Basketball Ends and Another Round of Snow Begins

This has been the winter for SNOW, and we have loved every single minute of it.  I have also quickly realized that we have the worst base layers on the planet.  Karson and Miles's long underwear is a size too small.  I got Isaac the last pair in his size at Walmart this year, and they were complete junk.  His pants have since managed to acquire a huge hole (in the wrong area if you know what I mean) and are super tight.  When he wears them, he likes singing the Jimmy Fallon song Tight Pants.  I recently spotted some long undies at Gander Mountain that were a few sizes too big but were affordable.  I think I'll go there next winter and grab some good layering gear.  Good thing the kids don't seem to get too cold outside. They had a blast sledding over at Pap and Nana's with the second snowpocalypse, Miles especially.  There are some good hills on their farm.

Isaac found a Tennessee Titans toboggan at Pap and Nana's and had it on the entire snow season.  He even slept in it one night to keep his head warm.

The snow definitely puts a crimp in plans.  The timing of the second snow came during the week of our Youth Theatre production of FAME JR.  We decided that we still had to press on and continue with the show.  We ended up canceling the opening night (Thursday) because the weather was simply too rough/slick/dangerous, and we didn't want to put our kids, parents and staff in that position.  With school called off on Friday, we also had to postpone our scheduled School Day Performance.  However, we continued with our Friday, Saturday and Sunday showings.  The kids were incredible, and we had some of the best crowds we've ever had for a YT show.  The snow certainly didn't hold back our fan base.  Although I am not directly involved in the production itself, I sure do feel proud to be a "part" of it and work for the Education team at SKyPAC.  These talented kids sure make us look good at our jobs.

Karson always enjoys seeing the performances and tagged along with me on Friday night.  We also invited her friend Amelia to join us.

Miles had his last basketball game of the season on Saturday.  I was so glad that they went ahead with the games because school was cancelled on Thursday and Friday.  Seems like his season has lasted forever, even though he really enjoys playing (and we like watching him).  It's just nice having your Saturdays free for a little while.  Loved his little team!  They have all gotten a lot better over the season.

Coach Shane handing out all the trophies. 

Two goofballs.

The whole SPRING forward an hour is killing me this week.  I'm dragging and irritable.  AND, I am a single mom right now.

Matt took off with 24 students to Boston on Wednesday morning.  You can follow their adventures on Twitter (APUSH @swhsboston) which is what I have been doing each day.  My parents left for the beach this morning with my grandparents.  And, my sister and her family left for Colorado.  My uncle invited us out for dinner tonight at Kyoto.  It was nice getting to spend time with him and even nicer being treated to dinner by him.  We love uncle Mike!  After dinner, we grabbed a ginormous cupcake from Gigi's.  I haven't been there in ages, and they had my very favorite - Miss Princess cupcake.  Love it - thankful I pulled some time on the elliptical today to cancel it out =).

After sweets, I took the kids (actually Isaac) tennis shoes shopping.  Mistake.  They were hopped up on sugar which made shopping a nightmare.  BUT, Isaac needed new shoes.  I'm pretty sure our kids feet grow at faster rates than most.  It seems like I am always buying a new pair of shoes.  Thankfully Shoe Carnival usually runs the BOGO half off deal.  We also made a stop to TSC to get Karson a pair of rain boots for her field trip tomorrow to WKU.  It's like 80% chance of rain which means campus will be a watery mess. Plus, she and I can pretty much interchange shoes these days, and I needed a new pair of rain boots anyway.  The boots will pull double duty.

Deep Freeze February Wrap Up

We celebrated my Memaw's 86th birthday on February 19.  We had planned to have the celebration at my mom's house, but unfortunately, her heat pump went out.  Memaw seemed to be in good spirits and was working her crossword puzzles buried in her layers of clothes and blankets when we got there.  She always has a big bowl of chocolate smack dab in the center of her coffee table too (or some Russell Stover's chocolates handy).  Mom had planned for chili and hot dogs.  We got all the kids settled and starting fixing our plates and noticed Memaw had made her way to the great-grandkids table.  I can't imagine the funny conversations that took place at this table.  Memaw is a character and loves cleaning.  She's been that way my entire life.  I remember when Shannon and I were kids and she'd come in town for a visit, she was notorious about cleaning and doing our laundry.  When items started shrinking, we quickly learned to hide all of our valuable clothes.  She'll start clearing the dishes before everyone is done eating.  One minute you will have a drink on the table, the next it's gone.  It doesn't bother anyone - it's just her way of doing things.  Every Saturday is cleaning day at their house.  I expected nothing less when we went to her house to celebrate last week.  She started clearing out all the chili bowls and filled the sink with dishes and started washing them.  We had to pry her away from the sink to sing "Happy Birthday" to her.  She came over and had her candles blown our before we had finished the first line of the song and was back at her dish post.  There was a full pot of coffee, and she poured it out cause no one was drinking it (which my mom had made for the cake) and started washing it.  A character. We were all still visiting in the kitchen when she headed into the living room and someone noticed she was opening up her gifts.  We scrambled in there so we could see her.  It was a fun night and reminded me how much I love my Memaw.  I imagine I will be exactly like that when I'm her age.

At some point during all of this cold weather, we have managed to acquire a chicken.  On one of the coldest nights last week, I saw this chicken pecking around my neighbors mailbox and felt so sorry for it.  When I noticed it the next morning on my front porch, I decided she had earned a treat for surviving and fed her some bread.  She's come around most days for a piece of bread, but I haven't seen her lately.  I have been informed that she is a neighborhood chicken and lives a few houses down.  I'm not sure if she'll come around anymore or not, but the kids have named her Dumplin.

