perfect

It was sooo foggy last night and then it snowed a bit this morning. The result was a winter wonderland! Every single branch and twig was covered in glittery crystals. I had to pull over on the way to coffee with my friends to take a picture. I know I didn't capture the snow on the trees very well(just had my phone) but I thought this still looked cool.

Ice Skating Classic 2012

Well, it was that time of year again... when I have to bundle up and go stand in the cold and snow all afternoon trying not to get killed by 3 million little kids flying around on ice skates. Luckily, the weather wasn't half bad this year again and I managed to live through the experience although I was quite exhausted at the end(must have been all the walking through snow).

Here are the highlights:

first some cute pics of Mary Beth and her BFF Emma...

It took my forever to find Jeffrey in this mass hysteria which is why he isn't in any of the earlier pictures. John was at a workshop and had to miss this for the first time so I was on my own!

Mary Beth decided to race- and without a chair! It was her first year in the Classic so I was so proud of her! She didn't fall once and did really good.

5th place!

(I think she was upset she didn't finish last though because she wanted the pink ribbon!)

Jeffrey had a master plan... to race with a chair for a better chance at the blue ribbon.

And it worked! But there's a story there... he raced against one other kid- a fourth grader who was in the lead the entire time. But then, right at the end, the other kid suddenly fell somehow and Jeffrey skated by and crossed the finish line first. It didn't make any difference to him how it happened- he was so happy that it ended in a blue ribbon for him!

Mickey never wants to race... he isn't big into entering into a competition that he isn't sure he will win. And there is never anything I can say to change his mind. He had fun skating around and drinking cocoa though!

getting ready to leave... Mary Beth flopped down in the snow and declared it was "so hot!"

What a day!

Kindergarten Valentine sledding party

Some of the parents in Mary Beth's class organized a sledding party for the kids last night. It was FA-REEZING but they all had a fantastic time. Why don't kids ever notice that it's 40 below zero outside while they are playing??? I took pictures for what seemed like 3 hours but it was probably 20 minutes- which is very uncharacteristic of me. (not the taking pictures part obviously, the standing outside in winter for more than 2 seconds part) As soon as I lost all feeling in my legs and feet I ran for the warming house and didn't leave it for the rest of the evening. We all had supper there and Valentine treats- fun fun fun!

However, on the way to the van at the end of the night, Mickey cried and firmly stated(shouted) over and over: I AM NEVER GOING OUTSIDE AGAIN WHY DO WE LIVE HERE IT IS TOO COLD HERE IN THE WINTER I HATE WINTER I HATE JACK FROST WHY DOES HE ALWAYS HAVE TO BITE MY CHEEKS I'M SOOO COLD AAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHH!

I love it when he perfectly verbalizes exactly what I'm thinking...

i want to wash my face and hair in snow...

the kids needed to burn off some energy today so they went out for hours to play in the one thing we have a TON of here in Fargo: SNOW! they built tunnels and forts and every time I turned around they were shoving snow in their mouths(despite my years of explaining how there is animal excrement and god-knows-what-else in there!) then they'd look at me like "what??" ugh. what is with kids and eating snow- gross.

of course they got hot cocoa and I made sure to take a picture of the first 500 piece puzzle we all completed yesterday{before I boxed it back up}. it killed us to take it apart after all that work!

Snowball

by Shel Silverstein

I made myself a snow ball as perfect as could be.

I thought I'd keep it as a pet and let it sleep with me.

I made it some pajamas and a pillow for it's head.

Then, last night it ran away.

But first -- it wet the bed.