Valentine's Hair

Aubrey let me do her hair yesterday for school, and it was fun!  I have to do things like this while I still can.  She wasn't so sure about it right after I did it, but I think her confidence rose when she got to school and lots of bigger kids told her they liked her hair. :) She came home happy.

 

It help up pretty well after a morning at school.

 

More snow, then ICE

Yesterday we got even more snow, for a total of somewhere between 8 and 10 inches. The Millers walked over through the neighborhood to go sledding down our hill with us and our neighbors, the Roupps. There were lots of lots of kids and families outside playing in the snow--pretty fun atmosphere. Some teenagers were even snowboarding down the hill. It just kept snowing, and the wind was blowing it in our faces the whole time.

working on the snow fort

Joel gathering snow for the blocks

After sledding for a couple hours (didn't take my camera out in the "blizzard"), everyone came in our house for some hot chocolate. We watched some Olympics and chatted while we warmed up. The freezing rain started late in the afternoon and ended the party. By evening, the north-facing windows were coated in ice and looked like privacy glass. When we woke up this morning, everything was coated in a thick layer of ice. It was so beautiful! We bundled up and took a walk to the mailbox around the corner. It was a treacherous, slow-going trek. The kids slid down the sidewalk on their rears because they couldn't walk on the ice without slipping. After we made it back, we sent the kids to the backyard to play in the ice-covered snow, rather than risk a fall on the ice-covered concrete out front.



Sliding on the ice-crusted snow from Andrea Moffat on Vimeo.

It's melting now. We'll see if it's melted enough to get the kids to school tomorrow. It's been a great weekend. It was nice to have nothing on the schedule, no where to go, and nothing we HAD to do. The kids had so much fun. I'm glad they finally got the winter weather they hope for every year.

Little home improvements

I finally put the finishing touches on my front sitting room. We hung a lamp (still want to find something to put around the cord) and put stuff up on the wall. "We," in projects like this, means I figure out what I want, get it all ready, and then Greg hangs it for me, holding things up in place for me to see, until his hands and arms start shaking, and then I say, "Yep, there." :)

We also finally did something with our downstairs guest bath. It's just been plain white and boring. We painted it "wasabi" green, put up some artwork, and framed the mirror (a project Greg and I worked on together). I love how it turned out. It's just what I had envisioned.

Snow, Round 2

Snow day

The kids have a snow day today with school canceled, so Greg took a vacation day to stay home and play.

 

Joel's 8th Birthday

Joel is into the video game "Skylanders" right now, and that's the theme he wanted for his birthday party this year. I made a "portal of power" cake (my first attempt at decorating with fondant--tricky, tricky stuff), and Greg made up an identify-the-different-Skylander-characters game for when family arrived. Joel was a happy boy!



Grant was helping Uncle Matt cheat. Grant knows every single character and was happy to help.

 

Joel after his birthday breakfast with Grandpa. That continues to be a highlight for the kids each year. Joel actually ate his breakfast this time! And he chose very nice gifts for his siblings, too.

Joel got to go on a date with Grandma this year, as well, because part of his present was a trip to Build-A-Bear. He enjoyed his Build-A-Bear experience more than w realized he would. He loved it! He couldn't stop talking about it when he got home. He made his bear into a Jedi, complete with light saber and Star Wars music. When he got home, he had to get his own Jedi costume on for the photo, so he and J-Bear would match.

New kid pics

It's been a while since I've posted recent pictures of all the kids, so I made them all stick around and hold still for a few minutes, so I could snap some photos. January was a rough month for me, and I haven't been very motivated to do a whole lot, but February is looking better. Decided I'd better get back to the blog. Stuff has been happening (birthdays, basketball, beach...); I just haven't been recording it.