Blizzard March 2009

FINALLY!!! We have had the driest winter in years - and I mean years! We have been staring at yucky dried up brown grass all winter. That all changed yesterday afternoon! They news kept reporting that a storm was finally coming but when we woke up there was nothing. Larry and I both went to work and the girls went to Juella's. By 9am it was clear the storm was coming and fast! Larry went home first and the girls were at Grandma and Grandpa Dewey's house (Juella's in-laws). I had the carseats so it worked out great - she would just drop them off on their way home - of course we had to agree it was after some play time and Grandma Dewey was making them lunch. I left the office at 11:30 - after the office sent out an alert that travel was not advised after 12:00. It was not a fun drive home - several cars spun off the road and could barely see - Yahoo winter was here!! I got home a little after 1pm and the girls weren't far behind. We hunkered down for the night - couch fort in the living room and all. Friday was an official snow day. We both worked from home and the girls stayed home as well. Larry did a great job keeping the girls occupied so I could work. They had a ton of fun going out when Larry was shoveling. Ashley was a trooper - Hailey tried but it was just too cold. She came in and warmed up - but then tried it again. Next year - better gloves!

Ashley climbing the snow Larry just shoveled

Doing a snow angel in the driveway

Hailey warming up!

Perspective

I felt like I was having a bad day today, the fridge is going and had to have the repair man come - along with a big bill. We were notified today at work that the April pay increases would not be happening - and then I read my cousin Angie's blog.

She has a posting with a link: http://www.mycharmingkids.net/

There is a baby who is clinging to life. I cannot for one second even imagine being in her position and watching her little one going thru all of this. We all need to send our very best thoughts to Stellan and help fix his heart.

Thanks Angie for putting perspective back in it's place.

It was fun while it lasted

Update from a previous post: The Princess blow up bed is no longer with us. It took one jump into it with a pokey toy. It will be missed - but was fun while it lasted.

This is Hailey's - "I didn't do anything" Look!

Green Chicken!

So this is just a fun post of the dinner I made last night. I found a new recipe to try Salsa Verde Chicken - the marinade I made for the chicken was BRIGHT Green! Ashley thought that was the funniest looking dinner I have ever made - I think she is right. Good news is it turned out pretty good!

Dance Class!!

We finally found a dance class for Ashley. Every time I have looked into something the classes for her age are in the middle of the day on a weekday. The other thing I found is there are a lot of competitive groups out there - at 3 years old!! I just want her to be able to go and have fun, later if she wants to be more serious then we can look into it - but at 3??? So anyway we found a little class for her on Tuesday nights. The studio is nothing fancy by any means and in fact I was a little nervous that maybe I should put her in one of those fancy competitive places when we first arrived. However I was put at ease when the class actually started. There are only 2 other little girls her age and then there is an older girl that leads the girls around. The owner is VERY old but has been a dancer all her life, she has a teacher's aide that shows the girls what to do. Ashley loved it! I was impressed of what they actually go thru. They do the pre-ballet work on the bar, do rhythm, right and left, numbers, balance and a ton of little songs with movement. Ashley looked super cute in her little leotard and felt very special! The funniest part was when they were in line to do the balance, the little girl behind her was messing around - Ashley turned around and told her to "Pay Attention!" She had a blast and didn't want to leave - of course she tried to keep her outfit on for most of the night too!

* just a note - I did try to get Hailey into one picture with Ashley - she wouldn't have it!

Bike Ride

Ashley received a bike for Christmas - 2 years ago. She finally has decided this is something she would like to try. Larry took her up and down the sidewalk several times and she did great! The plus side is she really likes it now!

New Bed - sort of

The girls received some late (very) Christmas presents recently. In the gifts was a blow up princess bed. Larry's first reaction was "where are we going to put this?" Of course that answer was soon found when Ashley decided this is where she was going to sleep from now on! So now in her bedroom is a very large full size bed - or I guess mattress set, and now a blow up bed. The old bed serves the purposes of a launch pad into the blow up bed. Thankfully Hailey has not been brave enough to make the jump yet. She just bounces around while Ashley tries to go higher and further each time. I even tried to tell Ashley if she didn't start sleeping in her real bed we would just take it into the basement and put it away. Her reply was "It won't even fit thru the door!" - there went that idea!