We've been trapped in our house since Monday evening, and I don't forsee gaining our freedom anytime soon. The ice! Oh, woe, the ice... it started Monday evening, just as Nan and I were heading to her gymnastics class, and it turned into several inches of ice covered by a thin layer of snow by Tuesday morning. Blergh. We've had two "pajama" days, and today Jay mustered up his courage and tackled the driveway in case he has to go to work tomorrow. After hours of work, he managed to chip half of the driveway clear, and just as he declared himself finished for the day the school system called to alert him to tomorrow's closing. Tomorrow is Miss Nan's fifth birthday, so we're kind of glad to have him home... Nan in particular is THRILLED she can open her presents first thing in the morning rather than waiting for Daddy to come home from work. We hope to go out for a celebratory dinner tomorrow night, so I'm afraid I'm going to have to send Jay out again tomorrow, despite the frigid temps. Another benefit of Jay's continued presence is the fact that we have yet ANOTHER leak in a hot water pipe in our bathroom, so he is able to turn the hot water off when it's not in use throughout the day. Sigh. I'm tired of the endless problems with our plumbing, but moving is not an option at this time. Fortunately, I can call our ol' pal Santa the Plumber, and I hope we can get the problem resolved before my surgery next week. Jay fears it's in the bathroom floor, but I will remain hopeful that it's accessible through the hole in the closet. (The fact that we HAVE a hole in the closet that can access the plumbing is a bit disheartening... but I will ignore that for now.)
It's hard to believe that my girl will be five tomorrow. Five years sounds like such a long time, but it feels like she was born just a few days ago. She's quite amazing, and I'm so proud of my big kid. We have a party scheduled at a local bounce place, and, provided we are able to dig ourselves out, we will be greeting much of her class there at 10am. I have plans to create "pupcakes", cute puppy cupcakes, and I'm considering making some bone-shaped sugar cookies to go in the kids' goody bags. We'll see how motivated I feel tomorrow. Nan is beyond excited-- she can't wait to play with all her friends. I'm ready to see all of my planning come to fruition. It's been on my mind for months, and I'm kind of ready for it to be finished, with a happy and exhausted kid.