Brrr

It's flippin' 20 degrees outside today! - with a wind chill of -2 below zero. This is absurdly, freakishly cold.

We had icy rain and sleet last night with wind gusts up to 50 mph! There was even thunder along with some of that sleet.

There is some snow, but it's just a thin layer on an inch of ice. And the pond is frozen over.

Needless to say, there was no school today. Scott is stuck up at the hospital. He came home last night just as the Arctic blast hit, packed a bag, and went back to the hospital because he's on-call today.

So, it's just me and the kids. Poor Ian has a cough and and a little cold - no fever, but still not quite up to par.

Payton's been great at keeping herself busy. I even helped her with one of her 'I Wonder' projects and we read together :)

Now, why do people in Dallas not shovel their driveways?

I decided to shovel mine because it's a steep incline. And that steep incline backs right out into my neighbor's fence. It would suck if my car started sliding down the driveway into my neighbor's fence. But it doesn't appear, judging from my immediate neighbors, that they care about removing some of the ice and snow from their car's path. Humf. I don't know what to think about that.

My driveway

Neighbor's driveway

Then again, let's just say, I back out of my driveway successfully. I still have to get down the alleyway without hitting anything before I even make it out to a road.....

The Great Bed Unveiling

This weekend Oma and Opa came up to, ahem, take home the bed that Scott made for them. Yup, Scott, the woodworker, has made a king size bed for his parents! It is/was a Christmas present for them. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite ready for Christmas, and it wasn't quite ready this weekend either.....But, it is a huge project and you don't want to rush greatness :)

Honestly, I'm very impressed with my husband's accomplishments with this bed. I didn't know he had it in him. This whole woodworking thing is relatively new to him (and me). I didn't know what to expect.

I didn't expect....the sawdust on my car, in my house, on everything in the garages.

I didn't expect, my husband suiting up like he's going into chemical warfare (with goggles, breathing filter, and ear muffs - I really need a picture of this, but haven't achieved it yet).


I didn't expect all the trips to Rockler and the other woodworking stores and websites, and movies watched on YouTube.

I didn't expect, how nice it turned out......

Headboard

Footboard

White Rock Lake

The weather this weekend was absolutely beautiful.

Payton is encouraged to do an extra 'I Wonder' project school every 6-9 weeks or so. One of the projects, that she chose to do this go-round, reads, 'After the lessons on rocks, soil, and water compare different rocks, trees, landforms, etc. Make a poster and share your information with the class.'

First of all, can we get any broader in scope? Second, I have no idea what was covered in Payton's class about rocks, soil, and water. Third, can the teachers really expect my 5 year old to fully convey what was covered in class to me, and then apply this knowledge to the outside world?

Given all this stated above, we took a trip to White Rock Lake this weekend, in hopes of finding some rocks. I focus in on rocks particularly because Payton told me they had identified several different rocks in class. She couldn't tell me the names of all of them, but she described them to me. From what I gathered, there was mica, sandstone (she called it sand rock), quartz, and pumice (she remembered the name of this one). There could have been others, but you know, she's 5 and she's trying to learned to read, and she's worried about running away from Conner on the playground.....you get the idea.

White Rock Lake is close to downtown Dallas, but really pretty. There were tons of people out running the path that circles the lake which is 9 miles long! We parked close to a little pier, checked out the water fowl, and had a picnic.

Unfortunately, White Rock Lake has no rocks. Not even white ones.

ps - Oma and Opa were here this weekend for the great bed unveiling - hopefully, blog on that to come.....

Payton's Ballet Class

Payton's ballet school had an open class, or sorts, that the parents could sit in on. The ballet school only does one recital in May, so this is just for the parents to get an inside peak to a class.

Payton wanted me to try to catch her in her jumps, but of course this is really difficult to capture.

All the same, as a mother, I thought she was adorable and did a great job. So here are some pics and videos of Payton practicing her ballet.

The Beach

After Christmas, the kids and I went down to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a little R&R. One of the things requested to do was go to the beach. There aren't many places in the US you can go to the beach in December, but here we were. We went down to the National Seashore which is about 50 minutes from my parents' home. 

It was 70 degrees and sunny, but windy. The water was 61 degrees, so we didn't get in - although there were three brave souls down the beach that did (they must be from up north).

 The kids discovered the sand dunes this trip and loved running around them.

And jumping off them.

Grandpa and Payton played a game with the waves - trying not to get wet. Payton couldn't get enough. They looked so cute :)

Snow in Plano!

The average annual snow accumulation for Plano is 2-3 inches. We received all of it on Sunday! We probably got 3-4 inches!

It started out as rain, then freezing rain, then huge snow flakes. I was surprised at how soon we started accumulating snow considering we were up in the 60s just 2 days prior to the snow.

But it was beautiful. It stuck to everything because we were hovering right around freezing.

The snow was great for building snowmen. We went out to Russell Creek Park and built one while it was still snowing. Poor Ian, by the time we were done with it, his hands were freezing and hurting :)

Then later in the afternoon, we went on a hill hunt. Plano is not know for it's, ahem, hills. But near the pond at Russell Creek, we had a little embankment that we went up and down several times. Payton was especially loving it. She couldn't get enough.

Here's a video Payton took while on Daddy's back.

Here's the kids going down together.

Ian enjoyed sledding too, but once his hands got cold, he was done. Poor guy cried half of the walk home because he was so miserable. Each child wanted hot chocolate when they got home to warm them up. Their version of hot chocolate that is - which is just melted chocolate chips.

It was a rough day for Ian.

Star Wars Cookie Cutters

One of the niftiest gifts that we got this year, especially from my perspective, was some Star Wars cookie cutters.















These are different from any other cookie cutters I've had because they stamp the design in the cookie and then retract so that, the cookie dough doesn't get stuck in the cutter.

Payton was our resident expert on the decorating side. She explained to us that after you sprinkle on the sugar, you have to wipe off the extra, so that you can see the designs.

Pretty sweet!