Who's who? Part II

Okay, so that was too hard. So here it is, redone, with each child's picture taken at 2-3 months of age. This should be a little easier. The order is the same.

a. (everyone agreed that this was Ryan. Correct!)
b. Who is this?
c. At least we know it is a girl...

d. And? e. Now can you tell who this one is?
f. And lastly?

Oh, how fun it is to see all these sweet little ones. Wish I could give you all a hug right now!

Who's Who?

As we anxiously, but patiently await the birth of the newest member of the family, I thought it was time for a test. Who is who? (And it is fun to see all these pictures side by side and see the similarities and differences in each of our children.)
a. b.
c.
d.

e.
f.

I know, it might be a little unfair as three are "hospital" pictures--pretty early in life--and three are taken a couple of months later.

Oh, by the way, no prize. Just personal satisfaction.

Can we be forgiven?

Well Ryan, Justin, & Deborah, this will really make you jealous! On our recent trip to Wisconsin, we went to......

an.....

outlet mall!


I know you'll never forgive us for not taking you with us to the...

Dress Barn!

Bath & Body Works! (They still had Pearberry lotion. I stocked up. Try to look surprised at Christmas.)

Carter Children's Clothes!

And, the real reason we drove the 45 minutes to Oshkosh...

the one and only American Girl outlet store. Alice enjoyed that store.

And it was all the more fun because we had a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old with us (neither of whom thought shopping was all that great). But it all turned out well with a hamburger at Culver's (delicious) and then a mint shake from McDonald's (it was McDonald's--what adjective would you use here? Certainly not "delicious". Maybe, "okay--for the price"). At least it kept me awake as I drove back to West Bend.

Spring has sprung!

Our first crocus bloomed...

on March 21st! Now there will be some flower blooming somewhere in the yard until it freezes next fall. Already the daffodils are up and ready to open. And this year, the rabbits didn't eat the crocuses that Justin helped me plant just after his mission, out in the woods behind our house. It's fun seeing the bright purple out there.

Spring flirted with us for a week or two before making it official. Robins arrived, the snow melted, and the faintest green buds began appearing on the willow trees. Then March 21st came, and suddenly, the air was humid (goodbye dry winter skin!) and warm. We turned off the furnace.

Then, over the weekend, summer arrived!--(82 degrees on Sunday and Monday). I'm not looking forward to the heat, but I hope to get used to it early this year to be ready to visit Guam. I can't wait!

Leisure Time in Wisconsin

We took walks (having to walk in the roadway because the melting snow made the sidewalks pretty sloppy).

We experimented in making "shamrock" cupcakes for St. Patrick's Day. They were delicious! (We used balls of aluminum foil to help form the clover leaf shape inside the tin, but on the outside of the liner. Does that make sense??)

But the best part was all the help from the kids. I think a few fingers got licked in the process.

Then there were more walks--especially to walk the dog. Alice shot this Wisconsin sunset.

We're glad that Catherine and Aaron are willing to put up with us visiting! Of course, we did let Aaron win at Phase 10.

A Visit to the Children's Museum

Last Friday, we drove in to Milwaukee to the Children's Museum. We wended our way through hoards of school children on field trips, but we still managed to have a great time.

First, Brenna picked apples from a velcroed tree (then there were fun things to do with the apples). Connor was the EMT in an "ambulance", with Alice as his patient.
Elizabeth mentored Brenna, and it was nice having the older girls helping. Even though we had three adults (Catherine, Aaron, and myself), there was enough chaos with lots of children and enough places to go that it was a constant job keeping track of Connor and Brenna.
I especially enjoyed looking out on the serene waterfront of Lake Michigan! There were puppet stages and marionettes; a young children's play area with sand piles, and play houses; a TV studio with blue wall ("and in California, there are tall trees and overpriced real estate...") so the children could pretend to do the News or the Weather; an area of puzzles (some of which still have me stumped as to how to solve); and a great variety of machines and ramps that used golf balls to show the effects of gravity; an area on the workings of the body--how the body balances, how digestion works, using a wheel-chair to go through a doorway, and of course the ambulance and doctor's office. It was hard getting Connor away from the little trains.

We packed a lunch and stayed for several hours. Although the museum is rated for 10-and-under in interest level, we adults (and Elizabeth) still found plenty to do (and maybe that is why we sometimes had trouble keeping track of the little ones!)

On a Friday...

