Mini men are all the rage this winter…

Katie has made at least a dozen of these this winter. She then puts them on the front porch, in one of the chairs, to preserve them from being eaten by the dog. She thinks they are adorable and sniffles on the occasion of every melting…

Snow Day!

The local school district called a snow day today, which meant that our Monday home school co op was also canceled.  There was momentary despair while the children assumed that they’d be exchanging regular school for co op…and then Dad saved the day by calling a home school snow day as well.

They spent the morning out in the snow and came in for hot chocolate, lunch and some knitting by the girl folk…

Ellie’s mastering garter stitch…

…and Katie is venturing into the land of lace knitting!

Ellie’s Gymnastics Recital

or…

How to use 2 different cameras to take really bad pictures.

Ellie and Lydia started taking gymnastics at one of the local YMCAs.  A month or two later, Ellie was moved out of the beginners class into what they call “Academy.”  One of the fun things about being in Academy is the opportunity to perform once in a while, and this was Ellie’s first time to do that.

I tried capturing the moment with my camera AND the camera in my cell phone, and managed a couple blurry videos and shots like the above. Harumph!

Christmas traditions

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is taking each of the children out on their own shopping trip.  I chauffeur and offer advice as the children pick out their gifts for their siblings, paid for with their own money. I love seeing the thought process as they make choices, and I love seeing how much they want to find things that the recipient will really like.

Today was Katie’s day, and she chose to have her shopping day lunch at Freddy’s, a great hamburger/frozen custard joint.

Christmas Past and Present

The girls spent a few minutes this morning putting candy canes on the tree…

Serious business…

but not too serious.

We love it!

Good thing we harvested that pepper this afternoon…

Because tonight…

we had golf ball and larger sized hail…

and lots of it. We heard reports of lots of windows shattering in our area of town, and from a very quick inspection, it seems like our house and  vehicle windows were spared. However, the black car has some new dimples that are not at all cute, and my poor tomatoes and peppers…

are doomed.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

We went up to Kansas City to catch the Royals lose a game to the White Sox.  It was a lot of fun and the kids really got into it! They had fireworks after the game, so we got a little bonus. It was my first time in the newly renovated Kauffman Stadium, and it is really cool!

Dear Daddy

Sean was out of town overnight. Soon after he got home today, he went upstairs to his study.  A few moments later, he came downstairs with a note that Ellie had written: “Dear Daddy, I had a bloody nose this morning. See?!?!”  Some “used” toilet paper was attached. 

I did not know about this note.

Deja Vu (not for lunch)

The offender

The crime

I do love cottonwoods, but seriously, folks…

FOTW: Yum

Today when we were running errands I had to go to WalMart. We got back to the van and I was pulling out of the parking lot when I realized that I had forgotten to deposit a check at the bank in the WalMart. I parked again, we all got out and went in, I deposited the check. As we were walking out, I said “Wow…I have deja vu.” The older kids snickered, but Ellie said “FOR LUNCH????”