Will this Snow Ever End?

I've lost count as to how many snow days me and the kids have had this winter.  As a teacher I love my snow days but it's getting a little ridiculous now.  The first few snow days the kids were excited to go outside, now not so much.

The shoveling of the snow is getting very redundant.  I used to like shoveling, strange I know, now I detest it.  It's almost like a weekly chore anymore.  Vacuum and dust the house, clean the bathrooms, go out and shovel the snow, do laundry, etc..   When will it end???

I really, really hope that the snow goes away soon and warm weather takes its place.  It's got to, right?

Valentine's Day

The kids were scheduled to be off anyway on Valentine's day but they also got the day before off because of, yes, more snow.  Plus with today being a scheduled day off for President's Day they've had a 5 day weekend.  

Zach braved the cold to go play in the snow some more.  I'm beginning to think this snow is permanent! 

I gave the kids a lollipop moustache valentine which they were quick to show off for me.

I really just made them for the photo ops!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Happy 14th Birthday Megan!

Can you believe that Megan is 14 already?  The birthday girl wanted to go to Red Robin for her birthday dinner.  So of course that's where we went.   By the time dinner was over and then dessert, guess what?, it had started snowing again.  At this point it doesn't even surprise me.

So we go home and open presents.

Then have cake, cheesecake to be exact.  (I have no idea why she's wearing a different sweater!)

That weekend she wanted to have some of her friends over so yet another cake, this one she made herself.

I hope you had a happy birthday Megan!

More Snow

We've seen so much snow this winter.  They were predicting quite a bit of snow on Jan. 21st but my kids' school district decided not to cancel since it wasn't supposed to start snowing until late morning.  Well it started hours earlier than they predicted.  The school's had an early dismissal which was okay for the girls because they were home by noon.  Poor Zach though wasn't scheduled to get out until 1:30 which was when the snow was heaviest.  His bus was over an hour late and here's what our neighborhood roads looked like  right after he got dropped off at the bus stop.  

Paul went down with the sled and pulled him home in it.

The kids ended up not having school the next day, the 22nd, and even having an hour delay on the 23rd.  At least Zach got a day off to play in the snow.  Too bad it was so cold that no one wanted to go out with him!  Even he didn't stay out long.

A little over a week later and we got even more snow.  When is this going to end?  In fact I'm losing count at how many snow days they've had.

I am SO ready for spring!

Zach at the Dentist

I just had to post these pics that I took of Zach at his dentist appointment earlier this month.  I had originally scheduled his appointment for December but due to insurance restrictions I had to reschedule it for January.   When I rescheduled it he ended up getting a different person than he normally does to clean his teeth.  Oh my goodness, we are definitely sticking with this girl from now on!  She put my normally high anxiety boy so at ease and that was the most pleasant dentist appointment ever!  She gave him sunglasses to protect his eyes from the bright light.  He thought he was hot stuff!

He was so at ease he was even making silly faces at me.

Maybe next time I'll even be able to wait for him in the waiting room while he goes back by himself.  I can only hope!

Mickey Cupcakes

I gotta love clearance sales.  :)    I picked up this cupcake kit at Walgreen's for $2.  I wasn't sure if Zach would want to make it or not but for $2 I really didn't care.  Luckily for me, he did want to make them.  

With Kristin's help of course.  The kit even came with an apron which he was not very excited about.

Everything was in miniature, mini spoon, mini spatula and even a mini cupcake pan.

Of course the cupcakes came out in miniature too, all 6 of them!  They were eaten so quickly that I didn't even get a picture of them.  The cupcakes were definitely not worth the $2 I spent on them!  However it was worth watching Zach make them.

Flyers Game

Sometime in November Paul and I attended a dinner/auction.  One of the items that caught Paul's eye was a 6-pack of tickets to a Flyers game that was in a suite and included food and drinks.  Not often do we see anything that could accommodate our entire family so Paul felt the need to bid on that particular item.  Well, lo and behold, he won!  We kept it a secret until Christmas Eve when we presented our gift to the kids. 

The game was last night, a 7:30 start time against Montreal.  We arrived in the suite about 40 minutes before game time.  When you first walked in there was 2 small round tables with chairs and then 12 stadium type seats closer to the ice, here's the kids sitting in the second row of the seats.

