Spring Break

CP finished off school with the 5th grade science fair. His project was on static electricity.

JP took the boys to Nana's house for spring break.



They went to a waterpark in Dubuque, IA, to burn off some energy.

Valentine

Valentine has settled right into our family. She sleeps with the rest of the pack and has learned to purr.

Cub Scout Graduation

Friday night CP graduated from Cub Scouts after 5 years in the program. He is now a boy scout.

Cat Season

The video game store downtown has a resident cat that likes JP. She bent down to pet him and he jumped up on her back.

Katrina likes my slippers.

JP has been talking and talking about getting a new kitty so we got one for Valentines Day. This is our new cat, Valentine. She is 10 months old and came from the Beatrice animal shelter. She has never lived in a house before, so everything is new and exciting for her. She is facinated by everything: the TV, the drain in the sink, and especially a freshly poured glass of pop with bubbles in it.

Maggie & Katrina are getting along well with her.

Pinewood Derby 2010

This was CP's last year for the Pinewood Derby. I cannot believe that the time has flown by so quickly. This year, the boys did everything on their cars except for the band saw cuts.

CP made it to the semi-finals and then on to the finals, so we got to hang out ALL day long. We were initially excited that our dens were the first to run in the day and we could move on and do something else that day.

Fire Hazard

This year JP hit the big 40. Due to the craziness of our daily lives, I did not get a huge party put together. We had a nice family party with a blazing cake.

You could actually feel the heat of the candles from across the room. Rather than black decorations, we did pink.

New Year's Eve

We had the neighbors over for New Year's Eve. We all piled into a minivan and went to the Shogun Japanese resturant for dinner and then retired to our living room for a night of Wii Dance.

Christmas Snow

Christmas Day

At half past dark-thirty, the boys were ready for Christmas morning.

We got a little bit of snow. Feet in some places and bare grass in others. I think the official total was eight inches. I'm glad everyone made it here before the snow set in.

Christmas Eve Excitement

Everyone has arrived safe & sound for Christmas before the weather set in. We have Nana and Gramma & Grampa P here with us. I'm off work for four days and I received a good grade in my class @ UNL. I am ready to relax.

The boys made a Bethlehem diorama, but it quickly took on their sense of realism with tanks & infantry.

We loaded up our old swingset into a u-haul trailer hitched to G&G P's Buick. It's ready for the trip to Mississippi to be planted in cousin MB's yard. It was 20 with no wind when we got the trailer this morning. In the hour it took us to load it, the wind picked up and the temperature dropped. We are now at 16 °F with blowing snow and 28 mph sustained winds with gusts expected up to 50 mph. I'm glad we are all here and have nowhere to go today or tomorrow.

Snow Days

The urban legend at school is that if you wear your pajamas inside out and put a spoon under your pillow, we will have a snow day the next day. The boys must have some powerful mojo, as their trick worked before they even went to bed. They were off Tuesday when it started snowing and also today as the city dug out from all the drifts.

When I left for work yesterday, I told CP that there would be some money for him if he were to shovel the driveway. He did it twice during the day, and I did it again when I got home. The boys spent the day sledding and snowboarding on the little hill at the bottom of our street.

We even had to shovel a path for the dog so she would go out.

Be Careful What You Wish For

All we need is a little snow, and it will start to feel like the holidays... We went from 60° last weekend to single digits, 8" of snow, and 40 mph winds. At least it's pretty, and now it really feels like the holidays.

We got 8" of snow yesterday during the day, and then just like the weather guy said, the wind kicked in at 9 pm. It blew and blew and blew all night. The snow we got during the storm is now down in Missouri, and the stuff we have now came from Wyoming. We had some blinding sundogs all morning as a result of all the snow in the air.

CP looked out the window when he came downstairs this morning and was disappointed to see bare grass in the front yard. "Aww, all the snow melted!" It took a while to explain that the bare grass was due to the wind. It took the 5-foot drifts in our neighbors' back yard and a reading of 12° to convince him that the snow did not melt overnight.

Thanksgiving

We had not only Nana here, but also our neighbors from a tropical island. As usual, we ate too much and pledged to eat better the day after.

The weather was spectacular (60° and NO WIND), so we hung the lights and put up the outdoor decorations. We spent a couple hours debugging the lights on our tree and ended up replacing about 50 bulbs that had burned out over the last few years. All we need now is some snow and it will feel like the holidays.