70 in February

Well, our changeable weather had us stripping down to shorts, tee shirts, and even bathing suits this week! Yes, we went from the 30s last week to today's high of 72! I told the boys we could get the slip and slide out if it hit 70. We just got a new double one, along with water guns, and they couldn't wait to try it out. When we got home from school it was already cooling off (Joshua actually complained he was too hot to walk home when I picked them up!) so I made them wear their wetsuits. The ground was freezing cold, too, so after a while they put on their water shoes. Daniel lasted about 5 minutes but Joshua stayed out for quite a while, splashing around. Now, of course, I'll have to put it away because it's supposed to snow on Tuesday!

Diorama Drama

Daniel created a diorama as a "book report" for a book he read, "Percy Jackson - The Last Olympian." This is the fifth and last book in the Percy Jackson series, which brings Greek mythology into the present day. The title character, Percy, is a demigod, the son of Poseidon, the Greek god of the oceans, and a mortal woman. In the first book, "Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief," he learns who he is and meets other demigods and mythical creatures familiar in Greek mythology, such as the medusa. In each book he has to battle the bad creatures to save humanity.

I suggested to Daniel that we create a 3-level diorama depicting the underworld, the mortal world, and Mt. Olympus. Daniel decided what would be in each scene and we used playmobil characters to depict them. It was a lot of fun!

Diorama-rama

Snow = No School

Here's our week in review:

Monday - school.
Tuesday - "teacher workday" i.e., no school. The teacher workday was originally scheduled for Monday but was rescheduled when we missed a day of school last week because of icy conditions.
Wednesday - school closed due to impending threat of snow. Started sleeting and snowing heavily at 3pm. Several inches in a few hours. Rushour traffic was a complete mess and some people did not get home until the wee hours of the morning. We spent the evening sledding but had to close our eyes because the snow was coming at an angle!
Thursday - school closed due to snow on ground.
Friday - school closed due to...I really have no idea. Snow cleared in our area. However, some areas had no electricity so I guess it was justified.

In review: 1 day of school last week. I just hope we have school on Monday!
Here are some pics of the boys sledding during all that free time they had!

Snow Days

Winter Wonderland

We skiied at Timberline over winter break. This was our third trip to the resort and by far the coldest! The first day, temperature at the base was 19 degrees fahrenheit, and the wind at the top of the mountain was unbelievable! We skiied all morning and took a late lunch, after which I decided it was just too cold to go back out. The boys thought so too, so we stayed in our cabin while Stuart ventured out for a few more runs. Our cabin was almost slopeside; we just had to hike through the snow behind the house across the street...usually easy but not so easy while carrying two pairs of skis!

The temps were the same on day 2, but we toughed it out until the early afternoon by warming up with chili and hot chocolate in the lodge at lunch.

On day 3 we took the boys to the neighboring resort, Canaan Valley, where they had fun tubing. Then we drove to Blackwater Falls and enjoyed a gorgeous (but freezing) walk through the snow to see the frozen falls!

Timberline

Ninjas

Congrats to my boys on their latest TaeKwonDo graduation! Stuart got his white stripe, Daniel moved up to gold stripe, and Joshua is now in the high-belt class with a green belt!

My Hero!

The Hero

I have a little extra time on my hands right now...well, hand, since I only have the use of the left one right now! I was trying to open the jammed sliding glass door of the medicine chest in the boys' bathroom when the door jumped the track, fell out and smashed in the sink.

At first I was relieved that the glass landed in the sink and not in the bath where Joshua was sitting, but then I noticed the blood pouring from my hand...literally pouring. Joshua has a very adverse reaction to blood and has fainted at the sight of it, so I ran downstairs and asked Daniel to help. Stuart was out running and didn't have his phone. I couldn't think what to do but Daniel sprang into action and called one of the neighbors who said she'd be right over. Daniel decided to try to hurry her up by going outside!

Meanwhile, I managed to convince Joshua to get out of the bath and get dressed in case he needed to go to the neighbor's house. When my neighbor, Kim, came over we realized we needed another adult to watch our kids so she could take me to the emergency room. We called another neighbor and he came right over. While Kim and I were on our way to the ER, Stuart came home and got the story! He came to the ER and relieved Kim, and stayed with me while I got 10 stitches. It's healing well so hopefully I'll be back to normal soon!

The Hand

Hogwarts, Halloween, and Hollywood

We just got back from a fabulous trip to Florida. We managed to do a lot in 7 days! We visited Hogwarts Castle and Hogsmeade and shot at aliens (Men in Black ride - a new favorite) at Universal; ate dinner with Mickey, Pluto, and Chip'n'Dale at a revolving restaurant in Epcot; and rode the Rock'n'Roller Coaster and Hollywood Tower of Terror (except Joshua, who bailed on that one at the last minute...twice) at Hollywood Studios.

We also had fun swimming, feeding alligators (hot dogs!), eating ice cream (lots), and dressing up in costume and going trick or treating in the golf cart...well, the boys did that with their grandparents while Stuart and I stayed at home!

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