School resumed this week after a snow-cation last week.  We were out on Monday but returned on Tuesday.  The 2nd grade class had originally planned to have their Wax Museum project last week, but instead, it was pushed back to this week because of the absences.  This was my third Wax Museum, and the kids were on-cue and ready to present.  I talked with Elvis, Theodore Roosevelt, Betsy Ross, Meriwether Lewis, Princess Diana, Pocahontas, Sacajawea, Milton Hershey and others about their influence in American History. 

Presentations took place in the school's cafeteria yesterday afternoon.

I wish I could upload his video and speech, but for some reason, blogger doesn't work well with iPhoto.  It was super cute though.  I'm proud of my bearded Abe Lincoln!

Ready to SPRING forward in two weeks!  This 20 degree weather has got to go!  I was in SKyPAC's beautiful lobby yesterday, and the sun was pouring in through the glass.  I wanted a lawn chair and a magazine.  I need some vitamin B!

Valentine President Snow-valanche

I guess Valentine's Day should matter to the average married couple.  I don't know?  Matt and I are coming up on 16 years, and neither one of us got the other one something.  Actually, I take that back, I did get him a funny card, and he did want to make a mall run to Bath and Body after school one day last week.  The miser in me encouraged him to come home because I had coupons ( BB has the BEST coupons).  My sister had us over for a nice, home-cooked meal on Vday.  We played cards and hung out and noshed on some yummy Dairy Queen Blizzard cake.  That's the perfect date in my book! 

I  guess the evolution of "gift giving" changes among the grade schoolers too. 

The kids had their parties on Friday afternoon. 

Maybe it's a boy thing, maybe not, but I feel like the Valentine's box (for school party's) needs to make a statement about one's personality?  For my 8-year old, his whole world is centered around basketball.  It was a no-brainer what we'd make for his box this year.  It's not easy turning a shoebox into a basketball goal.  You definitely need something more pliable, like a left over Krispy Kreme donut box. We had one handy from Isaac's party the weekend before.  Add some acrylic paint and a little hot glue, and viola..

 He told me people were shooting Valentine's into his basket.

 The second grader comes home with loads of Valentines.  There's candy, pencils, small treats, a book, goody bags - lots of stuff. 

The 4th grader still comes home with cards and treats, but making boxes has been nixed by this point.  At the most, they will make a bag.  Isaac's came home with his Valentine's in his backpack - he told me his bag had broke.  He was completely "not" interested in talking about the party at all.

 And, then, there are the 6th grade treats.  Pitiful. Karson did tell me that she ate a few of them at school, but this is what she came home with - 3 measly pieces.  Do Valentine's mean something in 6th grade?  Is it a lost cause at this point?  Who knows?

My sister got the kids some early Valentine treats last Wednesday night - Brusters gift cards.  

We made an ice cream run after church.

One of the projects that generally occurs during the 2nd grade year is the school's wax museum.  Students choose an important person from American history to research and essentially become.  Miles and I discussed some possible options, and he was supposed to select three (3) from the list his teacher had provided.  He chose Martin Luther King Jr., Obama and Abraham Lincoln.  I loved his choices, but both MLK and Obama had already been selected, making him honest Abe.  I scored a cheap costume on Amazon and with my points and PRIME, the costume was free.  

 I was pleasantly surprised by the costume which arrived last Friday (especially based on the poor reviews it received).  It will work perfect for his project.  However, I had to make some minor adjustments on the beard because there were only three small sticky tabs on it.  There is NO WAY that would hold a beard on for more than a minute or two. 

I found some flags, star cut-outs and a tri-fold at Hobby Lobby.  We've been working on his poster and learning lots of fun facts about Abe like:  he was the only president with a beard, the first one to be assassinated, he didn't have a middle name, his mom died from milk poisoning….the list goes on.  The wax museum  project is scheduled to take place this Thursday.  I highly doubt that will happen though with this winter weather. Looking back through the 2nd grade wax museum pics., the other two were aviators.

Isaac as American Pioneer Orville Wright.

Karson as the first female aviator Amelia Earhart.

It was pure joy to wake up to blanket of snow yesterday.  I believe we got a total of 10 inches.  Due to the weather predictions, SKyPAC offices were closed.  It was a treat getting to stay home and enjoy the snow with the kids.  However, preparing for "snow play" reminds me much of Randy from a Christmas Story.  The prepping is time consuming.  We pull down all of our snow gear from the attic - ski pants, bibs, gloves, etc.  

Karson has had the same jacket for the last three years, and it was time for it to be replaced.  We scored a nice North Face on-sale at Dick's Sunday night along with some water proof gloves and a new hat.  I got the jacket a bit big so she can use it for the next two years (adult small).  Speaking of Karson, I'm certain she has grown a foot this winter.  I hardly recognize her.  She's not a kid anymore, and it's getting difficult to fix her hair because she's almost eye-level.  Sigh. 

After about an hour in the snow, bright red noses and mounds of wet clothes entered into the house.  Karson and Miles were wanting hot cocoa.  I rarely have instant cocoa in the house but always have unsweetened cocoa (for no-bake oatmeal cookies).  There's tasty recipe on the side of the container which satisfied the kids sweet tooth and hot cocoa craving.

Snow Day take 2 - our offices are closed again today which meant another round of snow fun with the kids.  We cooked a big pancake breakfast and invited our neighbors the Vernon's over.  Their kids and ours are literally stair-steps of each other and always have the best time together.

Miles and I went out this morning and decided to try and "free" my car which is buried in mounds of snow.  We pretended each snow chunk that we took off the car was a piece of cake.  

We are loving the SNOW-valanche!  I realize that weather like this puts a kink in things, but it sure is fun to play in.  Sometimes it's important to learn to "slow down" in life and enjoy God's beauty and the blessings of warm homes and valuable time spent with family.