Third snow day!

Last week we had a plethora of snow days. And on the third (and final) snow day, we woke up to honest to goodness snow. The kids were beyond thrilled!

Yes, that is a ramp constructed to get the larger parts of the snowman in place.

 

The snowball fight was epic.

Epic and delicious.

Calvin tried to get in the middle of the fight, but he kept on getting distracted by the fact that he could build things out of the snow.

 

Time for a scenic interlude. It was really a gorgeous day ...

Getting up close and personal with the snow—the advantage of still fitting in a snow suit!

The kids tried out maple syrup on fresh snow a la "Little House on the Prairie"—they loved it! 

After a morning playing in the snow, you could already see evidence of the warming weather: the snow started to melt off, and winter wear was quickly discarded :) 

New drapes upstairs!

We are moved in. And now we're even getting to the point where we're starting to get beyond the basics. Like drapes!

Next up for the landing: chairs, and maybe a little desk :)

Working on Lulu's room

This weekend we finally hung stuff up! There's still a few more things to do, but it's getting there :)

A Rising Star

Whew! Last week was so busy—rehearsal every night for three hours, and then two shows on Friday and two shows on Saturday, plus an awards ceremony / cast pizza party in between! But the kids loved it, and Lucy's so proud of what she's been a part of this year. They had almost 2000 people come to see Willy Wonka Jr.! Not bad for a little elementary school play :)

Grace and her mom came out to Friday night's show—it was so fun to go out for ice cream (quickly!) afterwards. Lucy sure felt loved and supported by her best friend!

On Saturday in between the matinee (which Nick and Calvin went to), we had a pizza party for dinner and then an awards ceremony. Lucy's drama club teacher, Ms. Mann, got every single kid an "Oscar" trophy. There were lots of cheers and a few giggles when they noticed Oscar was … naked … And they had printed special full color programs for the cast and gave them time to sign autographs for each other. 

Part of what made the show so fun was how many friends, new and old, that Lucy was able to share this experience with. After each show the cast would go to the lobby of the auditorium and sign autographs for people—Lucy was getting pretty good at it! Here she is with her friend (and our neighbor) Tyler, who played Charlie's Grandpa Joe (we're so proud of him too!).

As a mom, my favorite part of the whole thing happened as the cast was getting ready for their very last show. The high school kids who were running the sound put on a bunch of fun dance songs, and everyone ended up dancing together on the stage. The kids were so cute! And they danced with so much energy—it really got them psyched up for their final show and made it the best one ever! :) 

At the very end, we got a quick picture with Ms. Mann, Lucy's drama club teacher. She was great to teach the kids all kinds of "real theater stuff"—terms, directions, history, etc. Lucy's hoping to take another drama class from her during spring break!

Project done

Made these sweet little baby gifts yesterday for a friend. Thought they turned out pretty cute :)

Snow Day!

It's less than an inch of snow, but we'll take it—it's the most we've seen since we moved here! The kids were thrilled to have the day off, and after a morning outside playing with our neighbors, we're back inside, tummies filled with homemade turkey soup and hot cocoa :)