1st Hickey?

12 year old boy +ziploc suction device:








And this is my contribution to the gene pool.

Sign of Spring

This weekend we had beautiful weather. Saturday was 73; which led to a flurry of activity in the gardens. The front beds got a much needed raking and lo and behold a treasure was found-crocus popping up through the leaves! Sunday was 63 but overcast; today is in the low 60's with 30 mile/hr gusts of wind. Raking was just not an option. Two of my small roses had new green growth and leaf buds; and the japanese maples also are budding at the tips. Especially since it is light later in the evening ( with the time change )we all have spring fever.

It's Twins!

Bugsy (left) and Dopey (right).

Our 2 1/2 year old hampster, Shadow, died overnight; the kids immediately decided they wanted a new one. We packed up Shadow (who is awaiting a thaw to be buried); cleaned out the cage and headed out to our pet store. The kids saw Bugsy 1st; he is a friendly white dwarf hampster and his eyes are, well, buggy. Dopey kept hiding under the water bottle holder (don't pick me!!). After discussion with our very nice and knowlegdable employee, it was decided to get two hampsters who will live happily together (we hope). They have been very busy today checking out their new home.

From Surf to Snow

We took a long weekend trip to Florida to see D's parents. Temps were in the mid to upper 70's during the day, which beats the heck out of the 20's we were having at home. We took full advantage of the wonderful temperature and sunshine; walking to the beach, fishing, swimming in the pool, flying kites. We went to the beach every afternoon; only the crazy northerners (us) were in the freezing cold ocean! The kids had a lot of fun building sand castles and collecting lots of shells to bring home.

We flew home to a couple of inches of snow with the threat of winter weather advisory overnight. This morning, we have another layer of snow with a crunchy coating of ice over the top. The kids predicted correctly, no school today. Unfortunately, the coating of ice on top of the snow made it impossible to sled, much to the kids dismay. Luckily D left his car at the top of the driveway or he would not have made it out to work. He had a time just getting to the car and slid trying to walk uphill on the driveway and ended up having to crunch through the grass until he was close enough to the car to grab onto it.

The temperature is supposed to get up into the 40's and it is now drizzling as predicted. Everyone should be back to work and school tomorrow, much to their disappointment.

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.