rollerskating

Took the kids to Skaterz this afternoon as a president's day outing. They had a deal where you could get in for a quarter to celebrate president's day. Sam did great....he just kept trying no matter how many times he fell down. he is one determined little boy. Max and Emily zoomed along, and Ginny held my hand while we took half a lap, then exited and removed her skates. she's still a little young, but she still had fun watching the other kids. As for me...I went around wobbily a few times, and had fun, but realized I'm not as young as I used to be. I used to zip around the roller rink. Oh well...
Temps in the 50's today. It felt great. I got the van cleaned inside and out. A lot of work, but worth it. It looks great now.

Stuck!

Last night I went to take the boys to Summit Archery. Max had been begging me to take them for weeks--ever since their last 4H meeting. So I promised him that if he would clean his room, I would take him after dinner. Sam, of course, wanted to come too, so we had a little mother/son evening. The people there were really nice and helped the boys, especially Sam to get the right release technique, etc. We had a great time, but when we left to go home, as I was backing out of the parking lot, I inadvertently almost went into a ditch. When I say almost, I mean that I actually had the right rear tire hanging in midair. When I got out of the van to see why I couldn't go anywhere, and saw our predicament, I told the boys to immediately get out of the van, and we went back inside to ask for help. The owner who had been so nice to us went out to look at the situation, and then came back and enlisted the whole archery club to come out and boost our van out. So all these burly country boys come pouring out of the archery center, put some muscle behind my van, and sure enough, push us out! Angels in archery! I need to write them a thank you note.

We have big things brewing for our family....can't talk about it yet, but my insides are bursting with both excitement and anxiety.

the kids have been out of school the past two days for snow. That makes 6 snow days this year! I think they'll have to extend the school year now, as they only had 5 days built into the schedule. They are back today, which means I have to go to school this afternoon to run Max's class valentine party.

The past two Wednesdays I went to Max's school to tell stories, and help the kids tell some stories of their own. I told a coyote Ute indian story, a couple of humorous stories, our famous newspaper Jack in the Beanstalk, the myth of the Pan flute, and a couple of stories from my childhood. I showed the kids how to make a beanstalk out of newspaper, and we made little pan flutes out of straws. Then the kids took turns telling stories about their own lives to partners. It turned out really well. Maybe someday, I'll try to do this as a business. I had a good time doing it.

Guess that's all for now!

boys!

This morning before church, Max and Sam entertained themselves by making small spoon catapults, and launched a variety of small things. This wouldn't have been so bad, if they hadn't been aiming at their sleeping older sister...then they decided to try a human catapult--not fancy, just a long board up on a block with Sam standing on one end. Max jumps on the other end and.....you get the picture. How much trouble can they possibly get into in one day! ? Then, later, Max and Sam came into the living room with pillows belted around their stomachs, announcing they were going to belly flop off of the top of the couch onto the floor. Luckily, I was there to head that one off before they actually did it. After dinner, Max and Sam were loading the dishwasher, and I went into the kitchen to check on them. They were both wearing plastic lunch bags on their hands...presumably to keep the icky leftover food from getting on their delicate skin. They'll play in the dirt all day, pick up turtles and toads dead and alive, etc. and it doesn't bother them. But if they have to do the dishes, that's just too disgusting! Boys are definitely a different breed. I grew up with just sisters, and we never tried to make a human catapult. Never even crossed my mind....

No time to blog!

Things have been really crazy lately--and it seems like it's been the same old stuff, so I haven't had much to write about. I did want to put up this cute picture of Sam in his superman costume. Part of the reason we've been so busy is because we've had a bunch of things break down in our house. Garage door springs, hot water heater, and our heat pump. We've had to rely on emergency heat, which means our house is always really cold! The repair people came out once, but there is still a problem, so they need to come back but can't make it here until Thursday. So, we're freezing for a few more days. Lots of blankets and sweaters! Why is it that everything seems to break down at the same time?