“Snow” Bad

You know it’s bad when you drive through your small town and see a news crew ready to go “live”.

And the headline for the six o-clock news report from your very own downtown says “Winter Storm Hassles”.

And your 6′ 4″ tall hubby has difficulty piling the snow higher than his waist.

At least the kids were all happy to be let out 2 hours early to avoid the worst of the snow and traffic. The total snowfall which started Sunday afternoon and ended sometime last night was about 8 inches at our house.

All that snow is good for this:

Jeff, Ellie and I went sledding on Saturday before this last snowstorm. There was already plenty of snow for our sledding fun.

A Makeover (Week 5 Project 52 Photo of the Week)

What little girl (or big girl for that matter) doesn’t love a makeover? Our local Kohls store offered makovers last week. Ellie was intrigued by all the jars and tubes of bright color. She didn’t have to be asked twice before climbing up the stool to sit for her turn. The saleswoman was so kind letting Ellie pick out a pretty pink lipgloss. Some pink blush for the cheeks and light purple for the eyes completed the look. She couldn’t wait to get home to show her Daddy her new “look”.

Anna FREEBIE Papers

These colors hand-picked by my 12-year old daughter, Anna, are shades of her bright, fun-loving personality.

Download solid papers HERE

Download pattern papers HERE

How to Eat a DQ StarKiss (Project 52: Week 4 Photo)

According to Ellie, the proper way to eat a DQ StarKiss (her favorite treat at Dairy Queen) is very carefully one stripe at a time. First the red cherry layer, then the watermelon white stripe, finally enoying the blue raspberry layer last. Proper execution of this method will result in abnormally red lips and an equally abnormally blue tongue.

Smooth Skating & Spanish Plays

After weeks of asking, I took Ellie ice skating after bible study last week. This was only her second time on skates and the first time this season. Her independence continues to come out as she wanted to get around by herself (as long as I wasn’t too far away). She fell, got back up and kept going numerous times showing great determination to make it all the way around the rink. After all that work she felt she deserved a special treat of rainbow pancakes at Perkins.

The following day I get a call from Anna at lunch asking if I can please make it to her Spanish class play in 1 hour.  Switch to “Awesome Mother” mode, say yes, dry my hair (since you can not go out with wet hair in Minnesota in the middle of winter), get into some real clothes (rather than sweats), put on makeup, clean the kitchen and start the dishwasher before heading out the door.  It was worth the effort. Anna and the rest of her class did a great job presenting things they learned about the Incan culture. Each group wrote their own scripts in Spanish.

“I wish it was longer.”

We finally got to see the big sci-fi movie AvATAR. The last James Cameron blockbuster, Titanic, took me 3 years to see, so I was happy I still got to see this in the theater in 3D. I don’t get out to too many movies.

“I wish it was longer.” tells you just how much Ellie loved this movie.

It’s Official…More Winter

No kidding. In Minnesota where I live, there is always at LEAST 6 more weeks of winter. That’s why I own two down jackets (one reserved for those -20F and colder days otherwise it is too hot to wear), boxes of gloves/hats/mittens, snow pants and mulitple pairs of boots (including a pair of insulated steel-toed work boots–I have to say the “steel” part tends to reduce the effectiveness of the “insulated” part, but sometimes they are required). Happy Groundhog Day! and stay warm if you live in a cold place like me.

Punxsutawney Phil tells cold revelers that their pain will continue, 6 more weeks of winter

Gene J. Puskar, Associated Press

Punxsutawney Phil is held by Ben Hughes after emerging from his burrow on Gobblers Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa., to see his shadow and forecast six more weeks of winter weather on Tuesday.

Associated Press

Last update: February 2, 2010 – 7:03 AM

A New Cook in the House

Last week Ellie annouced that she was going to cook dinner for the family. She is 5. She is becoming more independent. She didn’t want help. Well, maybe a little with the “hot part”. I stuck to the “hot part” and she did the rest. It was delicious!

Faith

79, A Big Mouse, A Small Dream and Hot Chocolate

My father-in-law, Earl celebrated his 79th birthday a week ago surrounded by all his kids and grandkids. He is my photo of the week for Week 3.

And here is Earl with almost all (oldest, Brandon, is missing due to a speech tournament practice) his grandkids (including the new “grandpuppy”)

A few days before Grandpa’s birthday Ellie and her class went to Chuck E Cheese for lunch. It was her first time there and she loved the BIG Mouse. She brought back a handful of these pictures and shared one with each member of her family. Of course now she wants to go back.

Ellie drew this picture of her big sister and her together on the school bus.

She said it was a dream of her’s to ride the bus to school with her sister. Stop growing up so fast! your dream will come true in less than 8 months. 

Anna had both dental and orthodontic visits this past week. Both were good. We got done early from the dentist and had a little time to waste before school started. It was a good excuse for hot chocolate (not that chocolate every needs an excuse).