Snowy Week

We had our snowiest week of the year so far. Thankfully, the girls' school was open all week except one afternoon, so we plugged along, just with more hassles and wet shoes. Is it spring yet? We have booked our winter trip to Florida, so at least we have that to look forward to!

Aside from vacation, our big focus is plans for kindergarten next year. Our public school's levy did not pass in November and they are planning to do a full-day kindergarten every other day (M,W,F one week, Tu,Th the next). We don't care for this plan at all, so it has nudged us further toward considering Catholic school. Our parish has added a full-day kindergarten option (every day!) for 2009/10 and we think that will be great for Katie. I attended an informational meeting Monday evening and Jamie and I will tour the school on Friday. We're somewhat familiar since Katie goes to Sunday school there, but just want to check it out and get some questions answered. Needless to say, this feels like a big decision and it is stressing me out! Katie is excited about it because she will get to wear a uniform (which she pronounced oohn-a-form), like Cousin Bates.

Here are some photos of the girls being silly. Caroline will do anything for a laugh (she loves imitating us- she pretends to chew gum, crosses her arms and sighs, shakes her head, etc.). Perhaps the talk of Catholic school has led them to consider the nunnery?



Caroline still has her moments of extreme interest in the potty and her teachers thought she might be ready for underwear and official potty training (those brave ladies!) We decided to give it a try this weekend, and on Saturday took her to pick out her big girl panties. She was very proud of getting to make the choice. She picked princesses right away (which was a surprise to us, since she seems to like Dora (Nora) and Elmo more. Her second choice was Pooh Bear, but when Jamie loudly announced that she didn't want Pooh on her underwear, we knew we couldn't get those. (Quick sidebar: Unfortunately, I remembered Jamie's comment on church on Sunday when I noticed the man who was giving me communion was wearing a Winnie the Pooh sweatshirt. I must have looked kind of smirky as I said Amen).

In the end she selected Elmo as her second choice. With everything going on, we didn't get to try them out until Sunday afternoon and it didn't go so well, so I think we're going to table this adventure until we return from vacation.

After lunch on Sunday, we finally got to get out in the snow to play. It was a terrific day, because it had warmed up to almost 40 and the snow was good to pack. We made a great little snowman.

And some snow angels

Caroline even gave him a little kiss!

Lily was interested in him, too.

After a while Caroline went in for her nap and Katie and a neighbor girl went to sled on a little hill nearby.

We ended the day with our own Super Bowl party. Jamie was in charge of the main menu (spinach artichoke dip and sausage balls) and he spent a lot of time working on the food. I handled veggies and dessert (s'mores brownies). It was all delicious and the girls liked having the TV on during dinner. For some reason I didn't end up taking any photos of us eating, so I will just tell you that Caroline made a huge mess, with dip smeared everywhere. Katie loved everything and kept eating and eating sausage balls and celery, even after Caroline had finished her dessert and was well into wiping chocolate into her hair.