Ty’s Weblog

Just got back inside from another hour out in the snow. They snow has stopped falling, and we’ve got the driveway all cleaned off. Looks like we got about 5″ of snow total. The sledding was still great! The snow packed down very nicely to make some little trails that were pretty fast runs. We all had a great time with it. Mira and Xander were also introduced to the idea of eating snow. Xander was skeptical about it, but Mira thought it was awesome! We finally had to make her stop. Xander did get into it by the end though. We had a great time playing outside. I wish every snow storm we got was like this one.

We are having some of the best snow we’ve ever had right now.  It’s light and fluffy stuff that makes great snowballs and snowmen.  It’s also slick enough that it is good for sledding as well.  Kate, the kids, and I had a great time this morning playing and shoveling and making snowmen and sledding and throwing snowballs.  We had about 1 1/2″ of snow when we first went outside and I think it’s over 2″ by now.  It’s coming down very hard.  We’d shovel the driveway and by the time we had gotten to the bottom, we needed to work on the top again.  I’d guess we spent about and hour outside and had a great time.  We’re back inside now warming up.  We’ll be back out again later to shovel and sled some more.

My parents made it up for the afternoon, so Xander was happy about that.  We went to pick him up from school around 3pm.  They did the little walk around the sun that they do birthdays there for him.  After that we loaded up and headed for the Dulles Sport Plex.  Xander had a soccer party this year.  They kids had a great time playing on the soccer field.  John, the athletic coordinator, did a great job with the kids.  They all had a great time doing various drills and then playing a little scrimmage game.  Xander’s team (which he dubbed “Lightning”) defeated the “All Stars” 7 to 4.  They had a great time.  That went on for about an hour and then we moved up to a party room for pizza and cake.  After that it was out to the video games to play those for a little while before packing up and leaving.  It looks like all the kids had a great time, and I know Xander did.  He says it was his best party ever!

After that we came home and let him open up his presents.  He says he had a wonderful day, which is all I can really ask for.

Xander’s Birthday is today. We’ve got a soccer party planned for the afternoon, I’ll talk about that tonight or tomorrow. I just wanted to take a quick moment to reflect on the day.

It’s amazing how fast 7 years go by. I’m a very involved Dad, I think most people would agree. Even with that though, it’s hard not to think about all I’ve missed in the last 7 years. All the times I was too tired from work to get up and play a game with him, or read to him, or any number of things that when you are tired, just don’t seem as important as having your eyes closed. At the same time, I try to remember all the times when I did make the extra effort. When I did get up after a long day at work to play Sorry or Uno with him. When I spent time laying in bed with him reading even after I was ready to go sleep myself. Or when I spent time playing outside in the cold when I was ready to go inside and sit down and drink coffee.

I guess all you can do is the best you can at the time. And that is what I always try to do. It’s hard to not have regrets about the things you missed and didn’t do, but you can’t focus on that except as a way to motivate yourself to do better in the future.

We made it out of the house.  Got the car past the ice and even got it back in the driveway when we made it back home.

Overnight Tuesday night was an ice storm like I’ve never seen. We got a couple of inches of ice on top of the snow that had already fallen. It’s been a mess. Kate and I went out and shoveled some of it Wednesday, but it was so cold and windy that we decided to put it off till later. That was a big mistake. When we went out Thursday to try it, it was unmovable. I could jump on the top of it and not even make a dent. Yesterday was sunny enough that we were able to make some progress on it. At least enough that I think I can get my car out today, we are going to try in a little bit. It’s nice and sunny again today, and the temperature is predicted to get over freezing, so hopefully we can take care of the rest of the driveway today.

Xander’s second bottom front tooth is a little bit loose today.  Just a tiny bit, but it is clearly on the way out.

So the big storm didn’t hit overnight like they expected, so the kids were off to school this morning with it snowing outside.  Kate and I went together and dropped them off.  Then we headed to Target to look for a copy of Wiiplay because it comes with an extra Wii controller, which is very hard to find, they didn’t have one.  After that, she had a Mom’s Club event at Panera, so I tagged along and found myself a nice corner to take advantage of their free Wi-Fi  so I could work while I drank my coffee.

As we predicted school was announced to be closing early.  We swung by Best Buy, which had a copy of Wiiplay.  Then we went and got ourselves some lunch and then went to pick up the kids.

It was back home after that and the kids had a little quiet time while I got some more work done.  Then we headed outside for some sledding which was a lot of fun for all of us.  It’s a very small amount of snow on the ground, but the ice that has been falling with it made things great for sledding anyway.
Tonight they are saying that we are going to get pasted with mostly ice.  It’ll be a stay at home where it is warm day tomorrow.

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I’ve gotten a Wii now! Kate went out this morning to Target and waited in line while I watched the kids and picked one up for me. She did it instead of me so she could use out 10% off card at Target. It’s currently sitting downloading the system update. I’m looking forward to getting it all set up and playing! I’ve got such a great wife.

Xander’s loose tooth just came out!

We were getting ready to walk out the door for school and Xander asked me to check his tooth before we left.  I did, and it was very close to coming out.  So rather than risk him losing it during the day at school and actually losing it, we decided to see if it was ready to come out.

First we tried having him take a bite out of a bagel, but it didn’t come out on its own.  So I reached in and got a good grip on it and wiggled it a little bit.  I felt it give a little so I pulled a little and it came right out.  Xander let out a small “Ow” and it was over.  He and Mira were both very excited.  We took it and put it in a little plastic bag and labled it for him.  He’s very happy to have lost his first tooth.

The new tooth was already coming in behind the old one, so he shouldn’t be without a tooth in that spot for very long.

No school today!  I’ll be working from home, of course.  Looks like we got about 2″ of snow outside.  I’ll measure it when we get all bundled up later this morning to play in it.  Kids are home and excited.

We’ve got a light snow falling outside right now. They say we may get an inch or two total, we’ll just have to wait and see.

At the moment it’s 10°F outside with a wind chill of -3°F  The are expecting the temperature to get down to around 3°F overnight.

Xander has his first loose tooth!

He’s very excited.  The last week or so, he’s been talking about the fact that his friends at school has loose or missing teeth.  He was feeling a little bit left out about the whole thing.  We talked with him about it and explained to him that he got his baby teeth very late, so we wouldn’t be surprised  if he lost them late too.  He seemed to be ok with this and I hadn’t though anything else about it.

Looking back now, I do realize that he’s had his finger in his mouth a little bit more that usual, I now suspect checking for a loose tooth.  This morning while I was cooking breakfast he was sitting on the couch.  Suddenly he exclaims, “I’ve got a loose tooth!”  I went over and checked it and, sure enough, he did.  We ran over to show Kate and Mira, who were both also very excited for him.

He’s very excited about this little bit of growing up, and who can really blame him.