Weekend Update

Saturday at noon we said, wow, it's 5 times warmer now than when we woke up this morning. Not often you can say that. It was 3 when we woke up; 15 at noon. I know compared to others, that's warm. BRRRR.

Sunday we took the kids skiing for the first time. Everyone took a beginner lesson which was a scheduled 1 1/2 hours (to get the hang of things and stay safe). Usually MLK holiday weekend is packed, but according to the ski patrol it was a very low attendance day (maybe cold temps or the ravens/steelers game was responsible). A. had a really hard time getting the hang of it and was down more than up. He ended up continuing on to a second lesson and finally had success. Everyone was famished by lunch. After lunch we hit the beginner slope for some confidence and then the boys were off to the next level slope. D. cut across to a more advanced slope, but joined back up for the ride to the top. S. and I stayed on the beginner slope all afternoon. S. was proud to say she made six trips down without a fall!

The resort we were at had snowboarders on the same slopes with the skiiers and we had a great time watching them (especially from the ski lift). There were some spectacular wipe outs! Lots of people laying in the snow laughing.

Everyone was wiped out by the time we made it home and A. is covered in bruises; but everyone is looking forward to going again this season.

Today we are off from school because of the holiday and we are enjoying watching our first accumulative snowfall. So far, about an inch. The kids are thrilled and out sliding down the hills!

Out of the closet

Linen closet, that is! Sunday I cleaned out the overflowing linen closet and removed two large trash bags of items to be donated to charity. Then I neatly folded all the towels and matched up the sheet sets with their corresponding pillowcases and loaded everything back in to the closet. It looks so pretty-I wonder how long we can keep it this way?

Monkey Bread

This mornings special treat was monkey bread (pictured at left). Thanks for the bread baker, Grammy! Even the chief food snob, D, had to admit it was very tasty.
We had a very nice holiday break. Santa ( and all his many helpers) were good to all of us this year. The big hit this year was the Wii. Dance, Dance Revolution has been quite fun and aerobic for all!
Tomorrow back to school and work for all of us. Today we finished taking out the real tree and getting the multiple boxes of decorations packed and ready to go back to the attic until next year.

Y?

A. left for a scouting trip to New Jersey before I arrived home from work. All the lights in the upstairs were left on-not particularly unusual for him. His clothing was left in a pile in the kitchen (not where I would change my clothes) and had not flushed the toilet (use your imagination).
This is the child who rails against our giving him specific step by step instructions "because I know what to do!" "you don't have to tell me everything". Hmmmmm
Y?

A tissue please

I watched a couple of movies this weekend while my husband was away visiting his grandmother. Romantic comedy was on the agenda.
I watched 27 Dresses, which my sister reviewed and didn't love. I liked it. It was predictable, but I don't want any crazy surprises like the heroine getting offed in the last minute of the movie.
Movie # 2 was P.S. I love you. It was not what I had anticipated based on the jacket cover. It was about a couple who had been married 10 years, and the husband dies (in the first 10 minutes, we don't see this, we join in at the wake). Not so much comedy. 3 weeks after the funeral is the wife's birthday and her husband had arranged a cake and letter to be delivered to her. He tells her to go out and do certain things and that there will be other letters to come. So the movie is her remembering their love, mourning him, and learning she must go on . I would alternately laugh and then cry. It was a tissue box movie. Good thing I was alone.

vagaries of the weather

Yesterday 76 and bright sunshine. Today 50 and overcast. Blah. Welcome to November!

Boo to you

May the force be with you. As you can see,we had a star wars themed halloween. Surprisingly, with the popularity of star wars this year, we were the only group clad as such. Usual large amount of teens in no costume or in football jerseys- I want them to put forth a little effort and dress up if they want candy!