebecca and Liv. Oh sweet, sweet freedom from the confines of the house. (I don’t know that I’ve ever had cabin fever as bad as I did this week.) You’d think I would have brought my camera for the ride, but really I was just too giddy at being OUT OUT OUT of the house.

We have been celebrating today’s gorgeous weather in a most un-Moreheadlike way: yard work!

I don’t think the pictures can quite convey the horror that was the area back by our garage. Rebecca once said that she was afraid that she was going to run over someone every time she had to pull out of the alley.

And Jason admitted that it crossed his mind that he might find a body back there (chalk that up to watching too much Bones lately). Thankfully, he found only a snake and a couple of aluminum cans.

Meanwhile, Simon helpfully rearranged the rocks in what I guess is the driveway. What a thoughtful boy.

And while the “after” still leaves plenty to be desired, it is quite satisfying to be just that much less of a blight on the neighborhood.

Untitled
Crayon on plaster
Simon Morehead, 2009

So this morning I discovered that Simon had begun to install an uncommissioned mural. As precious as the artist is, the piece was just not what we had in mind for the dining room (thank goodness for magic erasers).

Simon was more than happy to demonstrate his technique for the camera.

He did not, however, appreciate being given an alternative canvas . . .

and banged his head in protest, claiming that Mama was trying to restrain his creative spirit.

Simon continually outdoes himself for best. bedhead. ever. This was yesterday’s post-nap ‘do.

Well, I haven’t been blogging, even though I said I would. Sigh. I have to admit that I’m feeling rather stuck about it—I do want to have written those entries; I just don’t want to write them.

I have, however, been cleaning. Inspired first by Liz’s post, then by Rebecca’s, I’ve been on a bit of a clutter-reduction bender. Right now the house is in the worse-before-it-gets-better stage, and I’m feeling rather overwhelmed about it. Making it all the more troubling is that I realize that I keep cleaning to avoid the even more overwhelming tasks of (a) finishing a proofreading project and (b) preparing for our trip to Japan. Oh dear.

Meanwhile, Simon has a cold (and an ear infection) and has been going through Kleenex like it’s going out of style:

The blog has been neglected lately. Poor blog.

Coming soon (this week if it kills me): parts 3 and 4 of the This Time Last Year series (Simon’s birth story and NICU story), Simon’s 12-month letter, pics of the birthday bash, pics of this weekend (wherein Simon rode a horse). You read it on the Internet. It must be true.

So Jason built Simon a raygun out of Simon’s new Duplo blocks:

Him: Bweu, bweu, bweu, bweu. Simon, this is a raygun.
Me: Honey, I don’t want him to know about guns yet.
Him: Simon, we never shoot people with this raygun, only bad robots. Bweu, bweu, bweu, bweu.
Me: Still. No.
Him: Simon, this is what you use to protect Mommy from bad robots.
Me: Awwwwww. Well, okay.

This morning was the first of what, let’s be honest, will probably be many times where the sight of my kid in minor peril sent me running first for the camera and only then to his rescue.

We did some not-quite-last-minute shopping today. Jason stayed behind in Target to buy (or not buy? I’m not supposed to know) me gifts, so Simon and I had to entertain ourselves in the car for a while. And this is how Simon felt about that:

I spent a lot of time today—this frigid winter day—thinking about the heating vents in this old house: close them upstairs and open them downstairs in the morning to keep more heat on the main floor; open them upstairs and close them downstairs before bed to get the bedrooms heated up.

Simon and I spent the day with my sister, Rhonda (aka Aunt Fun). We tried to decorate the house for Christmas as a surprise for Jason, but we were utterly defeated by the garlands.

Blah blah bloggie blog
I don’t want to write today
So I’m not gonna.

(Clearly, I’m in a blogging funkety funk today. You should check out these amazing pics of my friend Kasey’s amazing kids instead.)

As we were out and about today, I saw three different signs that bugged me for various reasons:

1. On a KFC sign: “MOM WHAT IS A GIZZARD? $4 FOR A BOX. FRIDAYS ONLY.” This one struck me as too chatty.

2. On a billboard for Scheels: “gear. passion. sports.” None of these is like the others. I don’t get the connection. I thought maybe it was supposed to be some kind of progression, but that doesn’t work either.

3. At the library’s bookdrop: “Adult’s.” No, this is not the worst misuse of an apostrophe (and I suppose it could even be justified if the other bookdrop weren’t labeled “Children’s"), but anyone who works at the library should know better.

Okay, so these are not exactly worthy of FAIL Blog, but they made me kinda grumpy nonetheless.