Snow... The follow up post

The snow is STILL comin' people!  Even as I type this follow-up post I see hints of flurries out my window.  Granted, it has slowed considerably.

Here are a couple shots of the limb that fell onto my house....

 Don't judge...the Christmas lights are still up...

If you look really hard at this picture below, you can see where the huge limb broke off of on my maple tree.  I am not a great photographer and it was cold, so I was doing quick shots.  There is also a fair sized limb on my roof still as well.

Here is the view out my back door.  I don't think that we will be having any fun-filled days on that slide and swing any time in the near future.

On Wednesday, we also lost power for 7 hours.  Luckily we have a nice propane heater that was installed in the front room by the previous owners.  It was out from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.  Let me be the one to tell you, keeping 2 small children entertained in a single room for 7 hours is very very difficult.  We were snowed in with not a whole to do.  We aso tried to do naps in the front room, (pack and play and small tent style) it did not work, and that might be the largest understatement of the year.  It was catastrophic.  It included Shiloh freaking out about me shutting the tent door and then about me reopening it.  Then he went quiet, whilst Eli freaked out about the pack and play.  Eli fell asleep and Shi got up and had a melt down and WOULD NOT come close to the tent.  He tore blankets out and was running a way and screaming like a banshee, which of course, woke Eli up.  I ended up bundling Shiloh up and putting him down in his room, then I rocked Eli and put him back in the pack and play in the living room.  He was mortally offended that I would  put him down in it again, so I bundled him up and put him down in his crib in his room.  They both slept wonderfully.  The adventures of two small children.

Hopefully the snow stops soon and I can drive my car again and not be snowed in my house.  I am going a bit stir crazy.
 

Ummmmm.....snow is falling all around...and breaking off huge tree limbs off of my tree.

Last night, it started snowing...AGAIN.  We just had a good 8 inches of snow a couple of days ago.  We had another storm start last night.  We woke up to a good 7 or 8 inches this morning with only more snow in the foreseeable future.  I just wish that our tractor would have enough traction to plow our extremely long driveway.  This morning, at about 1:30, I awoke to the hugest thud against my in my room I have ever heard.  Kenny shot straight out of bed, which, if you know him, is a huge feat.  My heart was pounding.  We looked outside and a HUGE limb from our maple tree was laying against the house and on the front deck. (I will have to get a picture of that here later) We also woke up to the power going on and off at least 10 times, and every time it turned back on the oven would beep.  The weather advisory radio also woke us up twice.  The funny thing is that both of our kids finally slept through the night for the first time in a couple of weeks... The picture above is from the first snow.  I am working on pictures from this snow.  It just has to be day light outside first.

Shiloh is 2: part II

So I am a little behind on blogging, but I have to post the second part of Shiloh's birithday celebration.  We went to our dear friends', (Gramma)Chairety and (Grampuh)Yogi's, restaurant to have dinner.  The plan was: we bring pizza, Billy (i.e. the man that works for Chairety and Yogi, and who is lovingly referred to as "uncle Billy") makes cake.  We would have a low key, and fun celebration.

 

Here is Chair with little Eli

I should have known better.  If you know Chairety and Yogi, and I do, nothing is ever low key, especially when Shiloh or Eli is involved.  When we showed up they had the place decked in Disney's Cars paraphernalia, which is a Shiloh fave around our parts.  They had toys cars and trucks and such decorating the place, all of which were gifts to be taken home by the Birthday boy. 

Shiloh...was...in...HEAVEN!

We really had a blast!  We are so grateful for great friends who treat us, and our kiddos, like family.  We are so blessed to have had God place them in our lives.

Here is Shiloh with his "brack" cake.  His favorite kind of cake, and the only kind he has ever had.

 

We had a lovely time!  Shiloh had a blast and we really are so thankful for our good friends who made this day a very special on indeed for our Shi Shi.

Valentine's Day + How I met Kenny = the influence of God in my life

I realize that I have written kind of a crazy title.  It kind of looks like a "one of these things is not like the others" statements, but it isn't. Just keep reading, it will all work itself out in the end, I promise.

Many of you know how I met Kenny.  I may have even written it somewhere on this blog on another day when I was feeling especially sappy.  I will shortly retell the story, mostly because I am too lazy to actually go and look through my old posts and it is just plain old fun to reminisce, right?

Katie, my friend and below stairs neighbor had jumped in the apartment complex swimming pool with her clothes on.  I was on the balcony laughing at her and just conversing with her from three floors up.  Tall, dark, and handsome (i.e. Kenny) was walking by.  I thought he was very handsome indeed.  Then I had a thought, or a spiritual prompting, if you will.  "you are going to marry someone like him one day, you need to talk to him, so you can figure out what kind of man that is."  You know how those thoughts hit you like a ton of bricks and in the blink of an eye, and yet I brushed off the feeling/thought anyway.  It was a bizarre thought.  It was ludicrous to think that about a handsome man I had never met.  Besides, how was I supposed to talk to him he was three floors down.  Again, the thought came, only more urgently, and I almost involuntarily started to yell to him from my balcony. 

"Hey you're cute, what's your name!?"

Really?  That is the best I could come up with?  Well, I have to be given some slack.  There were about 3.8 seconds before he would have walked away, and who knows if I would have ever saw him again.

Needless to say, he stopped.  He didn't ask my name, I had to volunteer it.  He probably thought I was a bit crazy.  I even asked him to stay right there so I could stop yelling at him from my balcony and actually come and talk to him for real.  He stayed, and we talked and I guess you could say that the rest is history.

In hind sight, I truly love Our story.  I was always a bit embarrassed about it at first when people would ask me how I met Kenny.  I always thought that is made me seem a bit desperate.  But now, when I look back, I can see God's finger prints all over it.  I can actually see the thoughts and impression about talking to Kenny for what they were... spiritual inspiration.  God knew that Kenny and I would work well together.  He knew that Kenny was everything I needed.  He knew that Kenny was walking out the door, and that I had to act quickly.  He knew that I would love Kenny with all of my heart and that Kenny would love me with all of his.  He didn't care that it might be kind of embarrassing to tell the story at first, or that it was an unconventional way of meeting.  He knew that I am the kind of person, or daughter rather, that you have to hit over the head with inspiration, but not say, "you are doing this or else".  He knew that if he had said, "Brittani you have to talk to this guy, you will marry him."  that I would have felt all sorts of defiance running through my veins.  Luckily we have a Heavenly Father that lets us choose.  Luckily I have a Father in Heaven that knows me well enough to know how to get through to me. 

It is kind of funny, to think that Valentine's day could strengthen my testimony of God and His influence in my life, but it has.  Today, because I love Kenny and because I have thought of him all day, I have thought of how much I owe God for bringing him into my life, no matter how unconventional our introduction was.