Photo Sundries

This and That

Before bed tonight I read a couple chapters of Clementine to the kids. One of the girls in the story told Clementine: "...when there are two kids in a family, there's always an easy one and a hard one. I guess it's a rule." I stopped and looked at the kids. They paused for a minute, looked at each other, and then both kids quickly pointed to themselves and said, "I'm the easy one!" And they both meant it! HA!

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I took this picture Wednesday before I knocked all the icicles off the back of the house. I left the ones at the end so we could watch them "grow". I took the second picture today. The big icicle has grown at least a foot, although it's a little hard to tell in the pictures. We have seen some icicles that have reached from the roof to the ground, and some that are nearly as big around as Danielle. I realize that's not too good for a roof, but they are cool to look at. Thankfully they didn't get that bad on our roof!

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My valentine tulips

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Ron and Danielle working on her Pinewood Derby car for AWANA. Please excuse the stubble (Ron) and uncombed hair (Danielle). It is Saturday, after all.

And Still More Snow

More Snow

We took the kids sledding again this morning. Ron was off, so he got to join in the fun, too. As you can see in the pictures, it was snowing pretty hard. There was probably 1.5-2" of fresh snow on the hill. That slowed the hill down considerably, which was probably a little better for Danielle. Ron went down with the kids several times. There was a lot of laughing. I'm sure tomorrow there will be a lot of moaning (from Ron).

I measured about 5" of new snow around 5:30 tonight. They are calling for as much as 9" by tomorrow evening. Of course, that's on top of the 20" + or - we already had on the ground. School has already been cancelled for tomorrow. It is our 6th calamity day, so we will have to make it up in June. Boo.

Toothless...Again

Snow Day Sledding!

School was closed for our kids again today but most all the other schools around us were open. I figured the sledding hills wouldn't be as busy today since most everyone else had school, so I took the kids sledding.


This was their first time on a "real" hill. I found out later that this hill was one of the rougher ones around - it was rather steep and very slick. That didn't slow Tyler down, though. He climbed to the top, put his sled down, got a running start, and flew down the hill before I knew what was happening. I was impressed. I went down with Danielle the first time and was pretty sure I was going to die. I don't know which scared her more, the steep bumpy hill or my screams. After that she decided to start about half way up and sled down from there (by herself). After awhile she worked her way up to the top, but on a slightly smoother side. I decided to stick to picture taking.


The pictures are a little misleading about how bumpy and steep the hill really was. I'm using a zoom lense, so it doesn't look like the kids are very far away. Plus, the white, compacted snow hides all the dips and bumps. (And you have to click on some of the pictures to really see the kids' expressions.) We had a great time. We ended up being out much longer than I expected, and the kids talked about it the rest of the day. It was a perfect way to spend a snow day!

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The videos are really poor quality but give you a good idea of the size of the hill. The one of Tyler was his second time down the hill. The one of Danielle was her last time down before leaving.

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The kids couldn't figure out how to climb up the hill at first. I chose to laugh and point rather than offer assistance. Ok, I did offer assistance... after I got a picture (and finished laughing and pointing)

He happened to turn and smile at me as he zoomed past.

More Snow Fun

We got about 6" more snow today. That was on top of the 14" already on the ground. Of course, school was closed again today, and has already been closed for tomorrow. We're supposed to get a couple more inches overnight and have blizzard like conditions tomorrow (high winds, low temps, etc). While some people are greatly inconvenienced by the white stuff, our little family happens to enjoy it. Ron has the kind of job where he can work from home if necessary, so he doesn't have to be out in it. The kids love playing in it, and I don't mind shoveling or being out with the kids. The snow is so pretty when it first falls, and there's something cozy about being shut up in the house together. If it's not going to be warm and sunny, it might as well snow. I don't know if we'll get to go out tomorrow if the wind is as bad as they're predicting and the temps are as low, but we made the most of today. Here are some pictures from our snow fun today.

Our attempt at a sledding hill.

Too deep to make a snow angel. (This was just the top layer!)

Clara loves the snow! It's so deep she has to leap to get very far. Old lady Hunter isn't enjoying it quite as much.

Our snow fort, with more snow on top.

Inside the fort (the 3 of us). It was warm and cozy.

They don't confine their wrestling to inside the house. I think she was trying to make him take a bite of a clump of snow. She might be sitting on him (or just getting off him) in the second picture.

Growing Up

Today was rather full of milestones, some more significant than others.

Today was Clara's birthday. Our fuzzy puppy is now a year old, although she's still very much a puppy. She celebrated with some doggie ice cream, which was inhaled rather than savored. I wonder if dogs get brain freezes.

Today was Danielle's 1/2 birthday. I can't believe that's she's going to be 7. I realize it's still 6 months away, but still! She celebrated with a 1/2 pan of brownies, 6 1/2 candles, and 1/2 the birthday song. She gets to take in a birthday treat at school tomorrow, assuming school isn't cancelled with the new wave of snow.

Today was the day Tyler gave up a little bit of his childhood. I suppose that sounds a little dramatic. Maybe it's the day I gave up a little of his childhood. Tyler and I had a heart to heart tonight, where he confessed he no longer believes in the tooth fairy. My goal has been to never directly lie about such characters. Fortunately I've always been able to answer any questions of existence with "Well, what do you believe?" or "Why do you think that?". Tonight he wanted to know the truth. So I told him. I think he was proud of himself for figuring it out. I also explained that this "truth" is something every person must figure out for himself, so he is not allowed to share what we discussed with anyone else. I also explained that if he wants to continue to get money for his teeth, he needs to keep playing the game. I think he understood the importance of keeping his new found knowledge to himself and the importance of playing the game. He got a big smile on his face and said, "When I'm a dad, my kids won't get any money if they don't believe in the tooth fairy!" Not believing in the tooth fairy isn't really that big a deal, although I don't want him to ruin the magic for Danielle. What makes me the saddest is that it's just a matter of time before he makes the connection with Santa.