A Spring Song on a Cold Day

This little guy was singing his spring song between bites today. The days are getting longer and the birds are starting to sing, despite the fact we've only had 2 hours with temps above freezing in the past 15 days! Back down to the negative numbers tonight...

Visitor Identified?

I think Clara found the owner of the snowy critter footprints. She heard it tunneling under the snow this afternoon, pounced, and spit it out on the snow for me. It's a mole. We dumped him in the neighbor's yard (no one lives there) and watched him burrow back under the snow. I know he probably won't stay there, but none of us had the heart to kill him. I just hope the dog doesn't keep finding him!

Looking out from under the snow on the other side of the fence.

Snow Day #9

We had record breaking low temperatures today that kept us all home from school...again. The actual air temps were very cold. The coldest I saw was -15, but one of our neighbors recorded -29 on his way in to work this morning. That is actual air temperature, not the "feels like" temp. Brrrr. I spent some time today looking at flights south, way south. We can't afford to go anywhere, but it made me feel better to dream about it a little.

This was not staged. I think we are all a little tired of being stuck inside.

Snow Birds

The birds were busy during our snowfall yesterday. All the activity caught the attention of one of our hawks, but his time he left with a full belly. I always wonder if the squirrel in the nest in our tree gets a little nervous when the hawk lands on the branch beside his leaf pile. The squirrel did come out for a few minutes the other day. He ran to our dead tree, collected a mouth full of bark, then ran back into his nest. I figured he must have needed an extra blanket since it was so cold.

 

White breasted nuthatch



Carolina wren

There's a bird bath down in that pit of snow.

Downy woodpecker

House finch

If I squint, I can almost imagine these are beach chairs in the sand.

I'm ready for spring. I'm tired of taking pictures through the windows.

Snowy Fun

We got around 6" of snow today. The temperature briefly soared into the double digits, so we got a little fresh air. Well, three of us did. Tyler is battling a cold. I take pictures so that no one can hit me with snowballs. It's really quite a brilliant plan, if I do say so.

She had just nailed Ron's legs and didn't realize I was taking her picture.

 

 

Snow Days 7 & 8

We made up our 6th snow day by going to school on President's Day this Monday, only to have 2 more days off this week. We were closed today and are closed again tomorrow because of dangerously low temperatures and wind chills.



This was the temperature when I decided to finally get out of bed this morning. :)

This is the hourly forecast for tomorrow morning.

I usually have bird tracks and dog paw prints in the snow on my patio, but I found these this morning. I should have put a coin in the picture for perspective. These little paw prints are about the size of my index fingernail. They kind of just appeared and disappeared, so it wasn't really possible to follow them...assuming I wanted to change out of my warm pjs and do so...which I didn't.

 

 

 

Today's Pic

Today's Pic

More Snow

We got a little snow right around the time school got out this afternoon.

Unfortunately, the snowflakes weren't "picture perfect" until the potatoes started boiling for dinner and the kids were weak with hunger. (Not too weak to complain, however.) I've been doing some research on modifying my equipment to take closer macro shots and wanted to try it out. I only had time for a few pictures before the potatoes turned to mush, but I think I'm on the right track.

I was focusing on the snowflake at the bottom left that looks like a flower, but I wish I would have focused more on the one at the top. I didn't touch up the color or use a flash. I have a couple other pictures from different angles that include that snowflake, and you can see the pink center in each one.

A Well Timed Valentine

This has been a very long week. Another student in our school district took his own life. One of my coworkers, who I would consider a friend, was asked not to return to our kitchen. Danielle was sick and missed 2 days of school. Things just kind of piled up, and I felt pretty weighed down by Friday afternoon. That's why, when I walked into the kitchen after school on Friday and saw a vase of tulips, a box of chocolates, and a silly poem from my husband waiting for me on the island, the tears came. My Valentine had perfect timing this year.

 

I am looking forward to a fresh start on Monday.

A Birthday and A Half

Yesterday was Clara's 6th birthday and Danielle's 1/2 birthday. We were a little busy this weekend, so we honored the occasions today.

Clara got the short end of the stick because we didn't have time to bake her anything. Thankfully she doesn't hold grudges. She loved her toys, treats, and belly rubs. She did not love her new boots so much. They are slippery on the carpet and that scares her. I'm going to add some non-skid bathtub stickers to see if that will help. As you can see, the toys made her smile.

Although it's too bright to see them all, there are 11 1/2 candles on these blondie brownies. And yes, that's a piece missing. They are best warm, so we had to try them when they came out of the oven this afternoon.

A Winning Day

Danielle's basketball team finished off their league's season with a tournament this weekend. Today was a tough day. The team we played in the semifinals was physical, and some of them were rather large. In the second period, our point guard was fouled and came down on her wrist, taking her out of the game. (Her wrist ended up being broken. :( ) We finished off that game with a win and a lot of bumps and bruises and moved right to the championship game without a break. During that game, our other point guard wasn't feeling well and sat out most of the first half. Another girl wasn't feeling well towards the end of the game. It was tough and the girls were exhausted. We pulled out the win, though, and brought home the first place trophy.

Danielle had a great day. We lost count of how many steals she had, and she scored a couple times. All the girls played with a lot of heart.

Thank you to Uncle Ron for spending hours cheering on his niece this weekend.

Here is one of Danielle's baskets. She is white 0 and is the one inbounding the ball at the beginning.

 



 

 

 

Tubing with the "Youth Group"

Because Ron and I were both active in our church youth groups growing up, we hoped our kids would enjoy youth group as much as we did. It's been disappointing to see Tyler not really enjoy it now that he's old enough to attend. He tries. He goes to church and tries to make friends, but he leaves discouraged. The big thing there is playing sports video games before the services, and he has never been interested in those. He tried to play once but got made fun of. He doesn't really have any friends there, either. Ron and I have talked about looking for another church in our town so he might have some school friends there, but we have to think about the needs of our entire family, not just him. The decision is just not as easy as it seems it should be. Oddly enough, he found what we were hoping he'd find at church in a place I didn't expect...his public school.

Remember that day I had van "problems"? The activity Tyler went to after school was a Young Life program for jr high schoolers called Wyld Life. They play crazy games, have devotionals, and do activities together. There are two teachers, a youth pastor, and a couple other adults that lead it. Tyler has gone to every meeting since that day, and he has really enjoyed it. (I wanted him to get involved in an extracurricular activity, so this was an added bonus!) When he describes the crazy games and things they do, it sounds just like the youth group meetings Ron and I remember. That's what we were looking for.

Last night the group went tubing. I drove one way and stuck around to take pictures for a little while. Tyler also wore my GoPro on his head and got some videos and pictures. He rode back with some friends when the activity was over. He had such a good time.

(GoPro)

 

(GoPro)

 

 

Today's Pic

More Snowflakes

Individual snowflakes swirled down alone today rather than falling in snowy clumps. It was so cold that they landed and held their shapes perfectly. I went outside at work this morning to throw some boxes in the dumpster and noticed the beautiful little flakes against the black lid. It was all I could do to make myself go back to work. I so wanted to spend the day taking pictures. Responsibility won out, but I did allow myself a little break before they all melted away.