And Snowed Some More!

It snowed all night.
The power went out.
I got distracted by my new bowls! The white one is David's favorite old bowl from is childhood. We can never, ever get rid of it!
We (but not me since I quit the night before) tried to finish the Monopoly game.
Caroline bowed out, leaving Morgan & David to fight over properties.
We snacked on crackers & EZ Cheez...
It was cold in the house, and then it got dark...
Will was happy reading in the dark with his book light.
When the power did finally come on, the girls wanted to turn off all the lights and keep the candles burning! That was fine with me, as long as we had heat!

And Kept Snowing!

The snow came down ...

Katherine & Will made a snow cake for David's birthday, which was back in December! It's never too late for snow cake!

If you happen to drive by and think you saw a lighted Christmas tree in our living room, you'd be mistaken. This month it's a Valentine's tree. The craft box came upstairs and stayed in all its messiness until the tree was properly decorated with red hearts, and a few green pipe cleaner aliens.


Still snowing...

Cabin fever must have led to a high fever which is the only way I ever could have been convinced to play Monopoly. We played all night...

It Snowed!

It snowed again. Skating lessons were cancelled. After a late breakfast of syrup with Eggos, two of the kids and Gracie headed outside!

All bundled up, and then, Mommeeeee....

Once they finally got outside, Katherine and Will tried sledding down the driveway. Not so easy, but it was fun trying and fun to watch them having a great time together.

Even Gracie had fun. Somehow she knows better than to run away when it's snowing. Could it be that she's smarter than I think she is?!

Lightning Bolt

The Pinewood Derby was rescheduled and is coming up soon! Will had his car cut, sanded and painted. He just needed to decorate it!

Will picked out several awesome decal sets at the hobby store. He wanted flames and lightning bolts.
Check out his driver! Go #37!

Pizza Boy

Mondays have always been chili nights here, but this year Mondays are crazier than ever and chili just hasn't been happening.

We're thinking about changing Mondays to pizza nights.

Boy Noise

On any given day we have at least one new creation - usually it involves legos - and mouth noises. Never have I experienced mouth noises like this before - vroom and beyond! I'd gotten used to a fairly quiet house but these days there's a constant hum of boy noise. And I really don't mind a bit!

Skating 101- Week Three

Still having fun - learning to swizzle...

Game Night Lite

Tonight two girls are in Richmond with their youth group. The other is at an ice skating sleepover party. All that's left is the boy! So, it's a Pizza Dinner and Game Night night!

First we played Upwards - awesome game!

Then came Chinese Checkers - This one went on just a bit too long for the 6 year old.

Last came Don't Spill the Beans! We spilled more beans tonight than ever before because someone didn't really understand the game. It was much more fun spilling than not!

Skating for Fun

Included in the cost of the kids' lessons are three skating passes each. The idea is that the students will come and practice what they've learned. So we did.

Will took off as soon as he got his skates on.
Katherine too. She's made amazing progress. Last week she had trouble moving away from the wall. Yesterday she could barely move across the rink. Today was another story. She's all over the place now!
Caroline has always been all over the place!

I wanted to get a picture of the three kids (surprised?), but Will wouldn't cooperate. Caroline's reaction, when he skated off instead of complying, was priceless.

I did finally get a picture, though not a perfectly posed one. Somehow this one is more fun!

Skating 101 - Week Two

Today's lesson involved skating forward...

falling...

our friend Carter...

and skating backwards!

A Class Without a Teacher

Our teacher didn't show up for class today. As we always do when he doesn't show, we took a picture. The class was huge and hugely disappointed today. In his absence, we tapped Brad to lead the discussion and Jim to lead the prayer. In the end we muddled through. We weren't happy, as evidenced by our sour faces.



Actually, we couldn't help but be happy, even without our trusty teacher. Our discussions are just so good, enlightening, thought-provoking... you name it, that we can't walk away being anything but blessed.

Skating 101 - Week One

Today Will and Katherine started ice skating lessons - they'll go for 6 weeks. The lesson for today was all about falling safely, getting up safely, getting your balance back, and marching forward.

Generations Project #2

Katherine's language arts class has several "generations" assignments this year. The first was an autobiography. The second involved interviewing a parent and and a grandparent and then making a timeline project about one of their lives. Katherine interviewed her Grandma (my mother) and me. While her Grandma's answers were much more interesting than mine, when it came down to getting the project done we had more pictures of me than of my mom. The project required 15 specific events in the subject's life with corresponding world events. The end result was a television which showed a timeline of my life along with important world events. She used her brother's Tinkertoys for build the scroll and even made rabbit ears for the top! She designed the TV to look like one of the early TVs - if you disregard the Tinkertoys! The answers from her Grandma won't be wasted since the next project will be a biography of the other person interviewed.

Return to the Turtle Place

This boy used to spend a lot of time at the turtle place. Now not so much. We had the opportunity to go today for an hour between his school pick up and picking up the bigger girls. He got his homework done and climbed on the turtle, before finding the bookshelf and becoming lost in a book.

Turning 46

New Years Eve 2009