Contribution

The 2nd grade classes at

Highland Elementary

are putting together

gift packages

for the soldiers.

Sydney wanted to put in

peanut butter cookies

as her gift.

So we made them today.

It's nice to know we can do something.

Something small, maybe,

but something.

Ballet recital

Presenting. . .

The Sleeping Beauty

ballet production

Warm-ups
in the music
room
backstage
before the
show.

Princess

Aurora

with her

father

(literally)

and one

of the

princes.

And

various

dances

by the

"village

maids".

It was so fun to watch,

Sydney did great and

loved every minute of it.

Origami

This morning, Jordan says to me,

"Look what I made!"

I said, "What is it?"

She said, "Doesn't it look like

underwear? Like

origami underpants."

After I died laughing,

I asked her if I

could put that on the blog.

She smiled, embarrassed, and said,

"Will there be, like, 10 comments?"

Happy day

I feel like we have been

a little bit

M.I.A.

these last 3 days.

Probably because we have

been busy doing

this:

And we are
happy to
report
that we
have actually
had some





SUCCESS!
Yippee!

Mad scientist

Last night
was the big
science
fair
at the
middle school.
Austin came up
with his own
idea
for his project.




He wanted to
take salt water
and extract the
salt from it,
then use the
clean water
to water plants.
We had to modify
the plan a little,
since there was no
warm sun
to condense the
salt water.

He did a great job!

We're looking forward

to many more science fairs

in the future.

(One down, 11 or so more to go. . .)

So big

So, tonight after dinner,

London came to me

and said,
"Mom, I want to do the dishes!"

What mom doesn't LOVE

a volunteer??

Before I knew it,

she was running for the step-stool

and asking if I would

turn the water on and

hand her the scrubber.

The view
from behind
is almost comical.
I had to
include it
just because
she looks
way too
little
to be doing
dishes.

She wanted

to make sure

her plate

got the

cleanest.

OK, so she got

a little bit soaked in the

process (can you see

the water

dripping from her

shirt?)

She

decided to

go get a towel

to clean up

the mess.

You go, girl!

I love it

when they're

self-motivated

like that.

All dried off

and proud of a job

well done.

Signs of spring

This morning I heard
noises on the roof,
like someone was
hammering up there.
I looked out
and saw that a
flock of birds
had landed
around our house.
I hadn't realized how
long it had been since
I'd seen birds.

They were beautiful!
London and I went out
and they were the
first thing she noticed.

I think she
missed them
as much as
I did.
With temperatures
in the teens and 20s
lately,



I think we're all
ready for
spring.

Blanket of snow

Sydney noticed
the coolest
thing today.
You've heard
of a
blanket of
snow, right?
Well, have you
ever seen one
that's been
folded??





Mother nature's
not only amazing,
but we
discover
she is also
very
neat.

Sunset in the Rockies

Tonight's sunset was beautiful.

The kids pointed it out to me

and I had to get some pics.

This is the view from our window.

This is the view from the end of our street.

Love those cloudy winter evenings!

Amazing.

You're it!

Tonight the 2 younger girls

and I decided

(ok, I was persuaded under duress)

to play a friendly game of

tag.

I quickly learned this wasn't

London's first time.

She already knew the

"nanny nanny boo boo"

phrase.

(I wish you could see

the part where she

shakes her hips!)

Race to the bedroom!

Ha! Made it to base.

Only one minor incident -

Jordan's nose and knee collided

during a mad dash from

base to base

(couch to couch).

You can see the concern

in London's eyes,

you know,

that "catch me if you can" look.

More winter fun

Last day of winter break.

What should we do?

I know, let's have a

snowball fight!

No mercy!

That's ok, Syd knows how to play

that game!

Austin strikes back.

It's all good.

These two are

the best of friends.