I heart traditions

(channel your best Topol here....)  Tradi-tionnnnn!  Tra-di-tion!  Tra-di-tion!

Here we go....  we went to the arboretum to take this year's Valentine heart pictures.  I got so many good ones.  They complained the whole time, too.  Oh well....  I wouldn't let them play until I took some a million different poses.

(this one looks most like Big Ken...  hiking his pants up and everything)

 They wanted to climb all over these big cut logs, but I didn't want to get in trouble.

Their eyes look so blue they look almost fake here... it was just the way the light hit them.  Sometimes, they really do shine that brightly.

Gretchen is wearing a dress that she got for Christmas and Gretchen The Doll is wearing a matching one I knitted for her!

and of course.... the flashback......

Happy Valentine's Day

We had a 2 hour delay this morning.  Our county still has many many families without power.  We had an ice storm Tuesday into Wednesday and it knocked out many neighborhoods and households.  Luckily, we never lost power, but many friends close by us did and still do not have it restored.  

So, we had 2 snow days - get this... one is going to be made up next Saturday!  Yes!  Saturday school for us!  The other one has not been determined when it will be made up.  We already had 4 snow days to make up which added to the end of the year (pushing it to a Friday, so they don't want to have to spill into the next week) and taking away all Teacher Workdays for the remainder of the year.  

I will post pictures of the ice at our house soon.  It was about 1/2" thick on many surfaces and branches.  We didn't lose any limbs, luckily.  

Later today, we are having a Valentine's Day party at school.  It was supposed to be yesterday, so it might be a little tricky to squeeze it in today with the 2 hour delay and the teacher having 2 days to make up for.  But, we are going to do 3 little crafts and then go outside and play tug-of-war and play with the parachute. We decided to skip the snack at this party since the kids will surely bring home candy from their classmates.  Carl was disappointed to hear that even though he never likes the sweet party treats anyway.    

back to this morning.....  a 2 hour delay gives us time for a bigger breakfast!  

 The pink is just food coloring, but Gretchen has chocolate pancakes, too.   We just discovered recently that all you have to do is add Nesquik powder to the batter and it is just what she is looking for!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

100th day of school

This got a little delayed since we had some snow days a couple weeks ago.    But, the kids were dressed and ready for their 100th day of school today!!  Carl said he didn't want to make a new shirt.  So, I didn't buy supplies to make him one.  Then, last night at about 7:30, he asked where his new shirt was.  So.... you might be seeing a new 100+5 day shirt for him next week.

I was going to buy pencils to give their classmates that said 100th day of school on them, but I got busy and well, if you shop for 100th day pencils on the 99th day - they will be sold out.  So, I bought some other cool pencils.  and then...  totally forgot to send them to school today.  Oh well. Guess they will be giving small glittery pencils with their Valentine's on Thursday at the class party.

They look tired at 7:30.   We were in a big hurry to get them to school in time for breakfast today - it is chicken biscuit.  Both were looking forward to that!

 This is the shirt he made for the 100th day of kindergarten!

 Gretchen's new 100 gumballs shirt!

Did you see what they were holding?  My gift to their teacher... 100 memories...so far!!!

Now off to design Valentine's cards to give their friends.

woodworking projects

Catching up on a few older posts from last year that I ran out of time for.

We like to go to kid oriented events.  We especially like to go to free kid events!  Building projects fall into that category!  You can go to Home Depot on the first Saturday of every month and do a free kids' building workshop.  This past weekend, we went with Carl's Cub Scout Den to fulfill a badge requirement.  They made a Home Depot race car!  Pretty cool considering that just last Saturday was the Pinewood Derby race.  That's another post you'll see in the near future, I hope.

You can also go to Lowe's Home Improvement on certain dates and do a free children's building clinic.  That happens to be the one I have some photos from to share.  This was from the December 2013 workshop where we made a Christmas Train.  Very cute project!  Scratch and sniff stickers, too!

Safety glasses make people look goofy.  Carl hates them  because he doesn't like wearing them over his real glasses.  Oh well, Dude.  Lowe's provides them to each child to keep the first time you go along with your apron.  Then, at each session, you earn a new patch to iron on your apron.  At Home Depot, they give you and apron and a pin at each workshop.

 See?   Goofy!

 "If I had a haaaaa-mmer...."  ♪    yes, I sing it every time we go.

 Now, add a few stickers

 Gretchen's train!

 Carl's train!

 Let's focus on his face....  ah!

 He got mad every time we called him Bob Vila.

 The favorite thing to do in a home improvement store always has been to play with the mailboxes!

If you have a young child, I highly recommend checking out both Home Depot's Kids' Workshops and Lowe's Home Improvement's Build and Grow workshops.

prognosticators!

Happy Groundhog day, Everyone!!    Enjoy this silly blog background for a couple days.

Yay!  Only 6 more weeks until March 20th!    Turns out, like Punxsutawney Phil, we also saw our shadows this morning.  Now, that is supposed to predict 6 more weeks of winter.  No shadows would have been 6 more weeks until spring.  Some people will tell you it means the time between now and spring will be wintry or more springlike.  Wikipedia has this to say about the historical aspect:

The first documented American reference to Groundhog Day can be found in a diary entry,^[8] dated February 4, 1841, of Morgantown, Pennsylvania, storekeeper James Morris:

Last Tuesday, the 2nd, was Candlemas day, the day on which, according to the Germans,^[9] the Groundhog peeps out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow he pops back for another six weeks nap, but if the day be cloudy he remains out, as the weather is to be moderate.

That seems to support the idea of mild vs cold for the duration of winter.  Or, it is still just a play on wording "more" and "until" to describe how we get to March 20th.  It does sound like a great reason to party in PA no matter what the outcome.  And - you get to say a cool word like prognosticator!

On to the pictures....

 2 groundhog wannabes.... one shadow!

 Hmm... family photo for the month of February is already done!  We look good!

Happy Groundhog Day!  Oh yeah, this year they are playing a football game today, too.  The Superbowl is another great reason to make some food and celebrate.  We have a friend coming over and we're going to use him as a guinea pig, not a groundhog. I made my chili, which is tried and true.  A sure thing.  But, I'm trying 2 new recipes as well.  A roasted potato and Buffalo chicken casserole and then chocolate chip cookie dough brownies for dessert!  Wish you were here!!