This afternoon I was debating in my mind if I should head out to the grocery store. It's not whether or not we need to (no cheese, no milk, no peanut butter, six slices of bread- it's definitely time) but there are two factors here, taking three small children to the grocery store is parental suicide and the average temp. here for the last week has been hovering somewhere around 7. Yeah, that's 7 degrees.

So I ask Ben over his lunch hour if it's cold outside (anything over 18 is game for going out) he says it's freezing (well, I can't trust his opinion- this is the guy who I asked this very question to a month or so earlier and was told the same thing- when I find out later that it was 60 degrees out).

We are NOT meant for cold weather.

So recently I tried embracing winter. We were at a Christmas concert with some friends downtown, the snow was falling in big, fluffy flakes, and I'm thinking that with the right gear, I can probably make it through winter here and not despise it. I'm just getting used to the new appreciation that I have with winter when the next day Nate (who has always argued with me that winter is one of the best seasons because one gets to play in the snow), says- as we are all piling out of the van into the biting cold, feeling like giant overstuffed marshmellows in all our winter gear, "Mom, you're right we SHOULD move south."

So much for embracing winter...

So it's been awhile. I know all six of you that read this are dying to know what is happening in the griffin household. So we're finally back. Our computer has been out for awhile. During Thanksgiving Ben noticed a strange smell coming from our bedroom. Usually that means that either someone is poopy or there may be a diaper lurking somewhere under a pile of clothes. (No kidding, this morning I actually caught Eli taking out clothes from the laundry basket and planting a dirty diaper right in them.)

Well, this time the smell had more of a smoky, burning odor to it. Never a good sign- I think I'd take the diaper smell. Using his keen detective skills (or Ben might claim that it's his super-power skills) he realized that it was coming from our computer. I'm still not sure if he was bummed or elated- this could be his perfect excuse to upgrade his Mac. It took a little while, but my super-skilled husband figured out that we had a burned out fan in one of the drives.

Seriously, I am continually amazed by my husband's abilities.

Ok- so a quick story:

I'm not sure if this is the effect of getting rid of TV in our home or if this is just the strange way Nate's mind works.

I have been asking Nate (like all parents at this time of year) what he wants for Christmas. I'm expecting to hear things like, a remote control car, a race track, a somersaulting Elmo (or whatever he does now)- I don't know, anything NORMAL. I should know better. For his birthday he desperately wanted a wheel barrow so he could help me in the garden, and for Christmas last year he wanted pennies and glue (-so that he could make a train out of pennies and glue- OBVIOUSLY...).

So this year when I ask, he stops and thinks for a moment and says, "I want seeds. Daffodil seeds and pinecone tree seeds that I can plant with you."

I can see him at school. What did you get for Christmas... I got these really cool seeds. I mean, really... what do I DO with that?