Still Faithful?

As I was driving to class today, a thought popped into my head.
Is my husband cheating on me?
Those of you that know Jon are I'm sure thinking that this is absurd. But let's review that facts:

1. Jon brought flowers for me while he was at the store Friday night (purple too!)

2. Jon finally took apart the vacuum cleaner that broke over a week ago. He had previously told me that he couldn't fix it and I needed to find a repair shop. Without being asked, he had it working better than ever in 10 minutes!

3. Jon cuddled up and took a nap with me on Sunday afternoon.

4. Jon said the sweetest things to me yesterday!

5. Jon rubbed the knots on my temples last night for more than 5 minutes. (I always ask him to rub my neck or head or shoulders. He NEVER does!)

6. Jon has been hugging me more over the past few days. (Hugs are my favorite thing. They used to be his as well.) One of the things that caught my attention years ago was the fact that this huge football player was such a gentle, loving person. Lately he's replaced hugs with PlayStation, books/magazines, & TV.

I believe that is all the evidence I have.
Don't you find it strange that ALL of these things are occurring within days of each other? Could it be the actions of a guilty conscience?....... If it was anyone else, maybe.
But come on, this is Jon! Being unfaithful would be WAY TOO MUCH WORK for him. But I did confront him with the evidence today, and I asked him just what was going on. His response:
"No, I'm not having an affair! I just realized that I haven't been showing you just how I feel."
..... or something to that affect.
How sweet is he!?!?!? Now I'm even more suspicious! (Just kidding) I am just thankful God chose me. He's definitely one in a million!

Final Game of the Season

Today was Braden's final basketball game. They won; always a great way to end the season. We're excited because next year, he moves up. That means the kids all have to start dribbling correctly!
Here he is on an attempted breakaway.




Braden and his medal, after the game.

Baby Ben Wallace

Braden asked Jon to pick his hair out this morning before his game. They've been talking about doing it for the last few days. They are hoping it's going to grow enough to finally get it braided. Jon agreed to pick it out if Braden wore a headband at least through warm-ups. (Braden is a blend into the crowd kind of guy. He doesn't like to stand out too much, which is why he was shy about the headband.)

Here they are during the styling:

Braden showing how he can store objects in his hair:

Baby Ben Wallace:

A view of the back: (he resembled a mushroom)

For Me?

Friday night, Jon came home with beautiful purple tulips for me! I was so excited! This is probably only the second or third time Jon has gotten me flowers. And he did it just because! Aren't they pretty?

And of course Braden had to weasle into at least one picture!

Oh No!

I'm afraid I'm becoming Amanda!
I haven't updated in a full week! And I have no pictures to post!

Since last Thursday:

I subbed on Friday at the middle school. Health, specifically Sex Ed. They had guest speakers though, so I learned some things.

Saturday Braden had a game in the morning. We got more snow as well.

Sunday we went to church. Issa and I have been in the 2-3 yrs. old class this month. We also got together in the evening with our S.S. class and watched another Creation Science DVD.

Monday Braden had no school (President's Day), but I did. Braden spent the morning with my very pregnant friend, Ali. They baked some delicious M&M cookies and watched cartoons until I got back with lunch. Ali is due in 4 weeks. She is huge and so cute!

Tuesday was just another day. I had class until 8pm. We did our Children's Lit presentation on Chris Van Allsburg (Polar Exp., Jumanji....... my favorite, Two Bad Ants).

Yesterday (Wednesday) we awoke to freezing fog. Yes, there is apparently such a thing as freezing fog. It was horrible! It was so think. Driving was a nightmare. Braden was cancelled, but I still had to make it to Lima. How do you cross streets in this? You say a quick prayer and you go. There was no way to see anything. Obviously, I survived. I didn't have time to take pictures of this mess, but if you go to: www.acovey.blogspot.com Amy Covey has some great pictures of it. She is the mom of one of Braden's friends and takes amazing pictures!

Today I am cleaning up, doing laundry, and trying to be educationally productive. I have a few things I want to work on before Braden comes home. Also, we're going to the library today. I need books for a penguin paper due next week.
If you're lucky, something in my life might require picture-taking soon and I'll have something to post. (also one of Megan's graduation presents arrived today! any ideas on Phil?)

Tomorrow I'm back at the middle school!

Fort or Tunnel?

I forgot to post Braden's tunnel/fort. You can kind of see it on the right of the garage. He worked for quite a while digging here while Jon and I worked on the driveway. I'm not sure what it is. After he finished, he came and helped us. He's not one for playing alone, you know!

The Best Picture Ever! ! !

