No snow, No Ice, No Nothing!

We looked out the window this morning expecting the 5" of snow that was predicted.  Guess what!  There was no snow, no ice, no nothing, just a little cold and cloudy.  It's now almost noon and still nothing!  I guess they cancel school here for predicted bad weather...  Somebody in the district office is probably feeling pretty stupid right now. :) 

Anyhow, I don't mind having the kids home, so it's fine by me.  We got to sleep in a little, and they've been very helpful cleaning this morning, and they appreciate the bonus 3-day weekend.

Predicted Inclement Weather

Here is the body of the email that I just received from our school district:

"This is the Communications Office for Clarksville-Montgomery County Schools. Due to predicted inclement weather and hazardous driving conditions, all public schools will be closed on Friday, January 29. Thank you."

Looks like another long weekend for the kids.  They have been so lucky with MLK holiday last week and missing two days for inclement weather the week before.  It is very nice to know ahead of time, but I haven't heard of school being cancelled for "predicted inclement weather" before.  What if it turns out sunny?  I do appreciate the school district's communication.  They call and e-mail as soon as the decision is made.  That way we are never wondering if there is school or not.

No sign of snow yet! :)

Mike and MJ

This past weekend, we had my brother, Michael, and his wife, Mary Jane, come for their first visit to Tennessee.  I am bummed that I didn't get any pictures, so I borrowed this one off their blog.  They left their two kids with my sister in Boise, so they had a little "couple time".  They were here on some business, but they extended their stay a couple of days so we could spend some time together.  It was fun to spend some time with them and show them around a little bit. 

Thursday was Mary Jane's birthday, but they flew in and then had meetings in Nashville.  We did have dinner together and strawberry shortcake for dessert (her favorite).  Friday, most of the day was meetings too. 

Saturday morning they came to the girl's basketball game with me.  Tessa and Jesikah are beginners, so it wasn't anything spectacular, but they were good sports.  It was unfortunate that Mike ended up paying the $3 for our admission since I showed up without any cash. :(  On the way back home, we stopped at Sonic for cherry limeade chillers (which ended up being limeade chillers).  After we got back, I took them around to see some new houses being built (they are building right now and are looking for ideas).  Then, Eric and I took them out to a mexican restaurant for dinner and saw Avatar in 3D at the theater. 

I hadn't really wanted to see it when it first came out, but decided it looked interesting. The computer graphics were really amazing and the premise of the story was interesting. I loved the eyes...they were very cool! I, however, was a little uncomfortable with the blue women's covering or lack thereof. True, they aren't human, but there are a lot of similarities... Other than that, I really enjoyed the movie.

Sunday we went to church, relaxed a bit, and took them back to the airport.  It was a quick trip, but we enjoyed having them here, and glad they were able to visit for a few days.

A Nice Time with Grandpa & Grandma

We had the pleasure of having my parents come and visit us this past week.  It's always fun when the grandparents come.  The kids are better behaved, and the grandparents help us out a lot too.  My parents arrived last Monday afternoon.  I picked them up from the airport, and they got to our house just before the kids got home from school.  After homework craziness and a quick dinner, we headed off to Jesikah's Junior Beta Club Induction.  It was a great honor for her to be invited to be into Beta Club. They have to have high grades and good behavior to get an invitation.  It was neat that grandpa and grandma got to be here for that.  Because of the distance, they don't get to come to things like this often.

Jesikah getting her certificate from the principal, Mrs. Ford

Jesikah with Mrs. Ford after the induction

When we got back home, Alex gave us a family home evening lesson.  This is where Jarem sat during family home evening:

The blanket covering them is the quilt my mom made Jarem for Christmas, and he offered to share it with them.

The next day, my parents watched Jarem while I went to my tennis class.  It was neat for Jarem to have some one-on-one time with them, since they've been gone on a mission 2 of his 4 years of life.  He enjoyed reading stories with grandma and helping her with things around the house. 

When Eric got home around 2, we headed to the Amish Country Pantry.  It was exciting for us since we hadn't been there before and they have all different grains and flours for making breads and things.  My dad has recently gotten excited about buying wheat and making bread and my mom has always been a breadmaker, so they were excited to see what they had there too.  On Linda's advice, I also got the cinnamon chips and lucky charm marshmellows. 

