jumping on the bed.
One fell off and bumped her head. I didn’t get that on video though.
Alan and I got a new mattress and the kids were breaking it in. We need to get rid of the old one, but for now we just stacked the new one on top. Now we have a huge bed! My bedroom looks so small and sparse in this video. I seriously need an interior decorator! :)
I also added videos of the kids playing in the snow and our super fun sledding outing. You can reread those posts for the videos if you care to.
This is the final day of February vacation week. Last year we spent it in Florida, and this year we spent it with the stomach virus. Good times! Seriously though, it was a pretty low-key week. Mema and Grandpa Tom and Uncle Greg all came to visit. We played out in the snow, played inside, flew helicopters and flying eyeballs, and generally had fun.
The RF devices set off our smoke alarm. Lex insisted on taking it down himself by piling pillows on top of pillows. Mema supervised.
See the helicopter?
Eyeball!
One day Eve decided to do some math, just for fun. She wrote it right next to a drawing she’d done of herself with her face painted like a butterfly. She got all the way up to 4096+4096 when Alan decided to teach her some stuff. She promptly lost interest. I guess math is only fun on her terms. :)
Multifaceted Eve with her art and math.
When Alan tried to teach her math, she lost interest.
We’ve had lots of snow this week, but we’ve also had a few beautiful sunny days!
It was a beautiful day!
It was so warm the snowman melted by nightfall, but we enjoyed making it. :)
These days the kids wake up early on the weekends (well, that’s how it has always been!) and they come down stairs and play computer games. I don’t love the amount of time they get, but I do love sleeping in a bit on weekends! A little give and take. Usually they are on separate computers, but the other morning I found them like this.
This is how I found them one morning. Cuddled in my chair, sharing a cracker-snack breakfast, and playing on Highlightskids.com together. Sweetness.
We are getting more and more use out of our nearly finished basement. I’ve started exercising down there on the twice broken elliptical, the kids have some toys down there, the guests report that it makes a nice bedroom (just wait for the mattress topper we just ordered!) and Eve decided to set up an art studio. The basement is the place to be.
Eve set up an art studio in the basement and worked on her drawings while I exercised.
I think we’ve hit the beginning of the end of the pet discussion. On Friday I took the kids to the humane society to visit the animals. I told them we should make it a research project. Eve promptly grabbed her notebook and a pencil. On the way down we discussed what kinds of questions we should ask them about having pets. Eve took notes. When we got there we found three cat rooms that were open for visiting. Apparently if you want to visit the dogs you need to go through the adoption interview process first and meet the dogs one-on-one. We weren’t ready for that so we just played with cats. Eve asked questions and took notes on the answers. She even found the cat of her dreams, or so she says. I think what sold her was the tag that said, “a cuddly little grandma whose only wish is to curl up by your side!” Eve thought that sounded just perfect. The discussion continues…
She had lots of questions for the lady.
Petting Smores, a pretty kitty.
This is Cookie, the “grandmother cat” that Eve has her heart set on.
Playing with Sheldon, the somewhat skittish cat that had them both laughing.
Tonight is our final night of vacation before school starts tomorrow. Thankfully we are all feeling healthy, happy, and relaxed. We spent the day building a new Mindstorm robot, teaching animals about math and science, and going to a birthday party at the aquatic center. A nice mix of busy and calm. Happy Sunday.
Ms. Johnson and her first grade class. Learning about the rock cycle. I guess teaching runs in the family. :-)
Math class. She makes me smile.
We got a bit of snow today, like 18″ or so! The district cancelled school, thereby extending next week’s vacation just a little bit longer. I was a little bummed because today is Valentine’s Day and we had a kindergarten party planned, but apparently the Superintendent didn’t take that into consideration! Geesh! Eve’s teacher bumped their party up a day, though Eve forgot and didn’t bring in her Valentine’s cards. So now we have mine for two classes (K and 5th), Lex’s, and Eve’s all in a big pile on the counter. Everyone will celebrate at school on the 24th. :)
I made little Valentine’s for my fifth graders. It’s silly, I know, and will be extra silly on the 24th.
Happy Valentine’s Day to my little valentines.
We spent several hours outside in the snow. Poor Alan had to go to work, so we started by shoveling out the driveway. That took awhile!
We have a lot of snow around here!
Eve plopped down and we nearly lost her! :)
Our little house in the snow.
Mountain climbing!
Eve slid down the banister face first and couldn’t get up. She started crying that her chin was cold so Lex warmed it for her while they waited for me to come to her rescue and haul her back onto her feet!
I told the kids to go on an expedition to find the swing set… they made it as far as the porch.
They got stuck in the snowbank! Lex is in up to his waist and Eve up to her armpits! Lex managed to get himself out, but Eve was so stuck I had to shovel her out. :)
I don’t think she minded too much being stuck in the snow.
Here she is, partially shoveled out.
