Island Park

With the four day school week, we don't get many days off anymore.  I took matters into my own hands for a President's Day get away.  We bought the weekend from Jay and Marci Fielding at The Village.  (Talk about a flash back, I remember when we went there as kids with Thorntons and played the Nitendo PowerPad.)  We got there Valentine's night, so Mom brought sugar cookies to decorate.

Ty, Tameka, and Tuff joined us too.  Tuff and Ruby are buddies.  Tuff revealed that he is not going to be the only child for much longer.  We are really excited for their growing family!

Dalanie talked Grandpa into having his toenails painted.  They are really nice for a little girl to paint because they are so big.

(Don't tell, but he wore them like this swimming.)

Plenty of snow to go around.

It was pretty stormy while we were there.  Things just got sloppier when we went to Ashton for the Dog Derby.

Not the best pictures, but Ty and Brent were stylin' with their white legs and snowboots on the way to the pool

We ate well.  Mongolian BBQ was a hit.

Church was only sacrament since snow had slid off the roof earlier, burying the entrances and they didn't want any people to get hurt in the event of future sluffs.  But the place was packed!  Stephens had a party at Kae's cabin, so we met up for Sunday dinner and had our own Olympics.

Parade of the Athletes.

Proud to be representing our families.

2-man bobsled

Porch jumping

Competitors by the Olympic flame

Grandpa, master of ceremonies

Gold Medal podium

There was a fun sledding hill that Hudson dominated.  Grandpa came in 2nd and Ty was 3rd place.

Last smooches of the trip.

Hugs goodbye.

Until next time.

Lovely Decorating

When I saw these gigantic Hello Kitty cookies on clearance from Christmas, I knew they would make a fun Valentines project.  The three older kids and I drew names and decorated the cookie for the person whose name we drew.    There was plenty of frosting, candies, finger-licking, and creativity to go around.

After the masterpieces were complete, we presented them to one another.  I must admit, we tried nibbling on them, but they ended in the trash rather quickly.

Snow Day

The snow had been sporadic this winter.  Whenever the ground was white, the kids begged to go sledding.  Lucky for us, there was snow on a Friday so we didn't delay.  I told them they'd want their faces covered.  They laughed for a minute until the snow was freezing any exposed skin.  We spun cookies all over the field.  Dalanie was especially silly since she couldn't see a thing.

Hudson took them for rides while I checked on Delsie and got the fire ready.

We roasted hot dogs and s'mores.

Pretty fun snow day if you ask me.

Joy School

Ruby's has a group of all girls for her Joy School.  It has been fun as usual.  Somehow I managed to teach a lot of the weeks I had done in previous years.  The magic show was a favorite.  They never tire of the water in a hat trick.

They are a fun bunch of girls.  It will be fun for them to all grow up together.

Andrea Fielding, Sadie Telford, Ruby, Ericka Fielding, Kaylee Jolley, and Emma Newman

Frozen

I sent the kids outside and before long, I heard the garage door slam shut.  They were only back for tools.  I followed them to find them cutting chunks out of the ice like in the movie Frozen.  

Once they were finished cutting, they took it easy out in the cold.  There's just something therapeutic about getting cold and coming in to hot chocolate.