When we got back, we all got to work baking and cooking.  My parents used my new KitchenAid I got for Christmas and baked some delicious wheat bread, while I cooked fish tacos for dinner and Eric put some Bohemian rye bread in the breadmaker.  We hardly had time to eat before piano, voice, and basketball practice.  It was a busy night.  It was a nice surprise when I finished piano lessons and the kitchen had been cleaned by my mom.  It was a good surprise for Alex too since it was his dish week.

Jesikah is wearing the apron my mom made her for Christmas while forming bread loaves with Grandma

Grandma showing her how to form a loaf

The finished product: beautiful, soft, and delicious wheat bread

Eric's Bohemian rye bread which also turned out great (it was darker than it appears)

The next day, we dropped Jarem off at preschool, and Eric and I enjoyed a nice little 2-mile hike with my parents at Dunbar Cave State Park.  It was a crisp, but beautiful sunny day and we saw all kind of wildlife and birds.  My dad is interested in birds, like me, and he was interested to find many different types of birds that they don't have in Idaho.  We saw a lot of bluebirds, some cardinals, even a couple great blue herons along with lots of ducks and geese and other varieties of birds.  We saw some beautiful white-tailed deer running through the woods, and we even saw a big turtle...lots of gray squirrels too.  It was a very enjoyable walk.  After our walk, Eric had to go to work, so Jarem and the grandparents and I went to Chick Fil A for lunch and enjoyed a little rest before Grandma and I went to running club with Tessa. 

Jarem stayed home with grandpa and watched movies while grandma and I went to running club.  That evening, we had dinner and grandma once again cleaned up dishes while I took Alex to his youth activity.  Bless her!  Then, we watched the movie, "Up".

The next two days, they had to go to Nashville for some business, but we still saw them in the mornings and the evenings.  Eric dropped them off at the airport on Saturday morning.  All in all, it was a wonderful time for us.  Thanks for coming to visit!

Sunrise

I've always loved the sunrise.  It marks the beginning of a new day and a fresh start.  No matter what yesterday was, today is a new beginning.  Especially since living in Tennessee, I've learned to appreciate the beauty of a sunrise.  We have breathtaking sunrises here.  Our bedroom windows face East on the upper level of our house.  Nearly every morning when my alarm rings, I open my eyes to a view such as this.  I took these pictures a few mornings ago next to our house.

Snowman

Last Friday, school was cancelled also and it was still snowing.  I told the kids since they had already had their big snowball fight on Thursday that I wanted them to build me a snowman today.  So, they all went out and spent awhile.  Soon, they all wanted me to come out and see the surprise.  I went out, and this is what I found:

It's a snow chair!  They were right, I was very surprised. :)

Well, they all went back out, and a couple of hours later, they came to get me again and show me what they made.  This time, this is what I found:

A snowman sitting in the chair!  He was about 8-9 inches tall.

Jesikah, Divya, and Pramika with their snowman

I have to admit, I was expecting a much larger snowman, but they said it took a long time and it was very hard to even get this much snow to stick together.  Jesikah said she had to take her gloves off and use her bare hands just to make this snowman stick together.  It was very cold though, and when it's really cold, snow doesn't stick together well, so I applauded their effort.  They were very proud of their snowman, and I thought he was pretty darn cute too! :)

Bread---Hot and Fresh!

For Christmas, Eric got me this bread machine.  I have wanted a bread maker for years, but had almost given up on it now they are not so popular anymore.  It was quite a surprise!  He had done his research and got me the best one he could find.  Although I really liked it, he was even more motivated to get some bread made.  He had some bread rising by Christmas afternoon.

The first loaf didn't turn out at all.  It was like a spiky ball of cooked dough that never rose.(wish I would have gotten a picture).  Eric was even more determined to make it work after that, so he read the manual and the next day, he headed to the store for fresh yeast, flour, and gluten.  (I admit, I haven't made bread in awhile)

Eric with the goods along with the Bread Machine recipe book that I also got for Christmas!

