Prime!

It's easy to tell when a package arrives for us . . .

 

. . . because any of our children within sight of a window immediately yell whatever name is printed on the delivery vehicle ("Prime!" in this case).  I wonder which is more exciting for them: curiosity about what's in the box, or the novelty of seeing another human approach our house these days?

Easy Chairs

Anyone wanna have a seat . . .

. . . in those comfy white easy chairs on our deck?  Really?  Nobody?  OK.

I guess you can help us shovel the driveway instead.

A Cozy Snowy Day

February has definitely arrived.

There's a heart-covered tablecloth on our table . . .

. . . and a nor'easter is flinging snow against our house . . .

. . . but our pellet stove is keeping us cozy and warm.

Dragons and Cheese

Well, we're one month into 2021, and in most respects, life doesn't look much different than it did 31 days ago.  COVID-19 and freezing weather still keep us at home most of the time, we're still homeschooling kids who love math and hate writing, and it's still socially taboo to hug people you don't live with.  A couple things do look different for our family though. (OK three, if you count my DIY haircut yesterday.)

First, I have suddenly developed a surprising fascination with cheese.  Maybe it's because sampling new cheese is an easy way to add variety to a life that feels rather repetitive lately.  Whatever the reason, I find it amusing that we have about ten different kinds of cheese in our fridge at the moment, and my family, who hadn't tried anything more exotic than Parmesan before last month, is now debating whether they prefer Gouda or Gruyere.

We usually break out the cheese knife on a day when I go to Trader Joe's and come home with a baguette, but I've also been tinkering with a simple bread recipe at home lately, so we can have bread and cheese any day we want to.  Incidentally, one of the homemade loaves in the photo above is missing a portion because we used it for our home sacrament meeting this morning.  It feels like such an honor to see bread that I made being used for a sacred ordinance.

The other thing that is different lately is that we've really gotten into Dungeons and Dragons.  We've had family DnD sessions at least once a week lately, and we're thinking of sharing an adventure with a couple friends from church next month.  Joy has especially loved delving into the lore, rules, monsters, and anything else she can learn about DnD.  She is our family consultant when we're working on creating new characters.

Joy recently tried leading an adventure she'd prepared, but quickly pulled the plug on it because it wasn't working as well as she envisioned.  I've led an adventure as well (and I'm working on two more!), and I can attest that it's not nearly as easy as good Dungeon Masters make it look.  You have to keep track of the game's mechanics (which I still don't know very well), narrate in an engaging way, and mentally rework your story every time a player does something you weren't expecting.  I find it exhausting, but also exhilarating to bring a story to life and share it with my family.  I'm curious to know how Joy's story would have played out, and I kind of hope she'll give it another try someday, but hey . . . 

. . . no pressure.

Shear Madness

 We're in the middle of a COVID surge, and I didn't feel comfortable going to a salon . . .

. . . but I've also been getting really tired of my overgrown hairstyle.  So I watched a YouTube video (and then another YouTube video about what NOT to do in the first video), then I grabbed some sharp scissors . . .

. . . and did something rather rash this morning.

The first draft doesn't look too bad, does it?  Actually, don't answer that.  Let me go even things up.

That's . . . a little better.  Now let me go add some layers.  I've been watching trained professionals do it for years, so it should be easy, right?  Don't answer that either.

Surprisingly, my clumsy efforts to add layers to my own hair while watching my reflection in a mirror worked out OK.  In fact . . .

. . . I'm astounded that my first attempt to cut my own hair turned out this well.  Will I trim my own hair again the next time it grows out?  Probably not, because a trained stylist can do it ten times faster, but I still think it's pretty darn cool that I gave myself a decent haircut the very first time I tried.  Add that to the list of unexpectedly awesome experiences I never would have considered trying if it weren't for this pandemic.

Drawing Bunnies (and Pixies Too!)

At the store this week, I noticed . . .

. . . a book of instructions for drawing fantasy characters.  Since some of the kids enjoy drawing, and they're getting into fantasy stories with Dungeons and Dragons, I thought they might enjoy some of the book's tutorials.

Of course, Anna set right to work drawing a pixie last night.

I'd say it turned out pretty well (the flowers looked especially nice).

And no, Todd isn't drawing a portrait of his grimacing brother.

It's a friendly bunny rabbit.

Taking a Break

 No . . .

. . . we haven't started growing cotton in our front yard.  It just snowed a few inches last night, so we decided to cancel history class and go sledding this afternoon. (Don't worry--we did extra history last week when we watched the inauguration and discussed what a filibuster is.)

First we picked up Anna's coat from the dentist (where she left it a couple days ago) . . .

. . . then we headed to the slopes.  The kids had a fun time . . .

. . . (and so did their mom) . . .

. . . but when I saw Anna lying down to rest after her latest hike back up the hill, I figured it was time to leave.

Pat pat.  Now let's go to Gourmet Donuts.