Dueling

     Since it had been so cold we took a stab at freezing bubbles. Getting the bubbles to stay put long enough to freeze and keep the kids from popping them was difficult, but we did get to see a few.

Devon was excited to put his hand inside the bubble.

Lizzy had a duel and of course, she dominated.

New Year, New Address

    We had been looking for a house to call our own for a while. It was reminiscent of our hunt in Vancouver. That took us over a year to find our home. We hit the year mark in October, and while we had been torturing our poor long-suffering realtor, it was difficult finding the right house. Our search took us all over and in all types of houses. Nothing felt right. We threw this one in on our last house-hunting tour as a "eh, might as well." We were really excited about a different house. When we walked in I got excited, it really ticked all the boxes. Plenty of room, more bathrooms than we have ever had, and the main bedroom, kitchen, and laundry on the main floor, I mean come on!

    We held out till we had seen the one we were originally excited for, but after seeing it we knew for sure the other house was right for us. We put in an offer that night and then heard they had another offer that they were considering. Of course, there was back and forth, and in the end, we won out. Getting the house was amazing, but it means we are moving in the most frigid of months. We have been in single digits to negative 7. I am not a fan. We had snow and ice and after the winter break, the kids had an additional week of online schooling due to the conditions. Then they had an additional day off on Tuesday after Martin Luther King Day. We got up to a whopping 32* on Wednesday so they got to go the school. It's been crazy.

Heading to the bus stop.

    We're moving in slowly, we had to get the carpets cleaned, the previous owners had pets and the dander was setting off my kid's allergies just being in the house. We had a company come in yesterday since it was finally warm enough to use the equipment. He did an amazing job! 

Before:

After:

    It's hard to tell because I didn't get a great pic of the right side, but there was a huge brown stain over there that he got right out, among others. Then that night our rental had frozen pipes that were stressing out the sump pump. Luckily it wasn't really bad, but we did bail out a lot of water. Then to add insult to injury, our shower started and would not shut off! Our poor landlord, it was a lot all at once. It's all fixed now, but we think some squirrels have found their way into the attic. We keep hearing noises and I saw a squirrel with some nesting material go up our roof this morning. I'm sure it's nice and warm up there. It's always something. 

Starting with a Bang!

         Just as our winter break was ending, we got snowed in! The school used all but one of their AMI days, or home school online days. It made for a long break.

 

We did get a pretty visitor. 

        The library is having a reading challenge and we went to get the kids their reward: color changing cups! It was so cold outside that they turned red without anything in them.

We saw these fun tracks in the snow.

        Dia de los Reyes! Of course being cooped up for an extra week comes with consequences, mostly being the kids have a hard time letting out their restlessness in effective ways. Case in point: Emily was annoyed with Henry's attention and she shoved him into the bookcase causing his head to split open. Joy. Luckily it wasn't too deep, and the snowdays gave him plenty of time to heal before returning to school. 

        I tried a new recipe for our Kings Cake. This is a french recipe, and got some rave reviews from most of the family. Lizzy once again found the baby. This time I used a small metal thing to represent the baby.  

Snow Day!

Our window got some pretty snow art.

Teddy's face got chapped in the brief time he was out in the cold.

We dared the snowfall and took the kids to Home Depot.

        Lizzy got a concussion during practice so she was out for a week. She's doing great, but she did black out and see stars for a bit. She was more disturbed that she couldn't practice. She didn't miss to much though since we got 14 in of snow cancelling all the wrestling events.

Our first art project!

New Years!

     The Blacks came over to play games and spend the day on New Year's eve. Ron also was able to join us for a bit. It was fun. Jason was attacked nearly upon entering the house!

He was prepared though and emerged victorious!

Later we did our crackers to ring in the new year.

        I am glad the year has come to an end. It was long and so much has happened. I am ready for a new one full of possibilities and new adventures. May 2025 bring you so much happiness!

Post Holiday Events

 The primary made these cute ornaments for the kids.

I got to attend my FoE Jane Austen LARP

Our talented leader made this picture of our event.

While I was thus engaged, (finding out my best friend was a smuggler! Among other exciting events) the rest of my family went to see the famed lights.

Lizzy and Henry put together some pokemon lego.