Megan and Lauren posing.  You can see Paul in the background at what was a long table with 3 bar stools.

The food that was served was typical finger foods such as hotdogs, french fries, wings, chicken fingers and some type of cheese steak roll thingie.  Then there was about any type of drink you could want.  The kids had tons of sodas to choose from, Paul had tons of beer to choose from and I had some white wine.  I saw the hostess was making mixed drinks too but just decided to stick with my wine.  There was also chips and popcorn sitting on the tables.  Zach kept going back for popcorn so many times that he eventually came back with the whole basket.  He said someone gave it to him.  Probably because they were sick of him getting it so many times!

Before too many people came I took a picture of the kids in front of the ice.

Then I had one of the kids take a picture of Paul and I.

Zach and Kristin are sitting on the barstools while Megan pokes her head in front of the camera!

Finally we were able to get the hostess to take a group shot of our family.

I had to take lots of pictures.  After all it's not everyday we get to sit in a suite!  Here's Zach and Paul with Megan and Kristin photo bombing from behind.

A picture of some of the players on the ice.  It must have been during a commercial break or something since no one is actually doing anything.

Like I said, lots of pictures were taken.  Here's me and Lauren.

I guess the girls took a lot of pictures too.  Megan and Kristin taking a selfie.

Another picture of the Flyers on the ice.

Along with pictures of a fight that broke out.

Zach was all over the place!  He enjoyed the freedom of being able to go get food, drinks and even go to the bathroom himself.   I will say that having our own bathroom and eating unlimited amounts of food were the highlights for me!

No, let me rephrase that.  Those things were high up on my list but the absolute highlight for me was spending the evening with my family.  Priceless!

Kristin gets a new car?

She can't even drive by herself yet!  Before now she's had to practice driving by either using my Odyssey or Paul's Pilot, both bigger type cars.  (Lauren's never home so she couldn't use her car.)  Now she can finish her driving hours in something that's a little more practical for her.  Besides we got a good deal for it and both Paul and I can take turns driving it to work until she can drive by herself.  Now Kristin has to look for a job.  If anyone knows of any openings, preferably close to home, let us know!

Christmas Afternoon





Now time for family to come over.  This was our 22nd year of hosting on Christmas.  Wow!  I feel old now!  I found wrapping paper that can be colored so I cut some to put on our kitchen table.  I was thinking of the kids when I did this but mostly the adults did the coloring!

Our theme this year was "Fire and Ice" and if the weather had cooperated a little more I was going to make ice candles for the front walk and deck area but with the warm air lately I wasn't able to do that.  So I stuck to just having fire and ice types of food. 

I made a fire and ice salad and jalapeno popper dip and Megan made Fire and Ice Cream for dessert (which we almost forgot about.)  Lauren made a hot crab dip and Kristin stuck with making fudge which is one of her specialties.

I had a few little props laying around for photo ops. 

Kristin looks really good in her apron and chef's hat she got from her Aunt Kelly and PopPop. Now she can cook all the time!

Yay!  Zach got the game that he wanted, Hedbanz.  That game got played a lot later in the day!

We kind of staggered the gifts this year, meaning, that as people came we tried to exchange right away rather than wait until later and everyone do it at once.  It sure seemed a lot less chaotic this year!  Here's Lauren helping Jordan open one of his presents.

The parents were all conversing in the kitchen at one point. 

Lauren with two of her cousins, Ryan and Alex.

Megan is always good for a funny picture!  I think she was helping Zach and Ryan play one of the games Zach got for Christmas.

Ok, here's the Hedbanz game early in the evening. 

This game was enjoyed more by the adults than the kids!  It's a fun party game to have around. 

There were kids everywhere!  Here's 5 of them, 3 of which are mine! 

Kristin and Megan looking oh so cute in their matching Santa hat clips.

One last picture, thanks to Katie, is of everyone that was at our house on Christmas.  

There are 22 family members present.  That's pretty good since the most we could have had was 23.  I don't know, if our family gets any bigger we're going to have to put an addition on to our house!  It's nice though since it is usually one of the only times during the year that we're all together.