Snow Day

Wednesday was declared a snow day by the entire state of Wisconsin! Over 15 inches in some areas was enough to close everything down. Even the state government was closed for the day. We wound up with close to a foot of snow. Luckily we knew school was canceled before we even went to bed so we thought we would be able to sleep in. But when the kids are outside your window hooping and hollering about the BIG, HUGE, ENORMOUS snow man family they planned to create sleeping in becomes a little hard. They debated a snow fort, a snow ball fight, building a sledding run, etc. Then they discovered that it was not good packing snow because the snow was too dry. Such bitter disappointment. But it was still fun to be outside with all that white fresh snow.

(Insert a mental picture of the kids bundled up in their snow gear.)

To say the kids were delighted would be an understatement. They were outside playing in the snow drifts before breakfast. Nicko went to work on shoveling the driveway without even being asked. Someone told him that shoveling snow was good for the pectoral muscles.....so off he went. It was very hard work and I think he was more than a little happy to get help from Dad and two of the best neighbors in the world.

(Insert a mental picture of Nicko very seriously shoveling
a foot of snow off the driveway and a photo of the
John Deere tractor that has a snow blowing attachment
that Joel drools over every time he sees it.)

We had a fire thanks to our wonderful neighbor that brought us a huge load of firewood to enjoy. We played countless games of checkers and Uno in front of the toasty warm fireplace. Mom was the checker champ of the day! ;-)

(Insert a few pictures of us hanging out, the checker
board, and the roaring fire in our fireplace that was
perfectly decorated for Christmas. You believe me
right? Just say yes.)

Daniel, Isaac and Alyssa made a pile of paper snowflakes that now decorate our sun room.
This picture was taken Thursday (today). Notice the big icicles and of course the beautiful snowflakes.



Snow days are so fun because they are unexpected little pockets of time to catch up and spend time together as a family. It is so wonderful to have the snow storms raging outside while you are safe inside tucked in front of a fire and your kids are chattering and playing throughout the house. I love snow days. The kids love snow days.

Unfortunately the pictures I took are all stuck on my photo card and I cannot get them into the computer. Daniel also took some pictures and his are stuck as well. So he gets a little of the mental image credit. If I ever recover the pictures, I will add them to this post.

...And It Doesn't Show Signs Of Stopping!

It's snowing. It's been snowing all day. It's going to snow all night. It's going to snow all day tomorrow. :-) The kids have figured out that we have a 70% chance of having a snow day tomorrow. There is something special about the first snow of the year that makes us giddy and excited. It is so beautiful and peaceful. Shoveling the driveway is even fun when big huge snowflakes are floating down from heaven. And since we are all home safe and sound.....Let it snow!

My Thanksgiving Tradition

Every year I like to make cranberry sauce. It is so good with turkey. I made my own recipe and I get to make the cranberry sauce for our Thanksgiving dinner. This is how I do it. First I start with cranberries, sugar, an orange and water.


I put the cranberries in the pan with some water and cook the cranberries until they pop open. Mom adds a little bit of grown up orange flavor to the hot cranberries.


Then I squeeze orange juice and add it to the cranberries. Mom strains the cranberries for me because they are too hot for me and I do not want to get burned.

Then I add the sugar to the cranberries and orange juice.

Then I stir everything together.


Then I pour the cranberry sauce into a pretty bowl. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

We hope you have a wonderfully Blessed day!

Last night we went to our first Marching Band Concert for Nicko's High School Band. I personally have never heard of a marching band concert, but we were quickly educated. All I can say is it was an amazing experience. I was very impressed. Here are a few highlights from last night.

• The school fight song was played three ways one as a march (which is pretty traditional), once as a ballad, and the last version was 6 tubas playing the school song in harmony.
• Three costume changes by the band director.
• A very touching tribute to Veterans.
• A selection of musical numbers from Star Trek.
  
• A music video that 12 students created. The kids took a Taylor Swift song and wrote their own lyrics about how the best way to be cool is by joining the band. It was adorable.
• Incredibly creative percussion performances.
• Audience participation with singing, yelling, jumping up and down, clapping or snapping if you wanted to play it cool, waving, and lots of applause.
• Four songs from the musical Grease.
  

Overall, the concert was over two and a half hours long and every minute was entertaining. I am so happy that Nicko is not only enjoying his musical education, but is part of an environment that encourages creativity and expression in such a positive way. The thing that stood out to Joel and I was how much fun the band had while they performed.

A Poem

A Thanksgiving Feast Pantoum
By Alyssa Boiten

My family and I would all get together.
My family is important.
Our family would sit around the table.
My Dad would say the prayers.

My family is important.
My family would talk, talk, talk while we eat.
My Dad would say the prayers.
We would fold our hands and Dad would say the prayers.

My family would talk, talk, talk while we eat.
My family and I would talk and feast.
We would fold our hands and Dad would say the prayers.
My family and I would surround the table while we feast.

My family and I would talk and feast.
Our family would sit around the table.
My family and I would surround the table while we feast.
My family and I would all get together.

Our One Year Anniversary

November 9, 2008 was the day a big yellow moving truck pulled into the drive way of our new home and we officially started a new chapter in our life. It is amazing what a difference a year can make. It sure is fun to look back, but I am even more grateful that we are settled.
Here are the kids' top three things that they like about living in Wisconsin.

Nicko - The people that live here are really nice to us, I like swimming in the lake and I like all the cheese they make here.

Daniel - I love all the dairy products that Wisconsin makes, I love my school and I like being able to go fishing off the dock any time I want to.

Isaac - I like the wood paneling in my bedroom, I love having a big yard to play in, and I love fishing off the dock.

Alyssa - All my new friends, I like our house and I like living by the lake. I really hope it is warm enough next summer to actually swim in the lake.

And just for fun, here are a few before and after pictures. It was Alyssa's idea to not label the following pictures. She wants you to see if you can tell which pictures are the before and which ones are the after. ;-)




OPPS!!! I lost an 'after' picture. I must have accidentally deleted it. I will have to retake the picture and post it later.