Happy Valentine’s Day! Happy winter vacation! Happy Family! We were doing our highs/lows this evening and the kids had nothing but highs to talk about. Lex barely managed a low (snow down his back) and Eve’s low was she was too tired. :) Everyone is looking forward to a visit from Mema and Grandpa Tom tomorrow! Let the fun continue!
We have been pretty low-key about Valentine’s Day this year. I only just got out decorations today and only because Eve said “I think it’s about time we decorate for Valentine’s Day.” Mostly it has been about getting the cards done. I figured they deserved a little something sweet for the day though.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
At six and eight years old I thought the kids were about due for a proper sledding hill, not the gently sloping lawn we usually sled on. Today was a beautiful day, sunny and in the 20s, so we packed up the sleds and headed to a nearby slope! It’s a place I’ve heard all about but I wasn’t quite sure where it was so we went on an adventure. Turns out it was well worth it!! The kids loved it!
Yesterday they had a ice festival there, something I’ve always thought we should attend but never quite mustered the energy for, but turns out going the day after is perfect. All the ice sculptures with none of the crowds. Probably none of the s’mores and hot chocolate either, but we survived.
It was a beautiful day!
An ice car for kids to play in.
Eve brought Empy, her new penguin, and was excited to see an ice penguin there too.
One cool castle!
Lex on the ice slide
Eve on the ice slide
There was also a big snow slide that had a double track and went under a polar bear.
I’m sitting at the top (see my boots) and Eve is way down at the bottom.
Yesterday they had ice fishing at the party. I like that the hole is in the shape of a fish. :)
One big hill!
See Lex climbing it?
We each went down this hill once, fell off the sleds, bumped our heads, and decided to try a smaller hill. Actually safety conscious mom said we had to do a smaller hill. I wanted no concussions today!
Empy the penguin came sledding with us too. Here she is safely wrapped in Eve’s hat.
This hill was better.
One happy boy!
Eve decided to do some sliding like the penguins do!
Weee!! Empy is tucked into her hood and also enjoying the slide.
One happy girl!
Action shot!
I love this one!
Look out Eve!
Overall we had a great day! No tears and no concussions. What more can I ask for. The kids want to go back again soon. Hopefully the great weather sticks around for awhile because we have a week long vacation coming up and it would be great to do some sledding!
We drove past Dartmouth campus the other day and had to stop quick when we saw this!
A giant snow throne with a snow dragon wrapped around it. Crazy college.
I search “snow day” on the blog just now and discovered that every January we’ve had our first of the year. I guess we’re a little behind this year! Today it has been snowing gently, but steadily, all day. The forecast said 5″-10″ total and I thought it was a bit silly to cancel school. All the schools in the area are closed. However, Alan went into work around 1:30 and says the roads are terrible! He says he slid several times. I think he’ll have a slow drive home tonight! I guess the administration made the right call to keep the busses off the roads this afternoon.
Back on the homefront we have been enjoying the day. I exercised and made banana bread while the kids played together. They have been getting along really well today. After awhile we went outside for round one of shoveling.
All season swing set!
I think she enjoyed this job a little too much. :)
Whew! Shoveling is hard work!
Then inside for grilled cheese and hot chocolate. Quiet time, more playing. All the fun things one does on a snow day. Now they are upstairs playing school. :) I’m going to get off the computer and get back to my to-do list, which sounds boring but really it makes me happy to have some time to finally get a few things done around the house!
Happy Snow Day!
(If you have a minute type “snow day” into the blog search. I love looking back through the years. The video at the end of this one from 2011 is cute. The kids are growing up fast!)
Lex was Star of the Week in 3rd grade last week. I meant to take pictures of something to go with a blog post, but I never did. Mostly because it all happens at school! The Star of the Week idea provides for a chance to honor each student in the class. When it is their week they bring in a bag of “artifacts” to show the class on Monday. Lex brought a project he made at Home Depot, his CHaD medal from the race, his lovey dog, and a few other things. On Tuesday they get to bring in a favorite book to share with the class. On Wednesday the parents send in a letter to the child that the teacher reads. Lex was very excited for this. I was very stressed! :) The letter is supposed to be sent to school in a sealed envelope and the student hears it for the first time with his class. Lex told me the other letters were there pages long and funny and sweet. He’s the second to last kid in class to do this so he’s heard a lot of letters so far! I ended up writing a full two pages and Eve wrote a letter as well. I talked to his teacher later and she said none of them are three pages long! :) Silly Lex! He loved his letter and that’s the most important part. Thursday was parents lunch day, so Alan picked up Panera Bread and we joined Lex for lunch with his class. I like his class and it was fun to get to see them again. As we were leaving my 5th grade class came in and I got to say hi to them as well. Friday the Star of the Week sheet says something about a special poster, but Lex said they never do that. All week the Star gets to be line leader and the teacher’s helper and more. They feel really important and special.