This is the best picture I think I have ever taken. Braden and the saucer: now you see why he preferred the sled!

Showing Jon How It's Really Done!

Here I am at the top of the hill. (by that is a hard climb when you keep sinking!)
On the saucer, but spinning out of control.
This is how it's done! I'm about 5 ft. from the bottom and my bottom is caught in a drift. After the picture, Jon rescued me!
If I hadn't spun around backwards, I would have made it over just fine!
Me and the boys. After the saucer incident, I tried the sled out.
Here I go; full speed ahead! I made it all the way down, but prefer the saucer which keeps snow off my ankles.

Dad Tries to Join the Fun

The climb up seems a lot farther for bigger people. Jon and I both sunk into the snow. You can see it's up to his knees. It also is difficult when it's so windy that your sleds keep blowing away!
Now that I'm looking at this picture again, I think it is Braden and not Jon. Oops!Here's Jon coming straight at me. He had a few good runs, but had some troubles with snow in his shirt and pants each time.

Sledding

After we dug ourselves out, Jon and I took Braden and his friend, Kolton, sledding on Wednesday. This is the biggest hill Braden has gone down on his sleds. He was very excited!

Here we go! The long climb to the top.

A little crooked, but he made it to the bottom.

Kolton trying to use his sled as a snowboard. He did not make it very far.

Coming straight for Mom. I had to jump out of the way on more than one occasion.

Braden trying out the saucer. He didn't like it as much as the sled.

A Few More

Here is a look down the street. I'm really sore right now, but clean snow looks so beautiful!

Here's a look at the house after we finished the drive and sprinkled ice melt everywhere.

The house on the other side of my grandparents.'

That's all for tonight. Tomorrow I will post pictures of our afternoon sledding!

Digging out

Here's the driveway! Jon and I worked for about 2 hours shoveling/snow blowing. After those 2 hrs, I was still about a mile from the road and he was still working to free my car! Braden had even stopped building his fort and came to help.
The Lord was with us today though. We were saved by a man on a 4-wheeler with a snow plow! He cleared the rest of the drive and a bit of the sidewalks. If it weren't for him, we would probably still be out there shoveling.

The other side of our garage drive.

My grandparents' drive. My car was finally freed!

A close-up look at the mound Jon moved to get to my car.

My grandparents' front steps again. There is a little man holding an American flag, just to the right of the steps. The little man is about 2-3 ft. tall and the drift is up past the little man's waist.

And More Snow!

Daddy and Dallas playing "king of the hill."

Dallas wins!

Could I have gotten a better shot if I had tried!?!? After "king of the hill," Jon tried to climb over the hill. He slipped! This is him trying to shake snow out of his shirt.

More Snow

Here is the driveway of my grandparents' house. My car was in their garage, trapped!

This is the side of my grandparents' house, looking across the street.

Here are the front steps of my grandparents.' (somewhere)

Here's Jon, snow up to his knees outside our garage.

Braden and Raider walking across the driveway. (You have to use your imagination)

Lots of Snow Pictures

Here is Braden laying in the drift on the side of the garage today. Why did he fall down? No idea. He's a crazy kid. This is when we first went out Wednesday (the day after!) Jon was still inside changing and getting Dallas' boots.

He's lucky he's so cute! ..... On a side note: the boots he is wearing are MY BOOTS!!

Here is Braden in front of the tree in Grammy and Grandpa's yard. Yes, there is a yard in there somewhere. There is a driveway too!

Here is my baby! She only wore her back boots today. She refused to leave the porch with her front boots on.


Here is the yard on the other side of the garage. Lots of snow!

It's Been Snowing & Blowing All Day

This is a shot from our front porch I took earlier this morning. As you can see, everything is white. It's been snowing all day, from when Jon got up for work at 3:30 until now. It's still snowing! I'm not sure how much is on the ground.
It's been blowing all day as well. Van Wert had wind gusts up to 35 mph. Do you know how much fun it is to chase your recycling around TWICE because it kept blowing over? Good news is they picked it up before lunch!

This is a picture through our kitchen window. I took this earlier in the morning as well. When I looked at the tree around lunch time, all the snow had been blown off!

This is what I found, before 9am, when I went to take out the recycling.

This is what I found after dinner tonight! You can see the outline of the door in the snow. I wanted to take a few more pictures, but Jon told me to close the door before the snow ended up in the house.

No school tomorrow! We hope Jon has the day off as well. I had to shovel the back door 4-5 times today to let the dogs out. I also had to shovel in front of the garage door so Jon could get his car in! --- I'll post more pictures tomorrow. We are supposed to have a total of 10"-15" by morning! --- Don't you wish you were here?!!?