The Saturday 7

1. We survived the Polar Vortex of 2019!

In case you're not from around here and missed all the hubbub - we had a solid week of temperatures hovering around zero, with wind chills as low as -45, plus 18ish inches of snow. Because we live in a field, the wind is insane and whips the snow into crazy drifts. Everything around us closed - no one had school all week - even businesses were closing left and right! Justin ended up taking 3 days off because working outside in -45 is neither pleasant nor smart. The two days he did work, the windchill was only around 20 below. 😨 And then today, it was in the 30s! I've never been so happy to see 30 degrees!

2. Because I'm a mean mom and because we slacked off for the past two weeks, I made the girls do school 4 days this week. Everyone on facebook was posting about their kids driving them crazy after 6 snow days. My kids are always home, so I'm used to that, but being cooped up inside, unable to go anywhere was brutal! Even if I could've gotten my van out of the 3 foot drift in front of it, nothing was even open! So we hunkered down inside, enjoying our woodstove, playing games, watching lots of Netflix, doing Legos, making forts, and almost never changing out of our pajamas!

Disney Apples to Apples is the current fave

All 3 kids made forts over their beds, but only Levi's has lasted. He's been sleeping like this every night! (He's in there in this picture, you just can't see him. Haha.)

Justin filled the wood burner one day and let Levi go out with him for the 3 minutes it took. Lena wanted to go out, too, when I said I was going to take a picture. That windchill is no joke!!

Thank goodness we had stocked up on library books before the storm!

Games + learning! Trying to reinforce long vowels,.

3. Are you ready for the final book tally for the month of January? I read 8 books and Lucy read . . . 22! She's amazing. I have her beat for February, though, because I read a whole book yesterday, and she hasn't finished any yet. Ha! Take that! 😂 I did accomplish my goal of reading one non-fiction book a month: A Mom After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George. It was nothing earth shattering. I think my non-fiction for February is going to be one a friend gave me about depression. I have a feeling I'm going to need it.

4. February is the worst. It's been months since we've seen grass or leaves, months of coats and boots and misplaced mittens, months of cold and snow and snow and cold. It's dark all the time, school feels like drudgery and none of us is excited about it anymore. [I'm pretty sure that's right, grammatically, but it sounds so wrong!] My mom is going to be gone in Florida for 2 solid weeks, and I have an entire house to pack with zero motivation to do it. Are you depressed yet??

5. The good news is that when February is over, we get to move to our new house! Moving day is one month from today! It seems both too soon and too far away at the same time. I don't feel nearly enough urgency to propel me to get packing, but I'm also starting to panic about leaving my parents, giving up our built-in babysitters, and paying a mortgage. This whole process is going to be a gigantic exercise in trust. I truly believe that God has provided this house for us, so I have to keep reminding myself that he will continue to provide what we need. Every time I start to run the numbers in my head over and over again, I make myself stop and pray that God will provide both the funds and the grace to trust him. Remind me of that next time I start freaking out . . .

6. Today, after being trapped inside for a week, I left the kids with Justin and went to the library, Goodwill, and Meijer all by myself. It was glorious! I spent over an hour in Goodwill looking at every single thing and finding all kinds of treasures! I've been wanting a chandelier for Lucy's room, but I refuse to spend lots of money on it, so I was thrilled to find one at Goodwill for $3! It's not a flimsy plastic one, either. It's heavy duty, and painted white, so it'll match anything. Score! I also got Justin a couple flannel shirts and a Carhartt hat, some glass apothecary jars, a frame, and a cheap birthday present for Levi (sorry your birthday is in the worst month, buddy!). And, wonder of wonders, I didn't buy any books!! #thankyouverymuch

7. A few more pictures

I love typos in Facebook Marketplace. 😂

That black blob is our mailbox . . . across the street. Can't see the street? Exactly.

On the first day of the vortex, the wind was coming from the East. Our East-facing front porch is not heated or insulated, and the ancient farmhouse windows apparently can't keep all the snow out!!