New Year, New Calendars!

I love New Year’s not only because it’s a new year but because I get to start brand new calendars on the walls of my house and my classroom as well as a new planner!  Last year I was led to the Go Mom! Planner by my friend Malena and loved it.  I’ve been hunting for a new one at the Target here in Colorado but have been unsuccessful.  Since the I70 was still closed this morning and well into the afternoon (it reopened at about 3:30pm) we headed to the Silverthorne Outlet stores again, lunch at Ruby Tuesday’s and then we headed to Bed, Bath and Beyond and Borders.  Borders had all of their calendars 50% off and I found a Family Organizer by Amy Knapp that was given the Parenting Mom-Tested seal of approval of “The Best Selling Family Organizer!”  (ISBN 193275117-3)  It actually runs July 2007 through December 2008 so I took out a bunch of pages.  It doesn’t have everything that the Go Mom! Planner has in it but it I didn’t need all of what that planner had either!  Time will tell, I guess, and if I want to go back to the Go Mom! Planner, there’s always 2009!

Happy New Year!

White Out!

Looks like we’ll be staying another day!  The snow has been blowing something awful.  Ken and I headed out this afternoon to go to the Silverthorne Outlet Centers and ended up stationary for an hour and fifteen minutes with a wreck in front of us.  By the time we got to the Centers, the wind was blowing snow so hard we could barely see!  We only went to the Old Navy Outlet, Shirt Off My Back, and Kitchen Connection before going back to the townhouse.  I wanted to go to Coach and Clinique but we couldn’t see the drive!

On the way back to the townhouse we had our flashers on and were crawling at about 10 mph in attempt to see the road where visibility was frequently nil.  We made it back safe and sound, but now the I-70 is closed.  The snow is supposed to continue through the night  so we’ll have to wait and see what the morning brings.  As of right now, it looks like we’ll be coming home New Year’s Day instead.

Brrrrrr!

It is definitely cold up here in Colorado.  Yesterday morning it was -16 degrees Fahrenheit and it climbed to 9 degrees by 3pm in the afternoon.  This morning wasn’t quite so chilly but the temperatures are still well below freezing.  Definitely a thermal/snowpants/scarves/gloves/warmers day!

Cross Country Skiing

Golly, what a blast we all had today! I hadn’t been cross country skiing since I was a little girl and living in Canada! Ken and I took lessons in the morning, then we had a yummy lunch of bottomless bowls of soup (beef chili, clam chowder, or broccoli cheese) and bread before Jocelyn and Wesley headed for their lessons. Taylor and Jocelyn had lessons earlier in the year but Jocelyn wanted a refresher course and it was good for Wesley to have someone to go with. Mom and Dad hit the snowshoe trails and Ken, Taylor, and I hit the Easy Does It trail. We had to pry the boys off the hill at the end of the afternoon!

Totally Tubular!

Today we went tubing on the mountain. We had an hour to be hurled down the mountain at an extremely high rate of speed. The best part was that we didn’t have to walk back up with our tube but went on a magic carpet enclosed tunnel. Even though we were all very cold when we were done, we had a blast! We headed down the mountain in the gondola and headed to Starbucks to warm up.  Wesley was so tired, he put his head down on the table and went to sleep!  Here are a few of pics.

Merry Christmas!

And away we go!

We are now in “Colorful Colorado” but since we’ve hit the mountains, it’s really only one color — white!  It’s gorgeous here — and cold.  On the drive in yesterday we saw the temperature drop from 38 degrees down to 9 degrees in a matter of about 15 minutes.  We walked around the lake last night and the kids burned off some energy jumping in the snow drifts.  I’m looking forward to going out today in the daylight!  It’s lightly snowing right now but cloudy but since it’s only 7am-ish in the morning, I’m sure the weather will change throughout the day!

On another note, though, I have to tell you about getting ready for this trip.  I am a stickler about trying to get the house cleaned, vacuumed, etc. before leaving for any trip.  Ken says let’s just get ready and be done with it.  There is something that words cannot describe about coming home to a vacuumed house with clean sheets and clean bathrooms and an empty laundry room that makes coming home so much nicer.  And with my check lists, I can honestly say that I haven’t forgotten anything.  Wesley forgot his blanket but he’ll manage.  In years past Ken’s forgotten his long underwear and I’ve forgotten to pack Wesley’s winter coat — in winter!

Here’s to a fabulous Christmas in the mountains!  Photos to come soon — promise!  Be sure to check Ken’s blog too as he’s the professional photographer in the house!  Love to all!

On Our Way to School

A conversation with Taylor this morning after he spied a UPS truck driving on the turnpike above the road we were traveling on:
Taylor: Mom, do UPS drivers make a lot of money?

Me: I don’t know. Why?

Taylor: I think it would be a lot of fun to be a UPS driver.

Me: Why? All you do is drive around and deliver packages all day.

Taylor: Yeah, but you get to ring the door bell and run away!

It’s an Icy, Wet Day

. . . with no school for the kiddos and I and no work for Ken.  We lost power briefly overnight, although I wouldn’t have known but for Taylor coming in at 1:50 am and telling us.  Luckily, it came back on relatively quickly and since we were all in bed, nothing much became of it. It’s barely above freezing right now (32.5 degrees) and it’s raining.  From what Ken has heard, it’s supposed to get worse later in the day.

In anticipation of the upcoming storm, I had brought home work to do.  It’s only 9:30 am and I’ve already graded my writing assessments and posted sight word results.  Next up is lesson planning and then Christmas present wrapping, if I can hide from the kids!  I’d love to do some scrapbooking and maybe watch another Christmas movie of some sort.  I still haven’t seen It’s a Wonderful Life this year or Elf!  Hopefully everyone else is keeping warm, staying safe, and drinking lots of hot tea (or coffee, or hot chocolate!)

Check Off My To-Do List

Yes, I am a list maker.  It is an incredibly refreshing feeling to be able to check off items that have been completed on my list. Today was no exception.  Perhaps it was because I didn’t have anywhere to go because of the ice but I sure got a lot done today!  I started by doing even more laundry (I did 4 loads yesterday), primarily because I changed the beds, cleaned the bathrooms and even washed the bathmats!  I helped Jocelyn bake some sugar cookies in her new Easy Bake Oven (her last one had been recalled and her new one arrived this week.).  I dusted the master bedroom and the living room and vacuumed places that hadn’t been vacuumed in awhile.  I even managed to grade my Social Studies assessments, all my math papers, and write out my students’ intervention forms with only my writing assessments left.  I could have done those too if I hadn’t left the rubric at school!  I even put out some more Christmas/winter decorations and tidied up my old office.  I even played Dance Dance Revolution and watched A Christmas Story with the fam!  I can now go to bed feeling good about what I got accomplished today.