Ice, Love and 'Junk' Cars

has been some time since i've posted anything. i'll certainly blame it on the weather...
a week ago today the st. louis weathermen threatened us with inches of ice. two weeks earlier they forecasted a foot of snow - which we only received 3 inches. therefore i wasn't too worried about possible ice. before noon our daycare provider phoned me to inform they were closing at 2pm. the first time in 17 years... i thought perhaps i should actually look outside. was a total shock. i had to take ryan the truck in order for him to get the kids and it took me almost 20 minutes to defrost, thaw and scrape. was miserable.
the ice never stopped falling. continued throughout the night into early tuesday morning. it was as if the entire town had shut down. no traffic, closed businesses and gracious school children kept home. the ice lasted a week and now local kids have a week to makeup school in the summer. why don't adults get snow days? :)
we took it in stride keeping warm with homemade soups and extra layers. a few bruises remain from slips and falls but overall we handled it well. rain started falling friday evening and as the snow/ice has mostly melted we are left with a swamp for a yard and mud for a driveway. have to love this missouri weather!


warren celebrated valentine's day at school on fri. and announced to his teachers that it was important he love everybody that day! :) he came home with a basket full of goodies and that in itself amazes me. when i was a child we had valentine cards. that was it. perhaps someone taped a sucker to their card but we were elated to simply have bugs bunny say 'hoppy valentine's day'... my son comes home with playdoh, tattoos, pencils, slinkys and enough chocolate to last until easter. i can't imagine where some parents have the energy or finances to be so elaborate. i have made homemade treats in the past for various holidays but with 2 children and working full-time - their classmates are lucky to receive anything at all. ha!


we have survived the past 2 years with only one vehicle. it has worked out well but there have been instances when one of us really needed the truck when the other had it. lest i mention the times the truck has had to spend time with the mechanic. how thankful we are for our close friends and neighbors. my well-off sister :) was able to purchase a mini van recently and offered us her old car. i seriously needed a vehicle that would get me and the kids to school and work each day - we're talking 3 miles roundtrip - tops. we jumped at the chance to buy this vehicle. we didn't have the ability to drive to columbia and back to pick up the car so we chose to meet in st. louis yesterday at the science center. both sisters families came. talk about chaos! the place was packed, the kids hard to keep an eye on and within an hour the parents were utterly exhausted. the dads really wanted to take part in the morbid 'body works' exhibit but tickets were sold out immediately. thankfully we were able to visit a short while and the license plate-free car made it back to ste. gen without getting pulled over! hopefully by the end of the week we'll have the car licensed and titled - then ryan will FINALLY have his truck back! he is already excited about cleaning it and getting rid of my crap :)
hope you are all well and keeping warm. i'll attempt to post some photos this afternoon...
jlc