It's beginning to look a lot like........

SNOW! LOTS AND LOTS OF SNOW! Seriously, someone turn it off! We got hit with an almost-blizzard this past weekend and WOW! The kids had school on Friday but came home a couple of hours early, and Jamie's drill weekend was cancelled! I honestly think this is the first time EVER I've seen a drill cancelled! So it starts snowing Friday afternoon, and oh, look how pretty! A few hours into it I was ready for it to be over and by the next night I was READY for it to be over! Jamie took the kids out the entire day Sunday, they shoveled the driveway (which took 4 hours!! Next year we're investing in a snowblower!) and then they sledded in the backyard and built a snowman! And then Monday, thank God, we were back to school and work and normal! Well, normal for us, anyway! I have more SNOW pictures on our website- www.flickr.com/photos/thestoverfamily/

Future blackmail photos!

So Ben came over this week so that Jen could take Sarah to the doctor (she has the same high-fever flu we've all had lately). Kate had a new toy/bribe for sleeping in her own room that of course she had to share with him! Makeup! They came into the kitchen wearing matching sticker earrings, blue eyeshadow and HOT pink lipstick! Kate told me, "We're wubwey wadies"!!! Ben may not care now, but I bet this picture won't be one of his favorites in a few years!

The latest and greatest......

Ok, so I haven't been able to post in a while because it's been a little crazy around here. Compared to how it's normally calm and peaceful. Yeah, right, like I can fool anyone with that!

So, lets see- what's been going on lately?

Friday was Alec's 8th birthday (Happy Birthday, Alec!!) and we had his party yesterday. Pretty much the last time we have a birthday party at our house, those kids were crazy! I'm boycotting goody bags (I know I'm not the only mom with kids that need NO MORE pencils, cheap candy, even cheaper toys...) so I had a great idea- lets have a craft! So off to the store and home again with foam visors, paint markers, and foam letters and ocean-y shapes. It sounded cute, sounded like something that'd take up about half the 2-hour party, the last hour saved for cake and presents. It lasted 15 minutes, tops. Only the girls took any time to make theirs pretty, the boys slapped a fish on theirs, wrote their name on with the markers and then resumed their lap-running and screaming through the house. Oh well.

I worked! A JOB, even! I was hired with a major florist to be a home agent for Valentines week. How bad could it be- work from home, on the computer, in my sweats! It was CRAZY! I had less than one second between calls! And let me tell you- people spend a LOT of money on flowers! It was fun, though, the flowers they have on their website are unbelievably beautiful and I got to talk to a lot of really neat people. I sent arrangements to France and South America and all over the country, "met" lots of really nice co-workers, helped lots of men come up with something sweet and gushy and romantic for their cards! I was amazed, though, how nasty people can be! I had several calls (on Valentine's Day morning, no less) for flowers to be sent to areas where our local florists were no longer accepting more orders, they were overbooked. This is my fault how?? It was very hard not to point out the customer's fault in the problem, but I kinda figured that would be frowned upon by my employers.

Then the flu hit. Hard. Everybody ended up with horrible, high fevers, LOTS of snot and coughing, it's been very pleasant around here! So far we're all almost over it, but I'm not getting my hopes up. Jamie has been hosing down everthing that'll stand still with Lysol, at least it smells 'clothesline fresh' around here! The house is an absolute disaster, too- the best we've been able to keep up with is laundry, but it's all laying on the couch (mostly folded) and there are toys and junk laying around everywhere! I try not to care, but you know....

...and then we played a great game of fetch!

So Kate's been pretending to be a dog. A lot. To the point that she licks the top of her drinks and ate a cracker off the floor "like Molly does". It's cute, and I guess there are worse things she could be pretending to be, so I've played along.

Yesterday it was beautiful outside- 60 degrees, blue skies, breezy- so I had the back door open. She was crawling around barking as usual, and every once in a while she'd go out onto the patio and look for ladybugs (nothing to do with dogs, but that's her other favorite activity). I was just in the kitchen and I could hear her, but not see her. She came back in from one trip outside hitching at the waist of her jammies and told me, "Doggy pee-peed outside". Yep, she tinkled on the patio! I didn't see it, but I can just imagine her going outside and squatting like Molly does! I'm just glad no one was on the playground at the elementary school, especially not Alec! Poor kiddo- "Look, there's my little sister! That one right there, the one peeing on the patio!"

Time flies!

Wow, I can't believe tomorrow is the last day of the year! Andy told me tonight that he thinks the year has gone by too fast, I told him to wait till he's my age, you blink and all of a sudden your baby is 11 and you're OLD!

So let's see, what's new with the Stovers???

Christmas was lots of fun! We pretty much spent 3 days in our jammies, always my favorite way to be! The kids got to open a couple of their presents early, namely their snow bibs and snow boots, but of course they wanted to open the traditional one gift on Christmas Eve! Jamie was up at 6:30 Christmas morning asking if I thought he should get the kids up! I said no, but was overruled, so we were up early! Santa brought sleds for everyone, but we haven't gotten to use them yet! He also brought Webkinz for the boys and a Strawberry Shortcake for Kate, they were all happy! They all got way too much, lots of neat toys and lots of clothes for all of them.

We've spent the week breaking in their toys and playing, enjoying their time off from school! Tomorrow Jen, Keith and the kids are coming over for New Years, I'm sure we'll eat ourselves silly and be in bed way before midnight! Jen and I spent 2 days making TONS of cookies last week, of course they're long gone now, and we're already planning our menu for tomorrow! I'm almost ready for the holidays to be over so I can stop eating!

I'm going to start a new family tradition this year- a time capsule! I've told the kids to think about what they want to put in it, and when we put our Christmas stuff back for the year I'll stick our time capsule in with it, then we'll open it next Christmas! I've been keeping all the Christmas cards we've gotten for several years now and it's always fun to go back and look at them, especially the pictures. I'm not sure yet what my contribution will be, definitely pictures of the kids and animals from throughout the year, but otherwise I havent decided yet.

So this week Jamie and the kids are home until Wednesday, then it's back to normal. I'm almost ready for it, it's been nice having them all home but I'm ready for everything to get back on track. I start school next week, Chemistry, English and Speech (I think, cant remember!). I'm absolutely dreading Chem, but I was dreading Microbiology, too, and I aced it and actually enjoyed it. I'm entertaining the idea of going back to work part-time, I havent found anything I want to do yet, though. I'd love to get on at the hospital 3rd shift, that way I'd have hospital experience, even though the patient care would be very limited, and I could still be home during the day. Kate really needs to be around other kids, so I think a few days of preschool would be good for her. Who knows what'll happen, I guess we'll see!

I noticed I haven't updated anyone on Alec and his "issues" in a while. He's now taking 40mg of Strattera at night and .25mg of Risperdal in the mornings, and they're working really well for him! He still has meltdowns, but only when he's really tired, and their severity and duration are much less than they used to be. He starts therapy next week with a Psychiatrist in Columbus next week, and I have high hopes for this attempt since the rest of his issues seem to be under control. I'm a little concerned about the possibility of having to drive to Columbus once a week, it's an hour one way and I dont want him to have to miss a day of school a week, so I'm anxious to see what they say about that next week. He has really blossomed this year in school, both socially and academically! His grades are excellent and his teacher says he's their class's best reader! I can see him at recess from my kitchen, and he plays and runs around just like the other kids, VERY nice to see! He's even having sleep-overs with one of his friends, a first for him! I love this kid so much, and it's been such a long road to this point, so I'm so happy to see him finally being able to be a normal kid.