2 books

The Witch of Blackbird Pond

I remember siblings reading this in Elementary, however, since I wasn't big on reading back then I missed out. It's another Newberry Medal winner. It's about a teenage girl's arrival and new found life in Connecticut! See why I chose it. It tells a little about colonial life, puritanism, Quakers, witches, the beginnings of Revolutionary thinking, and some romance. So it was good for me :) And quite honestly on my intellectual reading level.

Next up...

Sarah's Key

This is a good book club book as there is much to discuss in it. A modern day American journalist living in France and married to a Frenchman is assigned to write a piece about the Vel d'Hiv roundups that took place in 1942. Having never heard of it she starts researching and unearths it's horrors and also discovers a link between it and her French husband's family. It tells of a 10 year-old Jewish girl (see where this is going?) born in France during the Vel d'Hiv roundups of 1942 that were carried out by their own French Police. They were sent to camps in France and then on trains to Auschwitz.

Much to think about...like there always is when the Holocaust is concerned. It always astounds me to hear about the hate, the traitorous neighbors, the atrocities, the ignorance, the evil. I also feel hope when I read about the people who put their lives at risk to help strangers, the love of mankind. And that's what I hope to instill in my children, the absolute love of mankind regardless of faith, color, race, or socioeconomic status. I guess that's what I hope for myself too.

while I'm dreaming

Here's another room for my dream house.

This is the kitchen I want.

White counters, light counter tops, stainless steel appliances, glass cabinet doors (although I want a few less because I only have enough white dishes and clear glasses to fill a couple), a nice big island and lots of counter space. Although I could do without the stainless steel bar chairs. The pendant lights aren't my first choice either. I love that it is bright and clean. Kent tells me the white cabinets would cost less too (yay!) than some of the natural looking wood he favors. But it's my kitchen so I win. He can put natural wood in his man cave.

Go-Gurt art

Hayden loves yogurt.

I can buy myself an extra 30 minutes in bed each morning if I turn on cartoons and open 4-5 go-gurts for him. He has to have at least three or more because he insists on being able to make an "H" with the garbage when he's done.

He's pretty cute.

Winter break

Today is the first day of winter vacation...and it snowed!

Valentine's Day

The kids were finally in school for Valentine's Day this year. They are usually off track. McKinley's class got to decorate their own boxes to collect their valentines in. McKinley wanted to do a Polar Bear, so we did our best.

School here doesn't allow shared treats, so no candy was allowed with Valentine's. That stinks! Now I have no candy stash to raid :( We attached glow sticks to the cards we passed out. I also had to send a special individual treat for the kids to eat during their party (no food sharing=no class treats).

Faux Spring

The sun was shining today and it was a balmy 36 degrees here, so we headed outside to play for a little while.

I'm pretending that spring is just around the corner.

Nevermind the giant snowbanks and crust of thick ice still on the driveway.

At a certain light of day

winter looks beautiful.

I don't really care for it the other 23 hours of the day.

winter is for the birds

There are some very colorful birds around here. They keep flying away before I get a chance to take a picture, but I finally got one of this blue bird. There is a really amazing red one around here too. Maybe someday.

Resolution

One of my goals was to read a book of poetry, so I picked up a collection that sounded promising, "The Best Poems of the English Language".

Apparently I am not a poetry person.

I am more of a short inspirational quotes person.

I am marking this resolution as done. Because I am done with poetry for a while.

Now I know better.

Show me your happy face

"I can't be happy for too long though or else my eyes will change forever."

-Hayden

Ice trees

The tops of the trees are still covered in ice. When the sun hit them just right today they were so beautiful and sparkly! The picture doesn't do it justice, but I want to remember it anyway.

The latest storm

Gosh this winter is getting really old. I hope spring comes early this year. Yesterday and today are snow days for the kids again. School is scheduled until June 21 now.

Yesterday we got about 2 inches of snow. Today the freezing rain is here.

The ice dam effect in our ceiling has started up again. I am worried the roof might give out. There is a very thick layer of ice (as you can see) that is about 8 inches deep, with 1.5-3 feet of snow on top.
Here is a giant icicle following the gutters from roof line to roof line (over 8 ft long).
The branches look really pretty encircled with ice...
but they are heavy now and sagging. We have a few downed branches.
The electricity has flicked a couple times, but so far we are lucky and still have electricity, especially since the power lines are strung through the tree branches.

It's hard to get a good perspective on this shot, but the branches are sagging down into the driveway so they hit our heads whereas before they were well above the trucks clearance. The driveway has a nice frozen layer on top if you can tell.

Crossing our fingers that this old roof holds out and doesn't smash my babies.

Also crossing my fingers that kids will go back to school soon. Now is the time it would be nice to have close neighbors. There are no friends to keep us occupied and the kids (especially one specific little girl) expect me to be their cruise director and find fun and interactive things for them to do all day. I'm done with winter!!!