Snow

It's the morning after the fifth (5th) snow day of the year.  Even Kieran has figured out that snow days are not good and it'll be made up later.  He did not want to listen to the message from the superintendent canceling school (although Central's superintendent is actually fun to listen to on his message - his disgust with the weather is apparent), Kieran covered his ears when the message was played.

Chaska, Norwood, Delano and most of the area schools canceled --- this time due to snow, the previous four were all due to cold temperatures.  Officially, we received 9.9 inches of snow, bringing our season to date total to 57 inches (average season to date is 39.5 inches).  Why do people live in Minnesota?

We're running out of room where we can put the snow....the piles are taller than our vehicles...

We struggling to even look out our windows downstairs....

Anyone want to go swinging in the back yard?  Yeah....we can't.

Here's a picture of the over-worked snow shovel (nothing fancy like a snow blower, it's all human powered here)...

There's actually trouble coming with the shovel....let's zoom in on 'Old Blue'....

Had 'Old Blue' since the winter of 02-03...she's reliable, hardworking and trustworthy....she's dealt with some huge snowfalls and then some winters where she was bored with the lack of snow.  Either way, she's been a winter constant.

But, can you see the problem she's having this winter with her old age?  Let's zoom in a little more....

Yeah...there it is....'Old Blue' is dying.  We don't know how much time she has left.  It's only February 22nd and we haven't even got to the state tournament snowstorms yet, let alone the possible April snows we got last year (that better not happen this spring).  There is no retirement home for shovels, she's needed this year yet and we'll continue to use her....the trouble is we don't know how much time she has left....

We hope a good death finds her....not on a 1-inch snowfall...something big...it better be worth it....

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

Friday evening of Valentine's day, dinner is complete and hopefully things begin to quiet down.  Luke and Lex are happy with their valentines (another car that transformers for Luke and a Dora book for Lex).

Kieran is busy counting the number of football cards he has now --- something like 96 cards representing 95 players --- after getting some more for his valentines...

Both boys have come home with large amounts of candy associated with the valentines they received there.  Check out Luke's valentine box that was made at home and taken to preschool!  I had nothing to do with it...Maddy designed the dinosaur and the box, Luke did a little coloring of the dinosaur's face.  It's probably the most elaborate valentine's box I've ever seen!  (I helped Kieran make his valentines box/bag that he took to school --- thankfully I didn't take a picture, because Luke's/Maddy's box puts that one to shame).

Dinner tonight consisted of a Papa Murphy's heart shaped pizza for the kids...

A veggie delight pizza for Sarah....I had a few slices of that too, turns out it was better than the pepperoni pizza...

The three youngest kids are now watching Wall-E on the Disney Channel.  Maddy has been lifeguarding all night, works the 4:00-9:00 shift (part of being the low person on staff, you work days like this).  Sarah has been studying since about 4:30 --- after 5-6 months of class almost every Tuesday and Thursday, her final written and practicum tests are tomorrow morning!

Me...I'm trying to stay out of everyone's way...and trying to stay awake too (then I can watch some Olympics after the kids go to bed).

Again....Happy Valentine's Day!