Early December

There were so many fun things that happened in December!  That was a good thing, because this month was also jam-packed with a lot of hard work and anxiety.  As always, we live with both of those together, try to overcome the challenges, and focus on the good.  Here are some of the highlights:

Early December was COLD!  And I do mean frigid, arctic, below-freezing cold!  It was time for bundling up, pulling out the warm blankets, and dusting off our hot chocolate maker.  At first, it was all great fun because Trey had his first opportunity to play in the snow with the big kids.

Oh. My. Goodness.  Ask me how much I LOVE this picture!  This gorgeous little face, brightened by the sun reflecting off the snow, and framed by his hilarious Perry the Platypus hat, is beyond precious!!!!!

What is it about little ones bundled up in snow gear?  So cute!

Snow caps to snow boots...super adorable!

It wasn't a LOT of snow, but it was enough for Avery to develop his three categories of snowballs!

Here is my itty-bitty, teeny-tiny 12-year-old.  Oh wait.  He's NOT small anymore.  At all!  How on earth did that happen?

Look at Coco's cute little snowman!  She was so proud. :)

Unfortunately, there was a downside to the chill in the temperature when the cold air crept inside the house overnight one day.  I woke up first, as usual, to do my workout, and noticed it was not the least bit toasty in the house.  It didn't bother me as I was downstairs getting my sweat on, but I did notice that the furnace never kicked on while I was exercising like it usually does.  My alarm at this rose significantly when I checked the thermostat on my way back upstairs and noted that it was less than 60 degrees in the house.  Yikes!

This photo shows a screen shot of the weather report on my phone, next to my two youngest kiddos bundled up in lots of blankets on my bed to keep warm.  It was chilllllllllllly!

Sure enough, the furnace was not working.  And the outside temperature was -2 degrees Fahrenheit!  Awesome.  And doubly awesome was the news that Nate couldn't have the time to stay home and help get it fixed.  He called our heating and cooling guys before he left for work, but had to leave a message.  He was already on his way to work when they called back.  They were ever so kind, however, to suggest that it could be a simple fix and that we could probably do it ourselves rather than pay them $100 to come out and do it.  Nate asked the guy to call me at home and tell me what I could do, which he did.

Thus began my first foray into the foreign world of the furnace (that's a lot of alliteration!).  With some coaching and texting between me and the heating guy, I was able to learn about cleaning the flame sensor on the furnace.  And I fixed it myself!  Whoop!  And that was in spite of my young work crew (comprised of my 2-year-old son who kept thrusting a flashlight and a screwdriver in my face and saying, "I help you, Mommy!").  My professional coach, my husband, and I were all so darn proud!  It was great to save the money, and great to learn something new, but it was especially great to get WARM again.  It took all the way until early afternoon to be comfortable again in our own home.  I NEED my climate control!  Why else would I have signed up to live in today's world?  Climate control, of course!  And flushable toilet paper.

Here I am showing my tools, the working furnace, and the temperature on the thermostat up 5 degrees after my successful fix-it mission.  Hallelujah!

Anyway...needless to say, we did spend most of early December indoors.  And I have one last picture to share before I publish this post, because there is no other place for it and I love it.

My biggest and my littlest poking out their bellies together.  Don't ask me why.  But they sure are cute!  And thankfully, they are warm and cozy inside our well-heated house in December. :)