Brrrrrrrrrrrr

The weather outside is frightful, and inside it's not much better: When we had the 3rd floor redone, we added in a furnace to heat and cool the third floor and the kid rooms. Last fall we added in a gas fireplace for our first floor living room. Last WEEK, our basement furnace decided to die. So while the kids are warm at night, the family has been collecting in the living room most of the time, with occasional trips to the basement where there's electric baseboard heat.

A new furnace will be installed tomorrow (Monday) and I can hardly wait. The old one was about 14 years old, which is a typical lifespan for this model: It had additional damage from some bad draining (rust), so the repairs would have been PRETTY expensive (not as much as a new furnace, granted, but we're also buying peace of mind, and with the furnace that old, it'll be another thing and another thing to die...)

As if on cue, the NYT crossword this AM had "br" puns (though those of you who get the NYT at home know this was LAST week's puzzle - we're a week delayed here in the twin cities). So "where's the brief", "brand in boston" that sort of thing.

Isaac perhaps from cold, perhaps from early cabin fever, and perhaps from teething (we suspect molars) has been a bit of a nutcase these days - lots of instant tantrums, lots of "pick me up put me down PICK ME UP" action. Today we sat and listened to Raffi and sang together, which was just a bit sissy for me, but he loved it. He then had his new favorite snack of carrots and cucumbers with ranch dip, and drifted peacefully off to a nap.

Bella has been attending art classes Thursday afternoons: The teachers give them guided exercises to work on perspective, scale, colors, and whatnot, but she's free to be creative within the exercise... and I must say that her "personal" artwork around the house has taken a quantum leap forward - she's really drawing some wonderful pictures.

This morning, she wanted to "draw some funnies" like we have in the past - but she decided to do all of it - writing, drawing, labeling. The picture was of her cryin, getting her hair pulled by isaac, who is smiling. What makes it insane is she drew a thought bubble above isaac's head showing the same exact scene in miniature: "He's dreaming about pulling my hair, and his dream is coming true". Helpfully I suggested it would be even more funny if she drew a tiny thought bubble over Isaac's head in the thought bubble... increase the regression... and she agreed. But right about then Isaac decided to rip the paper which led to some massive screaming. Fortunately Pamela was ready to whisk Bella off to church.

And now they're back! Time to go spend some family time huddled around the fire.