We stare in awe and wonder at the billions of twinkling lights, using all our focus to preserve the memory of each one. An impossible task, but we accept the challenge; we live for the challenge.~Roxanne
Before I can begin my post on our wonderful trip to California, I want to fill in the first part of February, or more specifically, Valentines Day.
Our Valentines Day was fun in that the kids loved getting gifts and donuts in the morning, they all had fun parties in their class, and I was in charge of Alyssa's class party, and therefore in the class to execute the whole thing. It was great and I loved being there! We made dinner fun by picking up a heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's.
Some pics from the day:
Presents and Hostess Donuts await the kids in the morning.
I bought this fun game from Oriental Trading for Alyssa's class party. It was a big hit, and it got double duty when I walked it across the hall for August's class party that afternoon! When we brought it home after school, the Schaal kids had some fun with it in the living room.
Pin the Heart on the Bee. Also a fun game in class and at home.
I can't remember what Alyssa was doing here...
On Friday the 17th, August's class held a "Fairytale Ball" that the parents were invited to attend. It was sweet! The kids broke up into three groups and performed a well known fairytale for the audience. August was a forest creature in his play, "Little Red Riding Hood".
August and his teacher, Miss Glenn. She was dressed like Cinderella. She could easily pass for a Disney Princess, she is so beautiful!
Alyssa wore her Princess Dress to the Ball;-)
Some refreshments! Reagan wore her Cinderella dress.
I was so glad the girls were able to go with Mike to the Community Dance this year...even though Alyssa almost didn't make it (she was sick on the couch all day!!). The dance was lastnight, and Reagan and I took the morning and headed out to find dresses for she and Alyssa. I originally was thinking the dresses would be Valentine colors (red, pink, or purple), but ended up walking out of the store with dresses completely different, but so cute! Hey, how could I refuse the clearance rack??! We also bought cute dress shoes and tights.
A couple hours before I gave Alyssa tylenol and decongestant so she could make it through the night....she did great, and was sure to pack a purse full of tissues to control her stuffy, runny nose.
Reagan, on the other hand, was ready to roll! She was so excited to get dressed up and go to dinner, and according to Mike, spent the night dancing in front of the speaker at the auditorium. That's our Reagan! She loves to dance:-)
This was after our first round of snow...not too much, but plenty to play in. The power was still on, so the only change to our routine was that the kids had "snow days" from school.
Reagan had been waiting for the first snowfall, as she really didn't remember what snow was like. She liked it! She thought it sounded squeaky under her boots when she walked across it.
Snow Angels! When characters make snow angels on the pages of books, or in movies, it always seems so clean and easy...I think the kids realized that snow angels make you wet and a bit cold! Still cool though:-)
Snow angels! She had been practicing making snow angels on our carpet after watching a girl in a movie was saw. Her first snow angel!
They really do look like angels!
Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall: no matter which season we are in, this is still one heck of a backyard!
Here I am, standing in the forest taking a picture of Reagan with our house in the background.
Reagan really wanted a snowman, so Mike rolled this one out after the first wave of snow. You can see there isn't all that much yet...It was funny that Reagan actually wanted nothing to do with this big snowman. Toward the end of the week, when our power was out, I happened to be near the front of the house just as three teenagers were walking by, and the boy in the group charged at our snowman and tackled it...knocking him over and destroying him. I had to hold it in me to not open that door and shout at him! Unleashing the "Momma Bear" in me at that moment would have been bad, especially considering how moody I had become once our power was out! Teenagers can be very unthoughtful. Alyssa cried, as she felt sad for Daddy and his snowman.
Snow!!
Our neighborhood after snow round 1. I took this photo from our upstairs window.
Alyssa is such a daredevil..she loves sledding fast!
Sledding behind the school.
August loves sledding, too! The kids got going fast down some of these hills.
August is left. Check out the way the sky and mountain look in the background!
Love the background here! Check out the mountain!!
The next big storm was heading in. The one that would knock out our power!
Lots of snow...no power at this point.
No power, camping out in the living room.
Our little buddy "safe for indoor use" heater that Britney burnt her fur on!
We finally got into the swing of having the power out, and pulled out this stove we had bought precisely for emergency situations like this...it was nice to have coffee, hot chocolate and cream of wheat for breakfast on this day. The power was out for 57 hours...plenty long enough for us! We have never gone camping, but this felt a bit like camping. August was nervous with the power out, so helping Dad make breakfast gave him something to do and made him feel happier.
I don't think we have ever appreciated hot chocolate, coffee and cream of wheat so much! I have to admit, despite my volatile mood, this was kind of fun:-)
Hot Chocolate!
Reagan with Holly. I made this hat for Alyssa's friend, Emma, for her new doll for her birthday. I placed the hat on Holly to get a photo before sending it off, and Reagan wanted in it!
This past week was observation week and free dress day at ballet. Reagan chose her Tangled dress and a sweatshirt that she refused to take off once we got to ballet, so she is the little girl all bundled up out on the floor. It was nice to have power resumed and take on more of a normal schedule.
Reagan practicing her passe'? step, or something like that!
Waving "hi" to Daddy and Mommy at the end of class.
Holly got ready for ballet, too. She came with us and sat on the bench and watched Reagan during class.
Reagan helping Holly practice ballet.
My girls!
I like this photo..I feel like it really shows how much we all look alike!
