The Bunch Have Fun In The Snow And T Gets His License!

We were super excited when it first started falling!

So as predicted we managed to get about 7.5" of snow starting first thing in the morning on the day T was scheduled to take his driving test. He absolutely refused to cancel it though. He said if they would still let him that he would take his test in the snow! Of course, we got the notification of his test being cancelled around 12:30 pm. His test was at 3:00 pm. Honestly, I was kind of surprised that they waited that long to cancel it. I was super worried that we would have to go online and reschedule it, which would have taken quite awhile. I miss the days of just going up there, waiting in line for the day, and getting what you needed to get done finished on whatever day you decided to go. Now, you need to know months in advance what your schedule is. It's annoying. Luckily, since they cancelled on us, this particular branch of the DPS emailed us directly to reschedule and we got to skip the waiting. Therefore, on a beautiful, balmy, snow free day, only 4 days after his original appointment was, T was able to take his driving test and get his license!!! He scored a 92, which was the highest of all the kids, but like I have said I think that is mostly because he watched the other two go through driving lessons and learned from it. He has been so happy he has license! He drove himself to his church group, his guitar lesson, and already is planning on volunteering at the library. He will have to practice driving around town for a bit before I let him try driving into the bigger cities, but so far he is doing great! I am done teaching driving lessons!!! That knocked a few years off my life. The first few days of driving is always a little scary, for them and me! I can't believe the baby is driving on his own and graduates next May! Time moves so fast.

He was ready to take his test and wasn't nervous at all.

This is actually the side of the DPS building. It was pretty neat!

It's always so nerve wracking waiting for your kids and car to come back from their test. At least this time,the weather was nice and D was with me.

He passed and we're waiting for his license!

Unfortunately, our septic pump went out right before the freezing weather arrived. Luckily, they were able to pump it out almost immediately, but we had to wait a week before they could come put in our new pump. Since they were able to empty the tanks, it meant we could at least have limited water usage. We could flush toilets, do dishes, and have quick showers, but no baths, laundry, etc. If they hadn't been able to pump out or tanks so fast, we would have had no water usage at all. That would have made navigating the snow and ice way harder since we wouldn't have been able to drive anywhere to use the facilities. The snow made everything so muddy and not being able to do laundry was frustrating, but was way better than the alternative. We now have not only a new pump, but new wiring, new control box, new floaters, pretty much a new everything except the actual tanks that are buried. Even better, everything is under warranty so we should have no issues for several years.

We did have fun playing in the snow. D went to stay with my parents so he could be closer to work and not have to navigate the dangerous roads for too long. The kids and I stayed here and managed the animals, which since it was a warmer snow was pretty easy. The waters weren't really freezing over and it was warm enough the chickens could stay outside. We bring them into a tent in the garage when it gets into single digits and stays below freezing for a few days. The horse trough never even fully froze over this time.

We had fun playing in the snow though. We had a family snowball fight before D went to stay with my parents and the kids spent the rest of the weekend building snowmen, having more snowball fights, and building T's igloo. All in all, even without laundry abilities, it was a fun time!