School and Fire! (almost)

So, I started school 2 weeks ago. Everything got figured out as far as babysitting (Thanks, Jana! and my in-laws!) and a car (Thanks Mom!) and books (Thanks Stafford Loan!). I only have class on Monday, so I had MLK day off - which meant a 2 week break. Weird. So I still don't really feel like I'm "in" school. That will probably change today. Things are going great so far. I had to laugh because my first assignment in my Human Relations class is to write an essay about my values. I immediately thought "Faith, Divine Nature, Individual Worth, Knowledge . . . ." It's great to be a YW leader. Since I am working on the Personal Progress program along with the YW, I am counting this essay as one of my projects. Which will mean I am almost done! The leader requirements are a little less than the girls - mostly because they have 6 years and I have to serve for at least 1 year.
On another note, I came home yesterday from church (Jacob wasn't feeling well and stayed home with the boys), to a horrible smell. Jacob came out of our bedroom with our space heater and tossed it into the snowpile outside our door. Apparently, it tipped over and the oil on the inside started overheating and spraying out the bottom. It melted our carpet and turned the space heater dark brown. Jacob said he heard a high pitched noise coming from the bedroom. The space heater is now in the dumpster. I am debating whether or not to report it to Target (where we bought it).

Baby it's Cold Outside!

Woke up this morning to -12 degrees! With the wind chill it was -26. I feel like I'm in Alaska again (except the wind there is warm). We are going to seal our windows today. Yesterday, Jacob was cleaning out the window sills and discovered a foot-long crack in our bedroom window. It looks like the cold temperatures caused it. Or cheap windows.
So, we have all this super cold weather just in time for Jacob to go back to work, Joseph to go back to pre-school, and me to start classes at UNO. I'm not exactly looking forward to hiking from the parking lot to the music and education buildings. I think the Education building is about a mile from where I plan on parking my car at the Institute building. I may seriously contemplate buying a night student parking permit. It's only $30, but the parking on campus is pretty bad, so I am not sure that it's worth it.
So, school starts in a little over a week, and we are still figuring out the babysitting for the boys. My in-laws can watch them some Mondays, depending on my father-in-law's work schedule. We are praying to find a solution! And that my financial aid money will arrive soon so I can buy my books.
Joseph is continuing to make progress at therapy. He has some steps to eating that have helped and just started speech therapy to complement his occupational therapy. I'm sure when he starts pre-school again, he will make more progress. Having a normal schedule again only makes things better. He is turning 4 years old tomorrow!!! Happy Birthday Joseph!

Picture a Christmas

Happy New Year! We had a very white Christmas! We were snowed in for a couple of days and I think we received about 12" of snow over Christmas Eve, Christmas day, and the day after. The boys got to open presents all 3 days. On Sunday, after Christmas, Joseph asked me "Mommy, where are the presents?" I guess after 3 days in a row of opening Christmas presents, he thought the trend would continue. Luckily, he turns 4 this Sunday, so he will get to open more soon!