Just to let you know we're still alive, and doing well. And spring will soon be here.

We will be enjoying the presentations of Barbara Barrington Jones this weekend. I'll let you know how it goes. Alice and Elizabeth get to go as well.

We probably won't have the sunburn that Justin got on his last weekend, or the applause that Deborah had on her last weekend (on tour with the folk dancers). We're not doing home renovations like Catherine & Aaron, or wondering if our tax return will ever come, like Ryan & Jamie (we know we will be paying this year so we're not turning them in until April 17).

I guess we're just having normal life.

It's been a really long week...

As I got up this morning, with the sun shining, and the snow blindingly white, I thought how nice it was to have Sunday! And we get to go to church today! It was cancelled last week, and although we kept the Sabbath, I really missed church. It seems like this week has been 14 days long!

Of course, in the 14 days, school was cancelled twice, along with a Math Fair, an Honors Orchestra event, music lessons and group lessons, the girls' music recital, a stake youth activity, and so on. So we were home a lot. Really a lot. I think I'm about ready for Spring!

They cancel school for this?

We went to bed last night with the wind howling and snow devils swirling in the light from the front porch. I was hoping school would have a delayed start (it is usually about a 2-hour delay). I like that--we get the relaxed feeling of a no-school day, but don't have to make it up in June.

I checked the cancellation list this morning at 6:30--was school cancelled or delayed? Or do I need to get the girls up because orchestra rehearsal is at 7:20? Drats! Our school district was NOT on the list.

So I woke up the girls, and read a chapter out of "Peter and the Starcatchers"--we read together every morning. I know, I'm spoiling the girls, but it does make it easier for them to roll out of bed when they've had a few minutes to stretch and slowly wake up. I'm just applying the Golden rule--doing for them what I would like to be able to do. But I digress.

Kevin shoveled out the driveway before heading off to work (he has a 7 a.m. meeting on Fridays), and there were higher drifts than he'd anticipated.

Looking outside, with snow falling and the wind still howling, I kept wondering about school. Finally, at 7, our schools were added to the cancellation list (that already had nearly every school system in the state on it). Fine! We're already up and eating breakfast. I would have loved to sleep in another 20 minutes this morning.

Now it is a little after 9 a.m. The winds are still howling, and some snow is drifting, but the sun is breaking through periodically and things don't look as bad as they did at 7 a.m. I'm still wishing they'd just had a 2-hour delay!

By the way, that black dot on the window is a lady bug. A live lady bug. It seems that last week when we had a couple of days of nice temps, a whole bunch of the bugs came back to life, inside our house. On a downstairs window there were about 15 of them crawling around. We've been finding them all winter, but they were usually dead. Or so I thought. I guess they just wanted a nice place out of the cold.

Winter Storm, Part II

On her blog, Elizabeth told about our weekend ice storm (with pictures). Now we're getting it again. It is raining right now, and is supposed to change to freezing rain shortly, followed by snow and then blizzard conditions. "March comes in like a lion..." And we just got all the ice chipped off the driveway!

Who would have thought that winter was going to begin on January 15? We've had snow on the ground since that date. After the warm and dry December (I had daffodils poking their heads out of the ground on January 1st), I was almost ready to believe in global warming (but not quite! I am always skeptical when there is so much hype.). And now winter just keeps going on and on and on...

Yet, we've been luckier than many. We only had power out for about 90 minutes on Saturday afternoon. There are thousands who still don't have power. Many are staying in shelters.

(a road just outside of Waterloo--photo by The Courier)

There were so many power poles that were snapped in the ice and wind that they can't get enough new poles quick enough. Power crews are here from all over--North Carolina, Missouri, Ohio, Minnesota...

When the power went off, we started preparing--we've got lots of candles (including a boxful of kitchen candles--thank you Kim and Ida!) and a rechargeable lantern that I had just recharged a week earlier. We're got water, and we still had natural gas, so our downstairs gas fireplace would provide heat. We also have a battery-operated radio to keep up on the news. Supper might have been bread and milk (and canned fruit), but we have a Coleman camp stove, and a foil oven (but that would have to be used outside), so we could cook if we wanted to. We were almost disappointed when the power came back on--we were looking forward to the adventure of it all!

Still, church was cancelled on Sunday; school was cancelled on Monday. Many area schools have been out all week, because they have no power. While the power was off here, Alice remarked, "I had no idea how many things depend on electricity!"