Just a typical quiet evening in our house

So the boys have invented a new after-dinner game called "I'm Strong!"  See if you can figure out the rules.  (Make sure you turn your volume all the way up for the most accurate game experience.)

 

The game always involves several interludes similar to that at the end of the video.  No serious injuries, though... yet.

Also, the game requires that all the doors of the upstairs hallway be closed.  It gets preeeeetty warm up there after a while.  I should really capitalize on that -- we could save a fortune on heating costs.

and then there's this

Soooo...  our waterproofed basement isn't actually all that waterproof anymore.

Naturally the basement isn't graded so that spills will actually flow into the sump pumps.  So whenever it rains we get to stump downstairs a couple times a day and sweep the water towards the well.  We've also used the shop vac, but it's so dang noisy and sweeping works well enough.  I'm getting a little concerned about mold -- it doesn't smell musty yet, but if you pull back on those baseboards it is NOT pretty.

Thankfully the waterproofing is still under warranty, so the company that did everything will come and fix whatever the problem is.  However, because Virginia just experienced the wettest summer on record, we are not the only ones who are having water issues.  Which means we get to live with our own personal swamp for weeks.  Excellent.  (They're supposed to come next week to fix it.  THAT'S going to be a fun day.  Who doesn't love the sound of jack hammers in his house!)

I'm grateful for my house I'm grateful for my house I'm grateful for my house I'm grateful for my house

12 Days of Christmas

Happy Epiphany!  I love all the references to light in the liturgy today.  It also helps that today is the first sunny day we've had in ages.

So once again we honored the 12 Days of Christmas by planning on something fun and celebratory for each day.  Unfortunately our plans were slightly derailed by the now traditional Christmastime illness -- but I think we did enough to make the Christmas season feel fun and restful.

Day 1: Christmas!!