Calculating in the Grocery Store

What's the easiest way to keep Todd occupied in a grocery store?

Let him walk around with his oldest sister's graphing calculator.

He's not actually graphing anything.

He just wants to know what -500 - 202 + 9,000,005 is.  Don't you?

Fudge and Wooden Cars

A few more highlights from the kids' winter break:

While Daniel, Anna, and I were out buying snow boots (which they're modeling in the picture), we stopped by this little shop that sells excellent fudge.

Apparently they take their chocolate quite seriously.  The parking lot out front is for "choc-o-holic parking only."

In other news, Joy painted her car for the sibling division of the upcoming Cub Scout pinewood derby.

Daniel didn't even want to bother making a car this year.  We told him he didn't have to carve or decorate it, but he did need to participate in his pack's derby, even if that meant we just stuck wheels on the sides of his block of wood.  Apparently a block-car was too minimalist even for his taste, so Daniel sketched the way he wanted Daddy to carve his car.  He opted for the natural look when it came to paint, though.

Lastly, for some reason, Daniel spent much of winter break wearing a rubber band on his head.  When I asked him why he wore it, he said it's comfortable.  I think it makes him look like some character from a Greek myth . . .

. . . about the underworld.

The Missing Piece

Ah, Winter Break.

A fine time to stay in your jammies all morning and do a puzzle with your sibs.

All done!

Well, almost. :-/

Bummer!  Where could that last piece be???

Whew!  Mama found it. :)

Sledding with the Girls

Our school district has a winter break in February, so the kids are home for the week.  When school's out and there's fresh powder on the ground, the girls can't wait to go sledding.

A neighbor told us about a nearby park with an amphitheater, where you can sled down either side of the big, semicircular hill.  Joy and Anna sledded for an hour, until Anna's thin boots started getting wet and cold.  We need to get that girl some snow boots.

Sometimes Joy would stand on Anna's sled to keep it from sliding while her little sister got situated.  I'm glad our girls help each other and have fun together.

After they had been sledding awhile, the Joy and Anna persuaded me to go down the hill a few times with them.  It was the most fun I've had in a long time.

A Snowy Holiday

Today was a snowy holiday . . .

. . . so we all stayed home in our cozy apartment.  I worked on my new food blog . . .

. . . and Daddy helped Joy solve a thorny problem with a programming project.

A Slippery Trail

This afternoon was sunny and pleasant (for a winter day in Massachusetts) . . .

. . . so our family went for a little hike on a snowy trail.

We admired a very shaggy horse . . .

. . . and enjoyed watching the moon rise over the woods (it looked a lot more epic in person).

The trail was rather icy because some of the snow had melted and then refrozen.  Joy thought it was fun to slide along the ice patches . . .

. . . but Daniel (who doesn't have boots yet) kept slipping and falling on the icy snow.  He was a trooper about it, but when he fell for the third time, we decided to turn around and head home.  On the walk back to the van, Daniel asked if we could stop by Gourmet Donuts on the way to our apartment.  Daddy and I agreed that he had definitely earned a donut for being a good sport on a slippery trail.  And you know, if we're going to buy one Hendrickson a donut, we might as well buy some for the other five as well, right?

Valentine's Day 2019

We had a sweet Valentine's Day this week.  I love that this holiday, that encourages to show a little extra love to our sweethearts, family, and friends.

Some of the kids and I made friendly notes to stick to our neighbors' door yesterday.  We tried to be really secretive about it, but somehow they found us out . . .

. . . and loved us back with some beautiful roses.

In other V-Day news, Todd missed the preschool Valentine's Day party yesterday, so his teacher decorated a cookie for him to take home today. :)

Anna Turns 100!

Today is the 100th day of school in Massachusetts.  Joy and Daniel made posters for their hundredth day of kindergarten, and Anna and I made a 100-item shirt to celebrate that big day back in Arkansas.

Here in Massachusetts, Anna's school encourages the kids to celebrate by dressing up like they're 100 years old.  We dressed Anna in a comfy sweater, sensible shoes, and a pair of cheap sunglasses with the lenses removed.  She actually does kind of look like a sweet little old lady. :)

Happy Birthday Again, Daniel!

A few relatives called today to wish Daniel a happy (belated) birthday.

Curious about those boxes at Daniel's feet?  They're his birthday present . . .

. . . from his big sister.  He said he wanted a cardboard box for some project, so she gave him four. 'Cuz you can't have too many boxes, right? :)

Daniel Turns 10!

We celebrated Daniel's 10th birthday today!

We had a bunch of random glow sticks on hand, so we decided to make our celebration a little more colorful this evening.

Everyone watched very intently to make sure Daddy didn't miss a candle.

Post-party bonus: Light sticks double as light sabers!

We're so glad you're part of our family, Daniel.  You offer such thoughtful prayers, and you make up the funnest games!

The New Winter Trend

Snow art is so last week.

Joy has moved on to her next artistic fad.

Say hello to ice art!

Hiking on a Warm Winter Day

We're having a bit of a heat wave in Massachusetts this week.  After weeks of literally freezing weather, it has suddenly warmed up into the 60s the last couple of days.

Todd and I decided to celebrate by hiking one of the many trails that crisscross our town.

We trekked along a slushy trail through the picturesque, snowy woods . . .

. . . and crossed a footbridge with 111 boards (my math-loving son counted every single one of them).

On the way back to our van, Todd cheerfully announced two or three times that we must be totally lost, as if that would make for a grand adventure.

I used to think that Todd didn't like snow because he never wanted to go out and play in it.  As I watched him having a ball on this warm winter day, I realized his issue wasn't with the snow; he just didn't like being out in sub-freezing weather with a steep wind chill.

I'm with you kid.  I'll be sad to see this heat wave end tomorrow, but it was fun while it lasted!

Joy's Snow Art

Joy recently read about a man who makes huge, elaborate snow drawings with just a compass and his snowshoes.  She was inspired to give snow art a try this morning in the snowy field outside our building.

I documented Joy's footprint snowflake from our balcony . . .

. . . as well as with her sweet message to Daddy ("I WU DA!" = I LOVE DAD!).

Then she asked to borrow my camera so she could take ground-level pictures of another snowflake . . .

. . . a Pikmin . . .

. . . math symbols ('cuz we're geeky like that) . . .

. . . and some positive vibes for our neighbors.

Then she set my camera down on a snowbank while she went off to play with her sibs, and forgot to bring it in when she came inside.  That's probably the last time I hand her my camera for a while. :-/