Cabin Fever

This kiddo had serious cabin fever this morning. I thought we might just have to stick him in a snow drift. He found a way to entertain himself while we were plowing.

Alicia is helping out by digging the snow out with her hands.
Daddy is motivating her by chasing her with a snow thrower.

Alicia graduated to the shovel.

Daddy continues to motivate her.

It's "This" deep.

Christmas card for next year?

Whipping wind.

Whew.

Caught him smiling - he thinks this is fun, but will tell me later that it was hard work to clear the driveway.

Almost there...

Breakthrough!

Alex is still outside helping the neighbors. I walked down the street and am amazed at the snow drifts that are in people's yards and between their houses. How long until we move to SC?

From our front window - we are not going out today.
That's a two story house. I mean, that was a two story house.

There are two cars under the snow in front of the truck.

Marshall has the right idea!

The END!

Need a Shepherd?

I gotcha covered!

The Wise Man in purple next to Alex is from Okinawa. The boys were in 3rd grade together and also lived on our street. They moved here about 2 months ago and we were quite excited to see them.

Fun times!

Art Show

Ceramic Tiles

Yikes, Bugs!

1st sketch.

Alicia's favorite.

My favorite.

Alicia's ceramic birdhouse and something else crafty. It was so cool to see all of the things that she's been doing in school!

Band

The big drum!
1/2 the band

Way in the back.

Alicia's new coat from the G'Rents! I let her open this Christmas present early when the temp went to -35. That's Alicia's friend Savannah.

Creepy

I'm not sure if you can see the road because it's so dark, but we call this "Scooby Doo" when the snow blows creepily across the road! I was excited that I had my camera in my purse and tried to capture the eerie feeling.

Brrrr

Last year we made her shovel - we upgraded her to the blower this year.
Walking in a winter wonderland.

This is from the barn on base where Alex goes with his friend. His friend has two horses and has to visit the barn twice a day for care.

T Day

T Day intervention! Last year, we were pretty miserable being snowed in, overcast weather for 3 weeks and missing daddy big time. We decided to Go Big or Go Home this year. We all slept in Thursday and then slowly packed for our overnight trip. We ate our dinner at the hotel's much publicized buffet. I think it was the only place open in town. It was crowded, but we didn't have to wait long. We were able to check into our room early and had a cool view of the pool. The pool was fun and Big A and I tried to stay in the hot tub. The kids coaxed him to the main pool, but I am no sucker! We had a rousing game of Phase 10. I beat them, so it was a good game. Alicia started dealing the cards with funny sounding numbers like wuuuuuuunnnn, tew ew ew ew ew, and so forth. She cracked herself up so much that she practically passed out from lack of air and was in tears for the next hand. Good times, good times. We watched Home Alone and of course made several trips to the pool. Everything was going great until 2am. Alicia suffered a bout of food poison (from our dinner not the buffet) and I took her home. The As stayed at the room, slept in and had a nice manly breakfast. Alex said that when the waitress brought the food she asked them if they wanted a Kick in the Butt or a Hug... She then proceeded to hug little A and then big A. Hurumph! The waitress slipped little A another hug when they went to pay. I am unfamiliar with this northern tradition. I rendezvoused with them around 9 after I drove through Starbucks. Alex and I sat at the pool and watched little A play his heart out with all of his new friends. That boy has a unique way of finding kids to play with anywhere. He's like a magnet. We had to rip him out of the pool at 10:50 although he complained that he had 10 more minutes before they kicked us out of the hotel. We made it back to the room in time to pack the car while housekeeping stood at our door. I wondered if they were in need of a Kick in the Butt or a Hug! Alicia started feeling better today (Saturday) and was totally bummed about not getting a full night in the hotel. The kitties were sooooo happy to see us at 3am that it comforted Alicia somewhat.

Well, guess I'd better start cleaning... Rumor has it that Mom will be here soon!

p.s. I almost worked out at the hotel's gym since Sherry and Lindsay did their morning Gobble run. Unfortunately (hehehehe) this is the first hotel without a gym! They suggest that people use the YMCA in town. Hooray, no guilt!

The Play

Muffletta is introduced to help explain what is going on in the play. She holds the Exposition sign and then flips it over to add comedy relief.
Indeed!

Yep!

It says - Beating a Dead Horse

These signs cracked everyone up.

She was amazing!

Alicia's #1 fan in his Phineas and Ferb PJs.

News!

The tv was on, but I wasn't really watching it when something caught my ear and I realized that they were talking about Alicia's play. Sure enough - I saw Alicia run onto the stage. I liked to kill myself finding the TIVO remote to hit record. Our little starlet is on the right side of the screen.

Muffletta

Alicia's play starts today and runs through Sunday. She plays the character Muffletta in A Servant of Two Masters. We haven't seen the girl in two months so we're looking forward to the play this weekend and the return of Alicia!