Waiting for the birth day

We were supposed to get 3-7 inches of snow last night, but instead it mostly rained ice, leaving the sidewalks looking like this:

Not really slippery, but crunchy. We crunched our way to school with the kids. It was warming up quickly, and as we walked back home, ice rained down from the trees. Here's our backyard around 9 am: see the sparkles of falling ice against the tree trunk?

It was very pretty, as it always is after an ice storm, even such a little ice storm as this one.

I was VERY glad we didn't get 3-7 inches of snow. We're anxiously watching the weather this week. Another snowstorm is due Friday night, and it's very important that we not get 7 inches of snow THAT night either, because we need everything to be clear by Sunday.

What's Sunday? The boos' 6th birthday! We are having a party for them at the local miniature golf place, and if there's six inches of snow on the ground, we won't be able to play mini golf. We'll just have to stay inside and play arcade games -- which I guess would not be a total disaster, but still, I hope it's dry and clear. Right now the weather forecast looks good, but I know how fast that can change.

If it does snow 7 inches on Friday night, and continues snowing on Saturday, etc., etc., I am going to be OK about it. We'll have a good time anyway. Just keep saying that.

It's a busy, crazy week, and I'm trying to pace myself so I don't get frazzled. Monday night, we trekked up to Longmont to meet with our tax preparer. Tuesday night, Rocket Boy went to the Democratic caucuses. Today we worked on birthday shopping, and tonight was our last 1-2-3 Magic class. Tomorrow, Rocket Boy is going to Canon City to work on the house, while I do more shopping. Friday afternoon we're bringing treats to school (which I'll make Friday morning), and after school we'll take the kids to buy their "big" present -- two-wheeled bicycles! Saturday is swim lessons and getting ready, maybe baking the cake that night.

And Sunday is party day. I just hope we are still happy by then. Must focus on staying calm, taking lots of breaks, and getting enough sleep.

One thing that makes this week kind of fun is that the timing is the same as the year they were born. That is, they were born on a Sunday and this year their birthday falls on a Sunday, so I'm reliving the week before their birth in especially graphic detail. Six years ago, we did not have our taxes done on Monday, but my book group came! The Democratic caucuses were not on Tuesday, they were a month earlier (and I went to them, gigantic belly and all).

Every day of the week before the boos were born, I got up and went to the office (unlike now, sigh). Lots of nervous emails were being exchanged with family members, though. The twins weren't due for weeks -- March 30th or 31st -- but I was starting to show signs of pre-eclampsia, so we thought it wouldn't be much longer. Oh, and six years ago Rocket Boy went to Canon City on Friday, not Thursday, and it was a very bad thing he did, because I ended up having to go to the hospital to start being induced that evening, and he wasn't back yet.

I remember telling the nurse at the hospital that my husband was on his way back from Canon City and she said "Oh, did they let him out?" (All the Colorado prisons are in or near Canon City.) I was freaking out from fear, but that remark made me howl.

Now I'm going to worry that something bad will happen tomorrow, while he is in Canon City. But at least it won't be a birth. Boos are big boys now -- almost six years old. So amazing.