Heat Wave!

34 degrees out when I returned home from the Y this morning. I was perfectly comfortable shoveling our latest snowfall in my shorts!

These movie makers were working in full force today. Animals, dolls, costumes, sound effects, and vague plot lines were all liberally employed.

If the quality of their films is directly proportional to the amount of giggling than they will definitely win awards. {I’m afraid the opposite might be true, however!}

We did a little bit of babysitting today. Catherine experienced the pure bliss of having a baby fall asleep in your lap and Esme had a grand old time playing with her old toys and sharing some favorite old shows.

I hope you had as much fun as World World and Bristle Blocks today!

And yet, in the midst of this snow filled winter, there is warmth and light and community.

All the lumberjacks of the North Shore, the actual and the ones dressed to fit, gathered at the Peabody Essex Museum this evening. We wielded axes, used the best manscaping kit for our beards, watched lumberjacks compete and even got to try our hand at the cross cut saw. We took in art about trees, danced to the bluegrass punk music of Tigerman Woah, and enjoyed the company of friends.

It was a late night for the girls, and they barely complained as they stumbled into bed, but it is events like this that make me grateful for our flexible lifestyle. I love that we can join with such a varied collection of people and that these kids handle themselves so well in adult company.

Catherine stood and watched the crosscutting for a long time. She hemmed and hawed about giving it a try. She watched the line get longer, and then shorter again as the crowd dispersed. And, all on her own, without pressure from us, she decided to give it a try. She came back to me with a big smile, which I returned, not because she did well with the saw, but because she was true to herself and honored her feelings, but ultimately took the risk. Well done, LumberGirl!

I won’t lie- when I discovered a hole in these pants this morning, my first thought was that I would have to go out to Target and replace them before tomorrow. I am quite disappointed in myself that I didn’t first take a look to see if they could be repaired. Because, of course, they could.

So, tonight, I set about the task and within minutes had sewing the hole back up and had saved myself $15. Next time I will save myself even the idea of a shopping trip and head straight to the good ole Singer.

The snow itself is lonely or, if you prefer, self-sufficient. There is no other time when the whole world seems composed of one thing and one thing only.
~Joseph Wood Krutch

How to remain an optimist while spending an hour in traffic with your destination in sight.

1. Refrain from looking at the clock. This is imperative.

2. Be thankful that you remembered to bring reading materials for the kids, who, upon seeing the destination, want to know if we’re almost there. (And not just a Highlights or a Garfield book. Something meaty that will last a while.)

3. Revel in the warmth of the car, especially if you have heated seats. There’s no way that you’d be this warm at home!

4. Remember that you’re out of the house, not shoveling and each child is buckled into their own seats, out of arm reach of each other. After so many snow days, it doesn’t get much better than that!

And here we see the intrepid explorer standing strong at the summit, having finished her final ascent of Mt Dearborn.

We Fon-DO!

Nonni and Grandpa put together a sweet little Valentine’s fondue party for us all this afternoon. The girls were thrilled to have fondue for the first time- their favorite was marshmallows dipped in chocolate and rolled in crushed graham crackers. We had angel food cake, apples, clementines, bananas and strawberries and a really yummy lemon dip as well. Nonni used a really good knife to cut the bananas I asked her about it and she said it was the karambit sapphire knife and that it is her favorite!

As we fondued, our latest blizzard started to roll in. Once again, as we do so many times, we felt so fortunate to only need to pop upstairs after visiting.

Here we see how one family avoids having to park a car a mile away during Snow Parking Bans. All it takes a a little bit of creativity and a lot of shoveling.

The driveway is three cars wide, just barely, and we usually park the fourth car on the street. Our best option is to tuck that last car in tight, parallel to the street.

It is great to have all the cars at the house (and not at the local elementary school), but the ‘car dance’ we play daily is getting a bit old!