Groundhog Day

Without a single ray of sunshine today our little groundhog did not see her shadow, so we're predicting an early spring or at least we're hoping for one after the shoveling we did today. Who knew there were so many people holed up in the houses in our neighborhood during the long winter when the sighting of another human being can be rare. We were all out today putting our snowblowers through their paces and helping those who tried to do battle with only shovels. To clear it today you had to have more than mere muscle power. Now there's all the fun to be had playing in the snow. There are piles to climb, hills to sled and forts to build, and that's all before the next round comes.

All for the Little Ones' Christmas Joy

Imagine the delight of getting 10 "smelly pencils" in your stocking. Santa kept up with the hottest trend in second grade and came through with item #1 on Maryn's Christmas list. We had a wonderful Christmas season filled with excitement and anticipation this year, and it was delightful to view it through Maryn's eyes. We woke up at 7 a.m. to the shuffle of feet in our bedroom and an exclamation that Santa had brought a new sled. After presents at home we were off to round 2 with family and an all day affair of opening, snacking, eating, playing and even napping for those who were so inclined. It was a marvelously cozy day. We spent the next two nights with the Marriott*family using the free nights we had earned, and we discovered we really enjoyed treating ourselves to leaving our beds unmade, taking the elevator to breakfast in our pajamas, and leaving our wet towels in a pile on the bathroom floor as we were asked to do. Doing that again next year will be #1 on my Christmas list.

Hip Hop Holidays

We went to Maryn's Christmas dance recital recently. Her class did a hip hop Rudolph number and even though our darling dancer was on stage for only about 3 minutes, the entire show was really enjoyable. As the rehearsals went on, we could see that she was starting to get it, so it was fun to see the finale. By the time it was over she was ready to sign up for ballet, tap and jazz so she can get more stage time. She's right, she should do ballet, tap, jazz, and hip hop but that's going to have to wait until she can read (her performance contracts), tell time (so she knows when she has to be on stage), and count money (so she can pay for it).

We celebrated Daddy's birthday recently with smiles, singing and huge cupcakes. Our gangsta girl doesn't look so tough in that pink robe. What a cutie - daddy, too.

Costumed Cuties

For all her fans who have been wondering what Maryn's Halloween costume was, the long-awaited reveal.

What Happened to Fall, Y'all?

I know what happened: we were so busy making memories that fall got by us. We got our pumpkins from our favorite farm, celebrated Jen's Golden Birthday and enjoyed ourselves in piles of leaves, all while wearing t-shirts and shorts. Those t-shirts and shorts are a distant memory now having been replaced by flannel lined jeans and puffy down, and those piles of leaves will be replaced by piles of snow soon. Oh well, that won't stop us from having more fun and making more memories, will it Tom : )

Three Cheers for Benjamin Franklin

On Thursdays Maryn brings her reading book home so she can find the vocabulary words in the story. As we have moved further into the school year we have seen progress with the homework assignments in subtle ways, such things as she now knows what story to turn to when opening the book. Yay! We celebrate the small steps. On this occasion she opened the book to a story about Ben Franklin, and when I read the title I said, "Ben Franklin, I love Ben Franklin. When you get finished I want to read this story because I want to know more about Ben Franklin." Maryn said "I know, I know," and proceeded to tell us about a kite with a key, thunder, lightning, and Ben got a "shot" from it. She went on to say that he put things on top of houses to keep people safe. As I wiped the tears off my cheeks, I told her that was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard. Comprehension is a remarkable thing.

Hello There, Mr. Lincoln!

It would be cheaper to home school. At public school, when a tooth starts getting wiggly all the kids are talking about how much cash there is to be made. We didn't stand a chance when it was announced after school one day that the tooth fairy would be coming to our house and leaving $5! There went the opportunity to start out small with a structured plan allowing for yearly cost of living increases. I did the smart thing and wrote a big yellow sticky note so we wouldn't forget about her arrival. Fortunately, Maryn let us know that the tooth fairy would be visiting during the day while she was at school, so we didn't have to stay up at night to greet her. Maryn went right to her room when she got home and found her treasure. We captured her toothy grin - minus one.