Rachel Turns 15

The holiday season always begins for us with Rachel's birthday. This year her birthday fell the Saturday before Thanksgiving. We began the day with requested cinnamon rolls and family presents.

Blankets seemed to be the theme! She was overjoyed to receive a huge, soft, black blanket which she can take to school (can you believe high school students take blankets to school?!). She also got an electric blanket and I finished up her quilt for her that she had started years ago.

Perhaps the most exciting thing was the snow that began to fall.

And kept on falling!!!

And turned her birthday party into a slumber party for some of the girls!

While Rachel was busy taking her friends to a movie, James and David were outside making snowmen.

The girls returned for dinner.

And games, and another movie!

And a "Catching Fire" cake!

It was a great weekend! And I think Rachel enjoyed all the time with her friends and family. She also managed to attend Knit Club the week before and celebrate with more friends!

Once the birthday was over it was full-on Thanksgiving!

The Weather Outside is Frightful

It's beginning to look a lot like......er, well, not spring! We are having a snowy morning here in the midwest. The children kindly pointed out to me that I'd left our drying laundry out in the snow! Oh well. Onward and Forward! We are on "spring" break and that means I'm tackling tons of housework, which always takes more time than I intend. I'm doing a major overhaul of the boys' room. I'll post results when I'm finished! In the mean time, I guess we'll drink something hot and try to stay warm!

Oh The Weather Outside is Frightful...

Despite the terribly low temperatures, the large snowfall we had on Sunday has been just beautiful! We are thankful not to have lost electricity for more than a few hours and so, for the most part, we can enjoy these rare days of being "stuck at home" -- something that I long for at this stage of life.

I designated yesterday as "thank-you note writing day". My plan this year was to list out all the thank you notes and put various activities in a jar to be pulled out after everyone completed a note. That way we got the thank you notes done in one day without too much complaining and we had fun along the way!

Our activities included: baking the cookie dough that was in the fridge, taking down the dining room Christmas tree, un-decorating the bedrooms, reading together, making a winter craft, eating a candy cane, and watching a snow leopard documentary.

We found an adorable penguin craft to make.

The days have been marked almost as much by pots of tea as by hours on the clock. But, I must save most of those pictures for the Tea Trolley later in the week. :)

This morning we woke to colder temperatures -- the house read 56 on the thermostat inside. Poor furnace. It managed to climb to 60 by the afternoon but I expect it won't go much higher for another day or two. But the snow looks marvelous on the houses and yards on the street. It reminds me of life in Vermont when I was a young child. This was the daily norm for much of the winter!

We do have one space heater and here is Polly warming her hands this morning.

Today was my last day "to myself" before school starts up again. I worked on menu planning and other various matters. The kids had to play on their own.

A little lunch was carried up to my reading nook.....

And the "time on their own" proved to be a good thing because the younger boys got busy making armor and dressing Laura and her doll up too.

One of the nice things about snow days is that there is more time to cook. It makes me so happy to feed the family a really well-rounded meal and that, of course, takes time! But, when you are stuck at home there is less time pressure and more time to spend on this!

Well, my electric blanket is already warming and I think the kids and I will take a few minutes to read together before we cozy up for another cold night!!!

Mondays are for Grace

"The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. 

You go to bed in one kind of world and wake up in another quite different, 

and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?"

-- John Boynton Priestly

The Weekend

Although the weekend didn't feel crazy busy, it certainly was full. Here's a picture of David doing his nebulizer treatment. Sweet thing. He was very patient and good about doing it and I think he's better now!

Snow started falling Friday morning and continued into the evening. I was out and here's what it looked like over the reservoir:

Fortunately, I was going slow enough to stop when these three deer decided to cross the road in front of me.

After my morning outing it was time to go to the dentist. It was Give Kids A Smile Day and we were SO thankful to get appointments for free dental care for all the children. David was adorable and totally charmed the staff:

At the end the dentist came out to teach the kids the proper way to brush. The kids definately love going to the dentist.

Saturday evening Emily introduced my mom, Christina and me to Roller Derby. She loves to go with friends and it was time for us to see what it was all about.

It was a total hoot! Very fascinating -- not only the skating but the people watching too! Below are the jammers (who make all the points for the teams):

And here is the pack that the jammers have to get through to make points:

Sunday saw the beginning of our first Sunday School program in the evening. It seemed to go well and the kids were all super excited to have classes of their own to attend. We are so happy that there are people willing to teach and help.

Oh, -- the Colts actually lost the superbowl! Well, that was a surprise. I thought for sure they were supposed to win. I can tell you that this city is certainly having a depressed day!

More snow is expected beginning this evening. And cold temperatures for the rest of the week mean it's not going anywhere.

It's time to finish dinner and then head out the door for ballet.

Sledding

My kids finally had a real sledding experience on Monday. Michael very kindly agreed to take them to a hill in a nearby town and let them see what sledding is supposed to be.

I thought it was wiser to stay in the car and watch, and this was as close as I could get.

As you can see, most of the snow was already worn away by the constant use when the kids are out of school. Our kids had a blast and played hard for a good hour before trudging back to the car.

The snow is beginning to melt and temperatures begin to climb out of the teens and twenties back into the thirties.

We are all thinking about the very sad news from Haiti. In a way it seems very far away and unconnected to the world we live in and yet, because of modern technology, it is a part of our world, and thus we have a responsibility to do something with that knowledge. As a family we are talking about what is going on and praying for the situation and perhaps in the next few days it will become more apparent the best way to be of practical help. I think I will be doing a lesson on Haiti with the kids on Friday -- perfect timing for them to learn about this part of the world and who lives there and to be encouraged to pray for this country.

Life is busy and it's hard to find time to update this blog! Tomorrow is school and food shopping and then maybe I'll be home for the weekend.

Snow

We woke up to this: 9+ inches of snow!!!! Yay!!! This is a rare treat for us here in Indiana.

You can see how much accumulated on the table overnight:

Several of our neighbors seemed to spend the entire day outside, shoveling, snow-blowing, talking, etc. I think certain of them just love a chance to chat, visit, and use their equipment.

I decided we needed a school "snow day" to enjoy the snow and take things a little easy after several of the kids were sick.

A good hour or more of play in the snow was first on the list, for those who felt up to it. Next came some drawing:

We also had cutting and pasting magazine pictures into journals and an afternoon in mommy's craft closet with sewing machines, needles, material and felt. Books on weather were also a priority.

Emily, stuck home from work, decided to do some long-anticipated baking:

We were all happy to taste her work at teatime:

The children are outside once again and I've got another pot of soup (chicken-noodle) boiling on the stove.