Why Walmart is Evil...

I try not to shop at Walmart. I try to get what I need from our smaller businesses in town. But I was at Walmart picking up items difficult to find anywhere else, and I thought I would grab some Valentines for the kids to take to their classes. (No, I didn't have the kids carefully craft Valentines from paper doilies and construction paper. The past two weeks we're lucky if we get to eat together.)

So I got cat and dog themed Valentines. Safe enough. Today we opened them. And on the Valentines are messages like, "God is love" and "God made us friends." I quickly scoured the box they came in for any indication that these Valentines were trying to make us their mission project. None. Zero. Nice move, Walmart. They were returned.

Why does the year always start like this?

Too busy to think straight? Between swim meets, a yoga workshop (which I organized and which went quite well despite my guest instructor suffering a massive flat tire and being an hour and a half late), birthdays, and well...mostly it's the swim practices and meets, I don't have a clear picture of what we've been doing for the past month.

We weathered our "biggest storm of season" snow (a pittance compared to last year), and now we're just suffering massive subzero temperatures. The 1000 piece puzzle is done. We're trying to get organized for M3's slumber party on Friday night for her birthday. I'm subbing a ballet class on campus. I'm trying to make sure I don't forget we have music and tae kwon do, too. Oh yeah, I'm taking a French conversation class to prepare for Mark's and my trip to London and Paris in March. It's not much more than a month away!! (Did I mention that?) OK, now that I'm amassing that list...I'd better go get something done!!

M & M built a time machine (which has now been recycled...futuristic energy saving materials):

And I cracked up when I saw M3 practicing her sax with Blankie hanging over her shoulder:

Yes, indeed...

...it's a snow day! And the college actually canceled classes!! They have never done that, not once in our 11 and a half years here! Not even last year when we had feet and feet of snow! Not when we had an ice storm! Exclamation point!

The word is that we got nine or ten inches of snow. (I know that's not all that much to you Mainers. :-)) It looks very lovely. If it weren't -12 windchill, I would be out snapping some pictures of the kids playing in the snow. Perhaps later. As it is, I've been hit with a wicked head cold and just want to curl up and die. I mean, sleep.

We've got a 1000 piece puzzle on the dining room table and hot chocolate on the stove. Stay warm, everyone!

Snow day!

The kids and I are hunkering down for a snowy afternoon. They got out of school early, and it seems likely there won't be any school tomorrow. We've only had one snow day so far this year...last year by this date we'd had I don't know how many!! So hooray for snow! I am always happy for an excuse to snuggle up, light a fire, play games, watch movies, and just stay in. It's definitely looking like a blizzard out there!

You never know...

...what sort of fun could be had with an oddly-shaped box. (P.S. He has had his hair trimmed since this photo.)
(M4...not the cat.)

Swimming State

During the swim meet yesterday, M3 qualified for the state meet in her 100m freestyle event! She is very excited and happy so that is cool. I don't think she was necessarily focused on getting to state (which I'm glad about), so it is a great treat for her. For us it means another month of nights at the pool. Oh well. I am working on my swimming, so perhaps I can use that time wisely. In fact, we had parent/child relays yesterday, and I swam freestyle all the way across the pool reasonably quickly without drowning! And I wasn't too far behind the other parents (including M3's coach)! So that is my state.

I tried to get a couple action shots of M3 yesterday:
Didn't do a good job of getting her start:
I have a video I'll post, too.

Unrelated: We got a 600 piece puzzle for Christmas. It took us a while, but it was great fun to work on together. We finished it last night, and the Packers won, so it was a good night!

Christmas

Yay! for Christmas! We had a good one! There was the PERFECT Christmas Eve snow...falling gently all day, warm enough to play outside. The only downside: it wasn't sticky enough to make snowmen. But that didn't stop M & M from creating an elaborate "kitty town" in the backyard with paths and storage areas, etc.
Christmas morning!
M3 with her big present: an iPod Nano with touch screen! Woot woot! I must say, the touch screen is pretty cool! It's much nicer than her Shuffle: she can make playlists and store photos.
Rumpus with his gift: a water fountain! Maybe he'll keep his grubby mitts off the counters now.
One of M4's gifts (although not his "big" gift which was a Playmobil Pyramid. It is wicked awesome.). But the Rock-em Sock-em Robots are pretty fun, too!
It was lovely to be home for Christmas morning. We had a relaxing day and then had our friends who had been in DC for the fall semester over for Christmas dinner. The day after Christmas we headed to KC to hang with everyone, which was ever so fun....and I forgot my camera. Gah! Will have to get some pics from my moms to post. Suffice it to say, it was great to play with cousins and aunts and uncles, to play games, to consume massive quantities of booze and sweets, and to enjoy the warm weather in KC which allowed M & M to use their new scooters and us all the get outside and play!!

I got new poles for my XC skis and am now impatiently waiting for the snow to ski on!!