Snow fun
Ellie and her friends were playing outside in the snow one day after school with such happiness. I had been watching them from inside in the kitchen, and they seemed to be trying to get something down from up by the roof, so I went to see if I could help. "Nope -- that's the game! We're just trying to see if we can get it with a snowball!" It was just fun to watch these girls playing, building an icicle village, climbing the tree (maybe not the best with snow + boots...) I love these happy girls!
Preschool time
A friend and I have a little preschool-time/play day swap worked out for a couple days each week now, and it is such fun. These two kiddos get along great -- Isaac is happy to play family when she wants to, and she is a great sport at playing Isaac's latest favorite Star Wars ("Okay, so I am Luke Skywalker, and you are Princess Leia and hmmm.... you don't like Darth Vader, right mama?") Having a friend over for preschool time also makes it fun and gives me a little more motivation to pull out or prep some more involved or unique activities that I might not otherwise.
Basketball
Given the choice between city rec basketball or doing our own Brough basketball, the kids all chose Brough basketball this year, and Jordan has been their super coach. He has great drills for them and tracks their progress. We set dates and times and scheduled it all on the calendar to make sure it would really happen. So far, the kids have asked for extra days to go play or practice, so I think it has been a success!
Anne Frank
Landon has enjoyed getting ready for an Anne Frank play his English class has been prepping over the last couple months, and they've been performing their scenes over the last week or so. Today he got to take a frosted cake "Peace in 1944" as a prop and class dessert. (Also, Landon baked the cake but I helped him by frosting it. As I frosted the letters (the very extent of my cake decorating skills), Landon and Ellie watched with the sweetest comments encouraging me on - Whoa! How do you do that?? Another mom passed along a kind comment from the teacher about a group Landon was performing with "You have restored my faith in 8th graders!" :)
Classroom time
Just before the break, I got to help out with a couple of the kids' class parties and I realized I was missing helping in their classes this year. Today I started helping out in Porter's class, and it was so fun! First grade is the best, and I love these kiddos already!
Beautiful days
We've had a snowy January, but a lovely one. Lots of warm days in between stormy days, and enough new snow to keep everything looking white and feeling fresh and lovely. And not too crazy cold - hooray! We had a super hard January several years ago (when we escaped to Idaho with their -6 degree high, but clear air!) and maybe because of that extra grey and cold year, since then I feel like each year I'm surprised at all the beautiful January days we really do get!
