February is....

• me devoting ridiculous amounts of time to two new novels, The Persian Pickle Club and The Magic of Ordinary Days. Oh but they made me happy to read them! I love books that make you think, and these surely delivered.
• Samuel helping me make bread. He LOVES to run his hands through the warm, freshly ground flour. Apparently he even likes the taste of flour straight. I prefer mine baked in bread, rolls, cookies, and anything else with a million carbs and calories.

 

• Cassidy and Garrett making up a new game called SPEED CLEANERS in which they clean the basement super fast without being asked to surprise mom. It is perhaps the BEST GAME EVER INVENTED. 
• making homemade valentines with Ben and Cassidy. What was I thinking? The first few hours was fun anyway. After that.....

 

• wanting Spring to come so badly it hurts. We are all tired of coats and long sleeves and boots and brown grass and frigid wind and no flowers/leaves/plants and no garden and ESPECIALLY of having to be inside all the time. What does that stupid groundhog know, anyway?
• something to watch on TV everynight! We are all seriously addicted to the Olympics. Now that they are over and I've finished my books, the laundry might actually get some attention.
•  the Blue and Gold Banquet, and Ben receiving his Arrow of Light. Can I just give a huge THANK YOU to each and every Cub Scout leader that Ben has ever had? You are all wonderful. And can I just say that the Blue and Gold Banquet is my favorite Pack Meeting of the year? I love not having to make dinner! Good thing we have two more boys coming up....

 

• Ben having the time of his life playing basketball, and me struggling to get the camera settings right to take decent pictures of his stellar moves. Maybe if I'd stop reading novels and watching Olympics I could study my photography books and do a better job. In any event, #20 has done a phenomenal job this season on the court. Move over, D-Will. B-King is in the house!

 

•  almost over and March is almost here, and none too soon. March is close to April, which is close to May, which is close to OUTSIDE WEATHER. I can't wait!

Our own Olympic experience

We rounded up the troops and headed to KEARNS (it's about as exciting as Delta) to try ice skating at the Olympic Oval. The kids were excited to try their hand (foot) at this Olympic sport. I'm pretty sure we'll all be making the Olympic Team in 4 years.

In case you didn't know what ice skates look like, I took a picture. At the skate rental place you have your choice of figure skates or hockey skates. I asked the 13-year old who was behind the desk what the difference between figure skates and hockey skates was. He said that figure skates were easier. So naturally we chose those....

Cass was not too excited about the limited choice of colors they came in. She doesn't really do black and gray.

The Olympic Oval is truly amazing. It was neat to be there and think that in 2002 the Olympic athletes competed there. Supposedly it still holds the record for the fastest ice in history.  Too bad it took us 8 years to actually visit it. Unlike the ice, we're a little slow.

Garrett was amazing, especially for his first time. He started out clinging to me but after just a few minutes wanted to do it all by himself. He fell, slid, crashed, skidded and caused minor injuries to other skaters but HE GOT UP EACH AND EVERY TIME and wanted to keep going. He wins the NEVER GIVE UP award.

 Cassidy picked it up pretty quickly as well. The first few times around the ice there was me, pro-skater that I am, flanked by these two, slipping and sliding and skating backwards and sideways around the rink. Fun times for all. But it didn't take long for everyone to get up close and personal with the ice and start having fun. Ben, of course, was a natural, leaving the rest of us amateurs in the dust. Maybe I should have gotten him hockey skates...

 

I took this shot just after Rich landed his triple lutz. I hate it when I don't have the camera ready in time!

 Can you feel the love? Actually, we skated a lot of the time just like this! I'm not sure if she held me up or I held her up... 

 

Even Sam had fun.

I will have huge arsenals of black-mail photos when a certain someone starts dating.....

This was one of those (me yelling) "GET OVER THERE AND STAND UNDERNEATH THE OLYMPIC SIGN AND SMILE SO I CAN TAKE A PICTURE" moments. We have lots of those.

P.S. If you have never skated at the Olympic Oval, I highly recommend it as a family activity. Their prices are very reasonable and they are open year round.  Although we didn't know it at the time, you can actually take strollers and push them on the ice! We can't wait to go back.

Camera Dump

It's been two weeks since I last posted. January and February are kind of claustrophobic and I for one, am entirely done with winter.To spice up the winter blahs, here's what I took off my camera recently:

 

Sam has found lots of new toys in our house during the winter doldrums, markers and crayons being his favorites. They are quite versatile, as you can eat them OR use them to autograph furniture and carpet.

I was trying to come up with something clever to say for these two pictures, but I got nothing. I can't even get the text centered right.

It's nice to have a concrete excuse as to why my house is never clean. I can loan him out if any of you need an excuse.













And don't forget to check out my photography site. There's been a new bundle of joy in the family....