We love you!
Friday, February 22, 2008
They grow up so fast!
Here is Little Brother as a Tiger Cub with his Pine Wood Derby car and trophy.
Blue and Gold Banquet
Our Cub Scout Pack held their Blue and Gold Banquet and WEBELOS graduation last night. It seems like just yesterday Little Brother was a Tiger Cub and now he is headed for Boy Scouts.
And the windchill was -33 degrees F.
The public school delayed two hours because at that windchil, frostbite can occur in less than 10 minutes. It was a bit warmer when our exchange student caught the bus at 9 am. We can see the bus coming, so he can wait until nearly the last minute before heading out the door.
Science
We read about the total lunar eclipse during school today and then watched it tonight. Not the entire thing and not nonstop. Our temperature hovered around zero degrees F, so we dashed outside, took a look, dashed back inside, warmed up, repeated. A website we found gave instructions for photographing the lunar eclipse but I never got to read them, I wonder why? So my photos were very poor and I deleted them. By the time the next total lunar eclipse is visible in North America I should have those directions read. . .
Monday, February 18, 2008
Happy Presidents Day!
As part of school this morning we read about our presidents, Washington and Lincoln. What awesome men of integrity. Men like that seem sorely lacking in politics today.
Hockey Games
Big Brother had his distict tournament this past weekend and his team came in second. They will go on to Regionals in a couple of weeks. Little Brother had his last regular season game this weekend and will play in his district tournament next weekend. Daddy and I spent several hours in the concession stand, penalty box and announcers stand. We have thankfully completed our volunteer hours. We'll be happy to help out as needed, but we do not have those hours hanging over our head anymore.
Sick Days
No pictures, and you wouldn't want to see them anyway. Apparently the most prevelant influenza virus circulating in our area this year, is one the vaccine does not protect against. Anyhow, I was seen within a certain window and the Dr. started me on the antiviral. Fortunately, the antiviral worked for me and on my strain. Then Daddy spent the night in the hospital, viral pneumonia was the initial diagnosis. There was some dispute about that later. At any rate, both of us are feeling better, though we have a lingering cough. The children, you ask? They are all fine and did an excellent job taking care of each other and us.
When our friends left I was glad I had something to distract them with. . .
our Homeschool Valentine's Party at the bowling alley. Whoops a daisy, forgot to make the pics verticle first and I still don't know how to change it. Sorry for your crick in the neck. We had fun, bowling, eating and opening Valentine cards.
Behind the scene
Friend and I wanted our picture taken, most times we are the photographers and rarely appear in the pictures. And if we are in the picture it is usually with the children. So, we got ready for our picture and guess who joined us? It is a good picture of Friend and I, even if the littles joined in on our pic!
I wondered what kind of fish we were trying to catch through the ice.
Sunnies and crappies(or a sunny and a crappie over and over again!)
That is why they call it fishing not catching.
FF's Middle Sister got the most patient angler award. She fished for a long time with no complaining or whining and still had not caught a fish when it was time to go. One of my gifted fishermen* hooked one and let her reel it in, but she was still disappointed.
*Daddy and Little Brother are known to be able to catch a fish when noone else is catching anything. For instance, when Daddy was a little boy his Grampa had fished all day in miserable weather and had not caught anything. Daddy was swimming and splashing in the water with his pole and caught fish.
Scenes from a Fish House
First, we had to slush the hole. We used a sieve to get the slush out of the hole, put it into a pan and then threw it out the door onto the frozen lake. Little Sister was the only one dressed appropriately. . .we were standing on linoleum covered ice so we still needed boots, but the friend that had allowed us to use the fish house had turned the heater on before we arrived and it was nearly 90 degrees F in the fish house. Now you see the hole ready for fishing. The DNR(Department of Natural Resources) says that there needs to be 12-15 inches of ice for a medium sized truck to drive on the ice. I wish we had brought a yard stick to see how thick the ice was. Ice Fishing
Here we are standing on a frozen lake getting ready to show the children the wonder of ice fishing from a generously loaned fish house. I remember going ice fishing with a friend and her father in Massachusetts when I was little, and there was no house involved. Friend remembers watching ice fishing from the dock in Alaska, again no house. Daddy remembers ice fishing with a friend as a teenager, no house in New York, either. These Minnisotoans have made ice fishing an art. Just enough new snow
to cover the hill for sledding. Family Friend's Big Sister and Big Sister hit the slopes. Forgot to identify the girls in the last photo, Family Friend's Middle Sister, FF's Little Sister and Little Sister were enjoying the hot cocoa. 
Any excuse for chocolate. . .
I'm not sure they were outside long enough to get cold, or that all of them were outside, but hot chocolate with friends sounded good to me so I made it for them. Building Projects
The boys, Big Brother, Little Brother and Family Friend Brother spent a good amount of time building with the K'nex. Here are three items of their own design, a four wheeler, a motorcycle and a snowmobile. Birthday Cake for Family Friend's Brother
When Friend and I met in the middle in November we planned our next get together. They would be traveling to our home. If you recall Family Friends moved before us, also 1/2 way across the country, about 7 hours south of us. Well the long awaited and highly anticipated visit finally arrived! First on the agenda celebrating a missed birthday. By the time Baby's birthday rolls around later this month he'll be a pro!
Friday, February 1, 2008
Too tired for my lunch.
Baby is switching from two naps, one morning and one afternoon to one nap in the afternoon. Only sometimes he can't quite make it.
Guess who spends more time on his feet and less time on his hands and knees?
Baby does. He is walking everywhere now and seems very pleased with himself.Weather Report
Monday - rain, 40 degrees F
Tuesday - clear and cold, -12 degrees F
Wednesday - 2 hour delay for school, raw temperature -15, windchill -35 to -45
Thursday - snow flurries, 5 degrees F
Friday - snow flurries, 18 degrees F
Our exchange student is used to reading temperatures in degrees C, so we found a formula to change degrees F to degrees C. It is much colder here than Switzerland. He sometimes forgets to convert and heads out the door in zero degree F without his gloves, he quickly comes back in to get them.
Some scenes from the rink
That is Big Brother in goal. Little Brother is in blue in the foreground of the other photo. The team getting ready to play.
Field Trip #4
was to the Austin Public Library. I don't have any pics but, I should have brought my camera. It was a pretty library. It was bright and open and on the town lake. From the windows we could see ice fishing houses on the lake, scultures in the garden covered with snow, a playground and a walking path. The children's section had comfy couches, a firetruck to climb into and read in, a puppet theater and tons of imaginative, soft puppets. There were lots and lots of books, too! I read to the littles while our exchange student used the computer. Big Brother was waiting at the rink.
Field Trip #3
There was a great little nature exhibit in Austin also. There were skins, hides, and bones to identify. There were stuffed specimens to look at, and live animals as well. We matched bird names to pictures. The naturalist fed the honeybees while we were there, they had eaten up all their honey stores.
Field trip #2
Daddy and Little Brother went with Cub Scouts to the Science Museum of Minnesota for a Sleeping with the Dinosaurs event. They had dinner, activities, an imax movie and then slept near the "Body" exhibit. The rest of us are looking forward to visiting this museum. Field Trip #1
We were in Austin MN for a hockey tournament. The hockey games are fun to watch, but the time between can be a little difficult to fill, especially for little ones. We were fortunate that Austin is the home to Hormel Meats and the Spam Museum. It was a very well done and interactive museum. It was free, too. The kids were disappointed there were no samples. We did buy some later, though. A little trivia for you, the name spam comes from spice and ham, and except for preservatives, that is all that is in there, really!
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