Yarn and Kids

A couple weeks ago, Keenan spent the weekend at our house. He arrived sporting a scarf he had finger knit for himself.

When the girls saw it, they were impressed, and he offered to teach them how to make their own. Lucky for them, I have a lot of yarn laying around.

Here's Keenan giving a demonstration.

And here's Dana working on hers.

Nora thought it was the perfect time to get out her knitting needles and work on her scarf.

This was a happy night for me, watching the three kids so quietly and intently working on projects.

Sledding Hill

Yesterday I posted about the Winter Olympics at Nora's school. Today I took Nora, Dana and Keenan to the school to use the sledding hill. It's such a great hill!

It took Dana a while to work up the nerve to go down on a sled alone. So here she is on her caboose.

And here's a view from the top.

I took the girls yesterday, too, and I rode with them. Unfortunately, I am the only person living in the state of Minnesota who does not own snow pants. And so, today I did not sled. There's hardly anything more uncomfortable than wet jeans, after all. And I got my fill yesterday.

Winter Olympics

For as long as I can remember, Nora's school has hosted a winter picnic every February. Even when I was babysitting my neighbor kids, who have now graduated from college, the winter picnic was going on.

This year, the two moms chairing the event decided on a winter Olympics theme. It was perfect, considering the picnic fell on the day of opening ceremonies.

The day started with opening ceremonies. The kids all lined up in the gym with the flags they had made earlier in the week. Each country participating in the games this year was represented.

They paraded through the school, out the playground doors, and around to the front of the school.

There they are! There was much cheering and applauding.

Here, the principal is announcing the opening of the games. This was followed by a torch run, with a kindergartener "lighting" the Olympic torch (that brown podium-looking thing).

Dana was not nearly as impressed with the activities as the rest of us were. She made snow angels and ate ice chunks while we cheered.

The rest of the day, kids participated in "luge" (an awesome sledding hill, complete with lanes, built by volunteer dads), knee hockey, hay rides, an Olympic obstacle course, ice skating for the upper grades, and Olympic trivia. Dana and I were there helping out from 8am until about 1pm.

It was a pretty awesome day.

Valentine Bags

Nora's class had a Valentine's Day party on Friday. She was asked to make a bag or box at home, so we got out the markers, scissors and glitter glue on Wednesday night.

Nora said, "Take a picture of my Valentine guy throwing up a card." How sweet. She really gets the spirit of the holiday.

Dana really loves glitter glue. This guy was still very, very wet in the morning, and I had to actually wipe off a bunch of the puddles of glitter glue so she could use it for school.

Foxy

There's a new resident on the commune. Do you see him in there, hiding between the trees?

I first saw him a couple of weeks ago, running down our driveway with a bunny in his mouth. That was pretty tough.

Yesterday, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and it was Mr. Fox, running along under the porch roof. Dana and I crept from window to window, watching as he walked all the way around the house, then into the woods behind the garage. He eventually took off towards my parents' house.

I had several opportunities for close-up photos of his gorgeous, foxy self, but I couldn't find the camera. This will have to do until his next visit.

Beach Day

We are spending the day at the beach. It was Nora's idea.

We wouldn't want to get too much sun, though. You know those indoor rays, particularly in February, can be very strong. Better use a parasol to keep the rays off.

Beach towels are a must. Bare feet are a must.

Fleece robes and flannel nighties are a must.