Eighteen Months (Out of the Vortex)

The Great Coldmageddon of 2014 has finally drawn to a close. The Polar Vortex has retreated back up north. With a temperature of -17 degrees (and -52 degree wind chills) we spend most of our time hunkered down, waiting out the cold. Luckily our pipes remained unfrozen though our garage door decided it was too cold to work anymore and refused to cooperate until temperatures got back into the 20s.

Along with the cold we got snow.


I shoveled before work.


While I was at work the boys enjoyed having their morning oatmeal while watching the snow continue to fall.


Jen shoveled while I was at work while the Wombats frolicked in the snow.


When I got home from work I got to shovel again.


This time I had an audience. They particularly enjoyed it when I threw shovels full of snow at the windows in front of them. It was a real crowd pleaser.


While we stayed warm I gave the boys their first lesson in astronomy and, yes, I included Pluto because My Very Educated Mother Just Sent Us Naan just doesn't sound as good.

Elliott was very attentive and he even volunteered to draw the asteroid field. He gets an F for placement.


I also set up one of their two drum sets, a gift from their jackass uncle Chris. Elliott immediately sat on the drum throne and started bashing away.


Martin was a little more interested in supporting Elliott on a technical level.


The other day when I picked them up they were obsessed with dress up and smashing Play-Doh. Who can blame them?


When we got home I was excited to find that we had received our Kickstarter gift from Pocket Vinyl, a painting by Elizabeth Jancewicz. Martin quickly identified the bear-like creature as a Bee-ah!


On Wednesday the guys turned 18-months-old. As they waited for mummy to get home they enjoyed some cheese and crackers at their table along with some cut up bits of chicken.


This quickly devolved into a new game of seeing who can annoy the other more by pushing the table into their chest.


When Jen got home we presented them with some celebratory cupcakes. I tried to get a decent picture of the cupcakes but this was the best I could do.


I was soon intercepted by some meddlesome bubses.


They made a substantial mess but they may have turned a bit of a corner in the eating department. I think they're beginning to get a little neater.


It's hard to believe that it's been a whole eighteen months. It's also hard to believe that it's only been eighteen months. A mere eighteen months before these two punks happened on the scene and changed absolutely everything. It's also hard to believe that we didn't think we had any free time eighteen months ago.

We were idiots.