Sledding

We took advantage of the heat wave (high of 41 F today) and the sun shine and drug Owen out to sled at the park today. It's a good thing, since the forecast makes it seem like it might not be nice to get out again for a while:


We have all been needing some fresh air, sunshine, and exercise lately, but Owen was set on NOT going sledding. We'd offered numerous times and he was scarred by his last experience out in the snow when the second big one had just come. We went out first thing in the morning and it was so high that it was no fun at all for him. He had to be carried most of the way, and the one time he tried going down a hill in the sled, he ended up face first in a pile of snow taller than he is. So, understandably, he was not keen on going out again. He just couldn't understand that all those big kids sledding down the hill for the last week and half and some melting had made the park a nicer place to sled than the last time.
Owen had a set of coveralls from his cousin Roman (They look just like Pa's!) that arrived yesterday (thank you, Aunt Alison!). He protested a bit,

but once we got to the park he only had to go down once with Daddy to realize it was much more fun today.
We sledded
and sledded
and played for about an hour and a half.

Owen thought it was fun to throw snow balls at Daddy and try to catch the ones Daddy threw at him. He also loaded up a bunch of them into his sled and wanted to bring them home. Alas, they could not come home as the sidewalks are well-cleared now and the snowballs were heavy.
So we threw them all at Daddy when we got to the sidewalk to head home.
I'm thinking nap time will go well today!

Another Overdue Post

These pictures have been lost on my memory card since Christmas - I forgot to look upload them when I got the new camera.

Micah was doing some redecorating in his room so my gift to him was to help him tie dye some covers for his papasan and mamasan chairs. He helped cut-out and sew the muslin covers and insert the zippers then dye them. We used the instructions here and dyes from Dharma to make a spiral-dyed pattern on the two covers and a couple of t-shirts for him. It was lots of fun and not that much of a mess. I think they turned out really well too. Micah helped A.J., Kailey, and Izzy dye some shirts after we left. Apparently they turned out well too.




Owen enjoyed riding around the long driveway with Anne in her sporty new Saturn Sky.

The Second Big Snow

I'm posting these a bit late, but here they are. The second big snow (2-10) dropped almost as much as the first one. Most of it is still with us although it is slowly melting. I'm anxiously awaiting SPRING!
The front loader that cam to clear the parking lot:
Me wading through crotch-high snow at the park:

Me pulling Owen along on his sled - We're on the sidewalk.

What he says:

Owen says all sorts of funny things. Yesterday, I turned on Olympic speed skating for a bit. Owen watched the skater take long, smooth strides with his hands tucked behind him for a while and said very seriously, "Maybe I should hold my hands like that."
Then he told me he was hungry and would like some "pecorini cheese, please."

Happy Birthday, Valentine!

This morning, Owen brought Abram's birthday presents to him before he was all the way awake. He had to excuse himself to put in his contacts before he opened them. Owen made him a pencil cup and a treasure box, and we gave him an embosser to mark his books with his name. Owen was most keen for him to open a couple of bars of dark chocolate - "because I can eat it too."
We celebrated Abram's birthday by going to the Science Factory in the afternoon. Of course I neglected to take along the camera.
We enjoyed the light exhibit where you could make different colored shadows and the minimal surface bubble exhibit where they had various 3-d shapes that you dipped in bubble solution. In some of them (such as the cube) the solution formed bubbles around the outside planes while in others (such as the tetrahedron) it formed planes that met in the middle of the object rather than enclosing a bubble. I must read up more on that, and we must go back some time and take pictures.

Abram asked for taco salad for dinner, and we had GF brownies with raspberry sauce for dessert.

Relief?

We all made another trip to see Dr. Hollander (the dentist) in King of Prussia, PA today.
We left at 6:05 for an 8:00 appointment and made it there with plenty of time.
This time it wasn't for Owen, it was for me. I had been having pain in, well, all over my mouth but particularly in one molar where I thought I could see a dark spot lurking between it and another tooth. I was fully prepared to need multiple fillings or root canals, and I was diagnosed with. . .
























































STRESS.
Actually, he didn't diagnose stress, but he did know we are in a bit of a stressful time and asked while I was still in the waiting room how the job situation was. Once in his chair, he looked my teeth over and pronounced them just fine (along with confirmation from some x-rays). I seemed to have a stain included in a remineralized area between those teeth, but no cavities. I'm still cavity-free. What he did see was that I have been grinding my teeth. I knew this, sort of. I guess I've been grinding them a lot at night and this has caused a bit of pain. So he took a tiny bit off of the most problematic spots and said if I needed more fine-tuning, to come back.
So now what I need is a yoga class or . . . something to relieve some stress so I don't take it out on my poor teeth and jaws all night long.

Here For a While

Yep, we're not going very far or very fast for a bit. We had over 18" of snow when we went out a couple of hours ago, and it's still snowing. This is officially the biggest snow any of us has ever seen.
Here are Abram and Owen by the car
and on the hill out back.

Yes, the snow was above our knees.

Still Here

Yes, we're still here. We haven't disappeared. I just haven't really felt very outgoing or in the mood to post. Here's the news:
We're still here, and I still hate this apartment - but not quite so intensely as I did in early January.
I have a new camera I purchased with some Christmas money (thank you!).
We still don't know what's up for next year. There is at least on possibility but nothing for sure - yet.

Owen has been enjoying some home made rice and tapioca flour play dough we made.

We have had two snows this year, and another storm's a brewin'.
As I write it is starting to snow and is supposed to accumulate to 8-12". That's a lot of snow. Tomorrow there is supposed to be an additional 2-4".
The second snow was earlier this week, and was just enough for a few runs down the back hill in the sled. Owen even went a couple of times on his own. By the way, a plastic sled also makes a great snow plow if you need one:
We used a whole bag of toilet paper in January. Yes, a whole bag. Owen decided to unroll a whole roll one day while having a poop, so I stuffed it in a bag and put the bag on the TP holder. I wasn't going to waste a whole perfectly good non-roll of TP!
Owen outgrew his car seat. His new one will see him to 65lbs in a harnss then 100 lbs in a booster. Let's see him break those limits!
He calls it his spaceship seat. It is rather sleek looking.
He has also discovered a new use for underwear

and still loves to wear tutus at Tot Spot.Sunday we went to Long's Park and froze our hineys off. We also saw lots of ducks and geese
as well as this heron who scowled at me but stay still for a close up.
We have been trying to get outside for a decent walk every day. That's a feat when it's rarely above freezing lately, and as you all know, I'm not a snowbird. Yesterday we had a nice walk at another arboretum - possibly Lancaster County's first best arboretum - and saw another heron that seemed to be guarding a nest down on a little stream. What a cold time to be sitting on a nest!