Ice Age

Most of my life March meant shorts and flip flops, not snow pants and boots.  The Texan in me is getting whiny and impatient.

It has "warmed up" and we can see little parts of the grass.  The snow is mostly crunchy like ice and there are "skating rinks" everywhere.

The kids found this one a few days ago under the trampoline.  For some reason they have gotten their second wind for winter this week after a week of boycotting outdoor play during the school break.  It is such a strange feeling to have three kids who can pretty much completely dress themselves from head to toe in winter clothing and play outside without incident (for the most part) without me.

The days are getting longer and even though it is rainy and cloudy today, we have had significantly more sunshine here than we ever had during the winters in Belgium.  It is significantly colder and snowier here, but at least we have more daylight.

We learned from our looooooong week off from school last week, that a visit to Texas during February break next year is high priority.

This week has been much improved even with Daddy gone or working late most of the week.  That is our "normal" so things just flow better around here with our routine.  Even with another random Tuesday off this week for a teacher work day (shaking head in frustration), this week has been good.

We've had lots of friends over to play.  Nathan is on a mission to read the most hours for his class "Iditaread"  project for reading month.  Hannah has her own version.  They are also being rewarded for good manners at school.  The older kids get an ice cream certificate with lunch and the kindergartner's apparently get Skittles.  Today Hannah and her friend came home with a bag each.  They excitedly told the story about how someone knocked over a bag of numbers and they picked them all up without being asked.  Then today someone else knocked over the same bag and the entire class ran to help pick up (this was after the two of them had been rewarded, of course).  It is so funny to listen to those two girls.  This afternoon as we drove to pick up Nathan, Kate was very excited about Nathan coming home because "he's going to play with us!"  Hannah quickly told her that no, he would be doing his homework because he has very important work to do like writing words and numbers.  Kate asked if he was in first grade and Hannah said that no, he is in third grade and soon will be in fourth grade.
Kate: "Oh, yeah, well, then he's about to get married soon".
Hannah: "What? Married in fourth grade?"
Kate: "Well, you know when he turns like 13".
Hannah: "Well, I don't know because he doesn't even like kissing on TV so I think he might not ever get married".

They have conversations like this all the time.  I walked up to Hannah's closed bedroom door this afternoon (Sarah also had a friend over and that completely changed the dynamics of Sarah being included with the older girls) and overhead this from my daughter: "Yeah, my mom uses this every day.  I'm sucking on mine".
I walked in and both girls put their hands behind their backs.  When asked what they were hiding, they pulled out my dental floss.  A very Pretty Woman moment. Much improved from the piles of candy wrappers she was "hiding" under her bed and dresser around Halloween.

I have had to really change my way of thinking about running in the house.  My son runs and jumps and throws a ball almost constantly either in the living room or basement.  He's actually quietly reading now trying to read 7 hours over the weekend--he's so competitive.  The girls run and dance and scream and do all things indoors that just didn't happen at my house (when my dad was home anyway).  That is what outside is for.
But when you live in Michigan (and it helps having the amount of space we have), outside is not always an option.  I have had to let go and now I'm pretty used to it--although for the most part I discourage that high pitched girl squeal scream.  Not a fan.

I've been meaning to take a picture of our art on a string.  Nathan has one of my favorites of his ever up right now.

The girls both have lots of Valentine's Day and penguin decor at the moment.  I'm sure we'll be seeing a leprechaun or two in the next few weeks.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Yesterday while the girls were running through the house screaming and being spacemen in between dancing on the table and wardrobe changes, I could hear my dad yelling, "YAWWWWW!!!" as only he can. Thankfully I have been able to stifle the impulse since we are clearly related.