Just received the call from our school district...no school tomorrow. I heard a whoop and holler from the basement...guess the girls know! The girls helped me make brownies the last time we had snow days. Then to burn off the calories from the brownies they showed me how to play on the Wii. No photos of it, but Mom showed them she knows a few dance steps!
And yes, they licked the bowls!
Last year ZoraLin wanted to do the mini cheer camp put on by our school district's high school cheerleaders. This year was no different and she convinced all her sisters to do it too. Well, except that RaeAnne decided that she was too "old" to do it. Even though they only practiced two nights for an hour each night, the girls did a great job during the half-time of the boys varsity game Friday night. 
However, I did discover that there are hazards to going to a basketball game infrequently. First be very careful when you have a husband taking blood thinners. Don't let them try to climb to the highest point of the bleachers. RaeAnne and I were still standing by the entrance to the gym looking for the ideal spot to sit during the performance. I spotted the place I thought looked like would work, then turned to tell my dear hubby and he was already gone. I moved on around the corner to see where he went and found that he had taken a tumble on the bleachers! Seems he went to step up and lost his balance and down he went. I won't bless this blog with photos of his incredible bruise, but will just tell you that it is impressive!
And when you have four girls doing the cheers...it is always hard to be in the right place to catch the best photo ops! So make friends with the other Mom's so you can share photos!!
When I was a kid, there was nothing sweeter to my ears than "School has been called off due to snow!" Well, that has been the case here for the last two days. We knew that could be a possibility when we went to bed Sunday night. Daddy was up early Monday watching the school closings on the news and had just told me the good news when our school district telephone notification system rang our house and Daddy's cell phone at the same time to let us know the news too. That woke the whole house up and the girls were thrilled!
Tessa is from the southern part of China and had never really seen snow before. Her sisters couldn't wait to get her out and show her how to sled! 
Then at supper time last night we received the news that school was called off for another day! Mom and Dad actually kept that little bit of info quiet until just before bedtime. They actually were able to go to sleep! This morning they couldn't wait to go back outside and sled some more. And they were more than a little upset at Mom when she bundled them up extra carefully as the temperature was 11 degrees and the wind chill was a negative something! 
Tessa has decided that she likes sledding...she just doesn't like to do it in the snow!! Here's the girls enjoying hot chocolate and marshmallow's after sledding!
I think it is an old wives tale or something about "Busy is as busy does." Well, we have been busy! December gives Mom a double whammy for birthdays. RaeAnne's is four days before Christmas and Daddy's is four days after! Trying not to roll Birthday's and Christmas into the same gifts is sometimes tough....and expensive! RaeAnne was pretty easy...she has been wanting and upgrade to a DSi for a l-o-n-g time. Daddy was harder. (Why is it the older we get sometimes the things that we want have so many zeros behind them?)
So the day before Daddy's birthday, the Geek Squad arrived bearing gifts and had work to do. We have had a projection TV for over 9 years now. It still works great, but the thing is a monstrosity! So Daddy has a new controller and a 46 inch flat screen LCD TV. Mom is the lucky one as it is mounted on the wall and takes up so much less space! And the girls...well they scored too, because their Bubby "loaned" them his Wii and their Aunt and Uncle gave them a Wii fit....wow! We have a real "play" room in the basement!
Jordis had an appointment in Kansas City at Children's Mercy Hospital today. All the girls went along for the ride and posed with the statue children in front of the hospital.
Happy Birthday RaeAnne! Still not a teen, but with just enough attitude to get herself in trouble sometimes! As is our tradition, it was her choice for dinner tonight. Red Robin was the pick and afterwards we celebrated with cake and her present at home. I think she liked the present! 
We love you all the way to the moon and back!! XOXO!!
On December 15th we headed out to eat an early supper in town so we could then go to Kendalan's school music program. Someone forgot to tell Mother Nature! We literally slid out of the restaurant! It then took us 45 minutes to drive home on the extremely icy roads. Half way home we decided that trying to drive to the school for a program was a risk that we didn't feel like taking! We arrived home, cautiously tip-toed into the house and found a message on the phone from the school that the program was postponed!
So last night they combined the Kindergarten and 1st grade programs into one night of entertainment. Kendalan's program was first. Our normally outgoing girl wasn't too excited about singing in the program, but she did a great job. The music teacher gave them an opportunity to wave and "smile" at family and friends. Our girl gave us the "grinch" look!?!
Next up was Tessa's program. She also had a case of "stage fright" and was hiding behind another classmate when walking in and on to the stage. She did a wonderful job singing and doing all the motions with the songs and she actually would sneak a peek at us from time to time to see if we were watching her!
Tessa is so excited for her hair to grow long that she will not let me trim her bangs right now. She will wet down her hair and and put clips or a headband on at times, but last night I guess she wanted to "hide" under her bangs! 
Personally I think we had the two most beautiful girls there!!
