Happy Valentine's Day!

My valentine is 3000 miles away in California, but my little sweethearts, Will and Emma, had fun opening their presents this morning before school! They were so excited that even Will woke up without me pulling off his blankets and flipping on the lights. Will's class has an ice cream party later today; Emma and I are bringing ice cream and sprinkles. We had snow again this week, but it all melted off with the rain afterward. Today is cold, but bright and sunny finally!

 

Addendum: Jered got home safe and sound Saturday morning after a red eye, all night flight. Will and I were up all night Friday because he was throwing up. He stopped shortly after Jered got home Saturday morning, and is doing well. We're all still trying to catch up on sleep, especially because the dog woke us up in the middle of the night last night. I won't say what was wrong because it's too gross to blog about! Thankfully, Jered was off today, so at least he didn't have to go to work after another night of very little sleep! The pleasant parts this weekend were a nice church service Sunday, followed by a friend's birthday party, and then the Valentine Heart2Heart banquet at church last night. Childcare was provided, and we enjoyed a good meal and a great speaker.



Sledding

There's a good hill down the street from us, so we went sledding this afternoon! We don't have a board or sled, so a neighbor let us use theirs. First time for the kids and me. It was fun! Will went down several times on his own, making sure he was on the highest, fastest part of the hill of course. We also went to the playground and Will and I took turns jumping out of our swings into the snow. Geronimo!

Another Snow Day!

We had another snow storm last night! This was a really good one: 8-12" at our house. They even plowed our neighborhood, yay! We went out this morning after breakfast and Jered and Will shoveled the walks and used the piles to make a set of forts for a snowball fight. Emma and I worked on some snowmen. I'm so glad I went out yesterday morning to get some boots for the kids. Jered got a snow shovel too, so we were much better prepared than last week. I think everyone was because the neighbors and kids are out playing this time. It's fun to see the world blanketed in white!

 

 

Snow Day!

We finally had some decent, stick-on-the-ground, snow! We got about 3" last night. It's 15 degrees today, so it's sticking around. Due to the heavy winds here, there are 12" drifts, and places it barely covers the ground. They do not plow anything but interstates here, so all the schools and most workplaces are closed today. Jered got notification after he already left for work, but he's trying to make his way back home safely.

Living in San Diego since birth, this is the first time the kids have had snow at their house. They were so excited this morning, and before we even had breakfast, they had to get on their coats and go play! They were not quite so excited about how cold it is.

Max was also thrilled and ran around eating all the snow he could get off people's boots, and then ran outside to shove his face in the smorgasbord. I haven't even seen Ug go outside, so I don't know how much he likes being back in winter weather. However, they did get in a fight about a large clump of snow that Jered's work boot left in the laundry room. So maybe he's just playing it cool :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYwQyktR5sI&feature=youtu.be

http://youtu.be/EZYJcb0qXrQ

Upward Basketball: First Game

In December, Jered and Will started Upward Basketball with the league that meets at our church. We have over 300 children 5-12 years old that participate in basketball or cheerleading in our league. Will's team is 8 first grade boys, and Jered is their head coach. They had their first game Saturday morning. Will was super excited and had a lot of fun. He doesn't quite get the game yet, since this is the first time he's ever played basketball, but he knows how to block! The boys did a nice job working together as a team and passed the ball around really well. Some of the boys played very well and I was surprised at how exciting the game was to watch. I think Will's favorite part was running. He runs pretty fast with his lanky legs. Here's a link to a short video from the first quarter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA1THe1bYxw

After it was over, Will said, "I want to do 25 more games!!" Emma said, "I want to be a blue girl," (aka cheerleader). I explained that she has to be 5, so that night she prayed, "and thank you that I can please be a cheer girl when I get big." The team practices every Monday night, and has games every Saturday at 10am for the next 7 weeks. Will has had so much fun, we might look into Upward Soccer for the Spring too. We are also registering Emma for fall preschool (pk4) soon. I can't believe it! She is looking forward to starting school in the fall. Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood is her favorite show, so she can't wait to "be like Daniel at school." Hopefully she'll like school as much as Will has. He's a good example for her, because he is a good student and loves going to school.