Being nervous and doing it anyway is the hardest part of the battle.
Once you decide to do it, do it with all your heart.
Enjoy the company, take turns doing new things, and of course racing.
Be willing to race, to jump, to turn, and inevitably, to fall.
And when you fall, take some time before you get up to explore the ice– the look, the feel, the texture, and imagine what is down below, remembering what it was like in summer. And when you get tired, take a break, but don’t take your skates off because you are bound to want to skate some more.
Snow on ice after ice skating is pretty. I took a ton of photos of it because it reminded me of cubism.
The creepy hole in the ice for pouring water over said ice to make it smooth is not pretty, and is rather nerve wracking. It actually has a nice layer of ice over top and and huge bump of ice all around– no one is going through (and there is a rope nearby) but still, rather scary. And that is my dad cleaning the ice so it would be nice the next day– keeping the ice nice when it is snowing is lots of work.
James stole my phone and took a photo of me ice skating. So that is me.
And that is Rachel. She fell, and laughed.
Issac spent hours trying to perfect a sled riding track (with my help.) Lots of physics involved (slope, weight, gravity, angle, etc.) as well as lots of physical labor (I had a tiny metal kids shovel that I was using to perfect the ramp so he would go all the way down the hill instead of off to the side.)
More snowy photos (and ice skating photos to come.)
The theme of January this year is snow.
Lots of lovely, fluffy, soft snow.
Snow globe sort of snow.
And lots of sled riding in snow (ice skating soon I think.)
And video games.
When the kids are not outside playing in the snow or shoveling the driveway (a new favorite service for Rachel) they are spending lots of time play strategic or exercise related video games. Lots of Star Craft, Garry’s Mod, and Tales Runner going on here (for after spending time outside) and lots of Wii Resort and Wii Fit Plus combined with all sorts of pretend play and contests for when it is just too cold to play outside. For example, yesterday the kids set up a plane in the living room to make the flying game in Wii Resort more fun and so everyone could join in.
The kids did spend some time watching movies but other than Issac’s current repeat obsession with The Goonies and the kids’ repeat watching of The Gamers: Dorkness Rising there is not so much of that right now. In the meantime we are focused on spending 5 min a day upstairs and 5 downstairs cleaning 1 room as quickly as possible. A good habit to develop and each kid has a chance at a reward for doing their very best. We are trying to develop an attitude of service in a household where chaos is more comfortable than order and schedules and lists DO NOT WORK. This suits us well and keeps the house in relative order. We have also had much less complaining than with our previous attempts at this. (If they complain then they get 1/2 hour instead. And I have also found that they are willing to go the extra mile and really work hard in this time, stretching it well beyond the necessary 5 minutes to get the job done.
In the meantime, the painting is actually coming along now that I have the proper colors. It is coming out different than expected, more solid and less surreal but I am happy with my first attempt at acrylics since high school so far.
My dear sweet friend Michal asked today for our most unusual thankful things which is awesome because I have been feeling rebellious and totally avoiding the traditional “I am thankful for friends and family and blah blah blah….” This is totally typical of me. I hate going along with the crowd and when people start repeating the same thing then I want to run the opposite direction. I hate boring and everyone saying the same thing IS boring and yet I AM grateful for many things. And so, without further ado, my most unusual thankful list which really isn’t that unusual after all:Read More
September has been crazy busy with a trip to Alexandria and Ocean City, Penn’s Colony, the Art’s Festival, and lots of trips to the pond. At the beginning of the month we headed down to visit our friends in Alexandria, VA and got to go with them for a day trip to the ocean.This was our first big trip in our new minivan and was a happy and sad time. It was fun spending time with friends but due to the loss of both my friend’s father and my mom within a few weeks of each other it was bittersweet.
The trip also meshed several ideas the kids have shown interest in–my friend has both a guitar and a violin and gave the kids an opportunity to test both out. So now we know that Essie definitely wants to play guitar and that RAchel would prefer piano lessons to violin as she once thought.
We also spent tons of time at the pond with my brother (who’s school is on strike).
The kids spent the first half of the month swimming and learning to row and fish and the second half learning to build fires and lean-to’s while James and I worked on his forge.
And did I mention the invention building kick?
And day time trips to Chuck E. Cheese?
The apparently interesting thing that is opening a new bank account?
And the awesomeness that was Penn’s Colony.
Where we got to see real blacksmiths at work.
And got to enjoy lots of Celtic music.
And in between it all was lots of game playing, reading, audio books, movies, playing, building, dreaming, creating, thinking, considering, discussing, programming…
As you already know if you have been reading at all, my mother passed away on July 31 so that has colored our days a lot recently (especially as conflict arose with certain family members due to some emotional issues.) The amazing thing is watching how the kids have dealt with all of this. We were blessed to find that they were not at all about the stuff, are mourning naturally, and are, in general dealing with things in a wonderfully healthy manner.
Essie playing DS at the funeral home with cousins looking on.
We have been spending lots of time with family and friends and now that we have a minivan are doing a lot more going and doing. The kids are thrilled that this includes the library, some small trips to local national parks, and trips to IKEA. It is exciting to see how their interests have developed since we last were at the library and their excitement about going to the parks and IKEA.
The kids have been on a fossil kick (lots of limestone around here), set up a stage in the basement and are planning a talent show of sorts for this Saturday at noon for whoever shows up, have been reading a ton, still programming on Scratch, playing the new Bookworm adventures and Boom Blox, hanging out at the pond with Pappap and Uncle James, and Essie is tweeting regularly.
James and Issac down at the pond.
Because I picked up a pile of “educational” workbooks, games, and books at the Target $1 bin today they have been working on those and quizzing each other on Wonders of the World.
I now have my mother’s sewing machine so the girls are clamouring to be allowed to sew again. I will have to teach them how to use this machine first but I suspect much sewing will occur in the next few months.
Yesterday we discovered a cicada that had just left its nymph form. It was awesome and the kids immediately had to research so they could remember which type of cicada and what each stage was called.
I updated to the new version of Ubuntu yesterday. It was the simplest upgrade I have ever done–took me less than an hour start to finish and most of that was copying my Home folder over from the backup drive. The new version is AWESOME. Just saying.
I finished a random painting that has been floating around in my head for a while. This may be the beginning of a flower series since I am in the middle of one of a butterfly bush now.
Queen Anne's Lace
Issac finally lost the tooth that has spent the last month hanging by a strand. That same tooth got broken when Essie kicked him while swimming, bled everywhere and STILL didn’t come out. The next day Rach bumped him in the mouth with a swivel chair and out it came–no blood, nothing.
The other day, during our weekly trip to Freeport, my grandmother wanted me to get shots for a painting she wants done. They are tearing down the convent and priest’s house wher eshe attends church and she wants a painting of each for the priest. She had some photos but hey wren’t what I needed for a painting. So we walked down there first and then went out to eat. Freeport is full of lots of beautiful old buildings and since I had my camera I had to take some photos.
Issac spent most of the afternoon testing out his little boat but he stayed close to shore as he was afraid of loosing it. He loved seeing how the slight breeze affected where the boat went. Pappap looked on (he helped Issac cut out the little wooden boat though Issac did the sail himself.)
The girls finished their boats, tied them to string so they could keep hold of them, and went out on the paddle boat (it was funny to me since my cousin and I did the same thing with the paddle boat, except our strings had Barbie dolls on the ends.)