He got some more bread in the bread maker, and IT'S RISING THIS TIME!  We were so excited!

Look at that beautiful loaf of bread that came out!

It even has a great texture!

Since then, he has made several more loaves, and they have all been delicious.  I have yet to use it, but I am excited to use it once things settle down a bit.  Besides, I'm in the process of editing my 2009 blog book, so that is taking my spare time at the moment.  Eric asked me if it bothered me that he was using my bread machine that I got for Christmas.  I said, "Are you kidding? I get a bread machine AND someone to make it for me too!  What could be better than that?"

Snowball Fight

After their breakfast of "ice cream", they all went outside (except Alex who wanted to stay warm inside) and started making forts and snowballs for the big snowball fight.  Soon, their friends from down the street, showed up in their snow gear to help.  They spent most of the day outside building their forts and making snowballs.  They stayed pretty warm except their hands and faces.  I felt bad that we didn't have better snow gloves for them, their hands got SO cold.  I tried switching them into dry gloves a few times.  It isn't often that we need good waterproof snow gloves around here.

Finally about 5:00pm, they were ready for the snowball fight.  Jesikah and Pramika were on one team, and Tessa, Divya, and Jarem were on the other team.

Jesikah and Pramika building their fort

Jarem and Tessa building

Finished and ready for action

Divya, Tessa, and Jarem ready for action (hope that little wall protects them) :)

Teams meet to discuss rules of play

And the fun begins...

I see smiles

Divya's snowball ready to hit Jesikah

Revenge is sweet!

Jarem in action!

First half of action sequence (click on the picture to read the captions)

Second half of action sequence

(I was so glad that they included him, he had a ball!)

Armed and on the lookout...

A little friendly competition

Jesikah's snowball coming for Tessa

Tessa throwing and Pramika ready to take action

Another one coming toward Tessa

But she's ready

Gotcha too!

Jarem and Jesikah getting some action, while Tessa laughs

Trying to get some protection

Saving the best for last!

I think they all had a good time and ended up happy in the end.  I used my action setting on my camera and stayed out as long as I could without freezing.  There was a bitter cold wind. 

It snowed most of the day, but we didn't get much accumulation.  It was cold that night though, so the snow didn't melt.  About 4:30pm, I got another phone call from the school saying that school was closed for Friday too.  The kids were pretty excited about the 4-day weekend.  They only had to go to school 2 days last week...a nice transition from winter break.

Slush for Breakfast

Wednesday night, the kids were all determined that school was going to be cancelled because snow was in the forecast for Thursday morning.  (It doesn't take much to get school cancelled around here.)  The girls learned somewhere that if they do the following things the night before, it will snow and school will be cancelled:

1) Wear their pajamas inside out
2) Flush an ice cube down the toilet
3) Put a spoon upside down under their pillow
4) Do a snow dance outside before bed

So, Wednesday night Jesikah, Tessa, and Jarem did all these things.  In fact, they even went the extra mile and all of us found spoons upside down under our pillows too.  Well, sure enough, the phone rang at 5:30am letting me know that school had been cancelled.  I informed the kids they didn't need to get up and I went back to bed and enjoyed sleeping in for a change.

When I woke up, I could hear the kids eating breakfast, so I went downstairs.  Sure enough, they each had a bowl and were eating.  On closer examination though, it wasn't cereal, it was a white slushy substance.  I asked what they were eating, and they said, "ice cream".

This was the bowl they were serving from

I asked them who made it (I should've known)...Alex, of course!

Mom: Alex, what did you put in it?

Alex: Just milk, sugar, and vanilla

Mom: How did you make it slushy?

Everyone: We all went out and got snow!

Alex: Then we mixed it all together and had ice cream.

Hmmm...

Feast or Famine

My blog has been feast or famine lately.  Either I post everything or nothing.  It seems the month of December has just flown by, and busy-ness abounds.  I added several posts yesterday and today dated the days they took place.  I hope to stay on top of it better now.  It's almost time to publish my second blog book which will mark my first full year (Jan-Dec) of blogging.  Yeah!