Snowed In, Again

Same story different week. We got socked by another blizzard/winter storm starting Sunday night and lasting throughout Monday. For the second consecutive week schools were closed on both Monday and Tuesday. The poor school kids around here won't have any summer vacation at all. Already their school year has been extended by a week. I think they're up to about June 12 now. At least.

I'm really not sure how much snow we received. I think they said at least a foot of new snow in Rapid City. We may have gotten more out where we live. The Northern Black Hills (about 45 minutes or so from us) got about 2 feet of new snow! Obviously, we still had some snow left over from last week's blizzard, as well.

Guess what? We may have a lot more of this come Friday night, too.

Snow changes everything. It sure it beautiful, especially on afternoons like today when the skies are a rich blue and the sun is shining. But I think I'm about ready for a change in seasons now.

And I sure could use a break to do my own homework! It's kind of hard with two preschoolers and a dog under foot. But the children don't need nearly as much hovering as they did a year ago. I just have to be diligent in making sure they don't watch too much TV. I try to set the limit to two hours total a day. On days like today they'll meet that. Thankfully, on many other days they don't watch much at all.

This morning the children and I played Go Fish (video below) for a while in an effort to do something different. Plus, I think cards games are great memory and educational tools. Then we later went outside for some snow play.

BTW, this hill that Anna appears to the running down in the first big photo? There's flat land under that huge snow mound.

There's supposed to be a little gravel road somewhere under all that snow.


Our "driveway" (really the gravel road that connects our driveway to the main road).


Here we are fishing.

Little Cheerleaders

This weekend Michael competed in a racquetball tournament. He played singles and doubles. In one category he won first and in the other he won second. Yea, Michael! We let Anna and Alexander go two of the days to cheer on their father. They love this. Here they are.

BTW, another blizzard will be here by tomorrow morning! They're so commonplace now they don't even warrant their own headline on this blog!

Blizzard Pics

Some of these photos are tiny. Click (or double click, depending on your computer!) on any picture to see it bigger.

March Blizzard 09

So we're in another blizzard right now. I almost wrote Spring Blizzard for the title, but then I thought better of it since we're just as likely than not to have one more blizzard before summer sets in. Funny thing, this one. Yesterday, we cracked a record high of 77 degrees! Today as part of our blizzard we've been in the 30s and 20s. But it's not so much the cold this time as the wind. RC recorded one wind gust at a hurricane strength of 74 mph. I don't know how much snow we've gotten. It's so difficult to tell with this wind. I can report that we sure have received quite an interesting looking landscape in our front yard, anyway, due to the continuing snow and the blowing snow. And just within the past few hours. I'll be interested to see what it all looks like when I wake up in the morning. It's a long storm. The blizzard warning has been on all day and will continue to be in effect until 6 p.m. Tuesday. Thankfully, we've received no power outages as of yet.

Interstate 90 is closed for a few hundred miles. The whole city was closed today (and will be again tomorrow), including the children's school and my own night art class. I was supposed to "teach" an art lesson to my classmates as if they were elementary students. I have a really cool lesson, too. As a relief from cabin fever, I let Anna and Alexander be my guinea pigs today, even though they're much younger than the intended student for this particular lesson. The art project ties in the Lakota (Sioux) Indian studies, which is this whole area's history. One of my classes this semester, in fact, is on Native American Indian studies, and I can't believe how much I have learned and have enjoyed my studies. The Sioux literally lived off the Bison, not just for food but for tipi coverings, bags, clothing, utensils, etc. They respected the animal and let no part of a kill go to waste. So, in a nutshell my art project is to take a brown paper bag and crumple, crumple, crumple it to the point that it looks like a cured buffalo hide and have students paint Indian symbols, like hieroglyphics. I have a couple of sheets of symbols for them to pick from. I thought it was fun to do it myself.

Anyway, I'll try to post blizzard pictures tomorrow.

First Dentist Visit

A few weeks ago we finally took the children to their first dentist visits. And boy do I wish we'd taken Anna before now, as I'm embarrassed to say she has two cavities! We've been brushing and rinsing with fluoride. Honest! In our defense, the dentist says her molars have deep adult-like fissures, which apparently are prime bacteria-growing areas. They gave us a brochure which showed a very magnified photo of how even one toothbrush bristle cannot get inside a fissure to clean out the yuck. They recommended a white sealant to fill-in the crack-like fissures to prevent future cavities. Once we get these cavities taken care of we'll probably do the sealant. I asked if they would need to give her a shot and they said probably not because there are two other options they can use. This is good because I later had to go see this dentist, who gave me a shot which went right up to my eyeball causing blurred vision for a few minutes and turned my sinuses into a virtual waterfall for more than a day. My sinuses are only just now getting back to normal. But I digress.

Otherwise, the dentist said the formations of their teeth and the roofs of their mouths was good, which led me to believe he wasn't going to try to push braces — at least not yet. Alexander had no cavities, thankfully. As soon as he laid down on the dental chair he opened his mouth, even though the hygienist wasn't yet upon him. This might sound a bit eager, but actually he was a bit reluctant, as you might detect from the photos. When the dental hygienist initially tried to clean his teeth, he calmly told her no, he wanted her to do something else (what, I don't know). But after she showed him how the little circular cleaning attachment was so soft against his fingers I guess he finally decided it would be OK for her to try it on his teeth. Of course, both children were psyched about getting to fill up a goodie bag with new toothbrushes, tiny packets of toothpaste, dino flossing sticks and a couple of prizes from the treasure chest. Oh, and they also received certificates for being such good patients! All in all it was a good first dentist visit.

But I definitely will not take Alexander with me to have Anna's cavities fixed.

New Rooms

After two and a half years we finally purchased proper bedroom furniture for Anna's room (and we're making some progress with Alexander's). Until last weekend she'd been sleeping in her toddler bed, which was big enough but just barely. So, after some research, we decided on a pretty antique-looking white iron bed. Our bedrooms are so small that we had to go with a twin bed. A larger bed just would not have done. In fact, we didn't even have room for a bedside table. And, of course, we also had to purchase her a new quilt, which also helps to add to the new room's look. We also purchased a dresser/small chest and will get a pretty antique mirror to hang on the wall above it. We rearranged her table and reorganized her closet, which was a mess. I'm afraid she's kind of like me in the organization and clean department. We hate to throw away things, so we make little piles.

As for Alexander, can you believe he's still been sleeping in his converted baby bed?! So, for now we've taken Anna's toddler bed and painted it blue and put it in his room. We'll get him a chest and/or other piece of furniture, since he has absolutely nothing else in the room except toys.

Here are some photos of Anna's new room (and maybe I'll throw in a before photo) and of the children helping to put the room together.