Friday snow - back deck and out front

Another snow day!!! We woke up this morning and were flabbergasted at the amount of snow that had fallen last night. Well, not really, we knew it was coming. I had gone out delivering cookies and bread to neighbors last night in the blowing, howling, wind and snow storm around 6 pm, and it just got, as they say, worser and worser!!!! Dave, thankfully, had shoveled the back deck last night, taking off about 6-8 inches. Good thing, because, as you can see from the ruler, we had almost another 11 inches on the deck this morning. I could barely get the door open to let the dog out back, and when he squeezed through, we went down most of the stairs and then turned around and came right back up. I had to let him out front, which honestly was no better than in the back woods. You'll see the same car in the second picture that I had photographed yesterday. The car(s) are just buried in the snow. Potter was up to his thighs in the snow out front, Molly almost to her waist. Caleb had a REALLY hard time making his way through the snow at all!!! Our neighbor Todd came out and used the snowblower on our sidewalk, which is super long, and he did the apron of the driveway, where the plows had dumped an unbelievable amount of snow. But, at least they plowed our street!!! Todd had fun with the kids, blasting them with the blower as he went by, several times!!! For those of you who have been to our house, I tried to get pictures that would give you some perspective on exactly how much snow is on the ground. I think we have probably gotten about 18 inches for the most part (with a bit more to come tonight I think), but once you snowblow, shovel and plow, the piles are seriously high, some I am betting are 5 feet or higher along the side of the street in front of our house. Since this is the first really big, really fun snow, we aren't complaining too much!!! The kids are in heaven!!!! Now who is going to shovel the back deck again??????

Beginning of Snowmaggedon

The beginning of the snow came later on Wednesday night, after the kids went to all of their activities (thankfully!!) and we were all tucked into bed. We expected a snow day on Thursday, because all of the forecasts were so foreboding. Accuweather's website called this a 'paralyzing blizzard' and I think originated the term 'snowicane'. In any event, on Thursday morning when we indeed woke up to a snow day from school, Potter measured almost 3 inches on the driveway. Dave stayed home, not wanting to risk driving his Thunderchicken up to Cornell. The kids went outside, as did Crash, and they all had a great time in the 5 or so inches that we had at that point. Notice, the car across the street and where the snow is on the back of it. You'll see the progression in photos to come. Also notice that you can see Crash's legs!!!

Potter at basketball - first game week!!

Potter was back at basketball this week, the first week of a real game. I tried to capture a lot of action shots of him, was hard to get video, but will try again next week!! He did some good rebouding and was good at blocking. Yay Potter!!!

Video issues

I think that Blogger is having some problems with videos being played once they are uploaded to the blog. If you cannot get the videos to play on the main page, click on the post that contains the video and then try it from there. Let me know if this seems to work for you.

Cookin' with my little man

Caleb and I decided to have a morning of baking and cooking. Aside from the bread you see here, we made a batch of hummus....yummy!!!

Potter on the ice

Potter once again shows his skill on the ice, with skates!!!

Dogs on the romp

Was so fun watching kids and dogs going everywhere!!!!

Visiting the Trippes in Yarmouth

Spent President's weekend with the Trippes in Maine and had a great time. Although they were lacking in snow, they were not lacking in ice!!! The kids found a really neat spot in a wooded area that had a big rink of ice that we hung out at a lot!!!

We have so many pics of the kids at Pleasant Beach in the summer in swimsuits, I thought I should get a picture of them together in coats and boots. Alex is so wonderful with our children!! She and Philip even babysat one night so that we could go out for dinner with Jeff and Laura!! <3

Molly loved taking spills on the ice!!!

I caught Birdee in midair, trying to escape from Crash!!!

I *love* seeing my little ones together.

Alex and Chloe.

Crash seriously has a huge crush on Chloe. He would spend so much time laying on her and snuggling up in her cocoon.

POTTER ON THE ICE!!! I LOVE THAT HE LOVES ICE HOCKEY. GO POTTER!!!!

Caleb, such an adorable subject, in the afternoon sun.

SNOW DAY FUN!!!

Snow day for us!!! Everyone is at home today and we've had a bunch of fun outside this morning. It is still coming down pretty good, we just hope it keeps up all day!!

Potter takes the official measurement this morning around 9:30 before we head outside. 3 inches on the driveway, but while we were outside, at least another inch or so came down.

From our front porch, a view of our untainted yard and road.

We Clarks use the playset THE WHOLE YEAR ROUND!!!

Potter peeks through the cool fort I made using a sand bucket and a lot of talent!!!

Molly takes a really fast trip down the slide. Gotta love that ice!!!

Molly and I worked extremely hard and built our snow family, including our snow dog on the left. Caleb looks on in awe!!
Beautiful bush in the backyard.

Crash actually looked when I called his name. He has had quite the morning. He is passed out next to me as I update the blog. I'm sure he'll sleep for a good few hours after the amount of energy he burned off!!

Dave, my love, my snow removal man!!!

The Ice Castle

Yet another reason why I love the preschool our kids attend. Every winter, they ask all the families to start freezing water in 1/2 gallon cardboard cartons, either colored or clear, so that when the temperature is cold enough for them to stay frozen, but warm enough for them (the kids) to be outside, they construct a huge ice castle on the playground! As you can tell, I didn't get a shot of my own child doing the building with the ice blocks, but she entertained herself and a friend on the sled. This is so cool that one year they had USA Today there taking pictures and then were written up in an article!!! Maybe if the one this year gets large enough, we can at least be in the local paper.

Caleb - my workman!!!

For some reason, all I can picture is the guy from the Village People who is the workman with the hard hat. Caleb it TOTALLY into being a workman. He must wear his keys, his screwdriver, his walkie talkie, and his flashlight. Recently new to the getup are now his sunglasses, hard hat, and occasionally his calculator. Thank goodness I no longer have to call someone when I need a repair done around the house!!

Molly at a Candyland party

Molly went to her friend Annie's 6th birthday party on Sunday afternoon. It was a Candyland theme, and yes, we came home with LOTS of candy!! First, the kids did a cupcake craft, which was super clever. Glue a huge pom pom into a cupcake liner, then use little adhesive hearts for the sprinkles and use a small tube of glitter glue for frosting. Next, there was a reading of the story of Candyland (I had no idea there was a story behind the game) and there were stations of different candies that corresponded to the story. Each child got a piece of that candy from each station for goody bag #1. After that, the kids settled down for the main feature which was the movie 'Annie' (oops, I guess I forgot to mention that the party was a the local cinema!!) and the kids chowed down on bags of popcorn while watching Annie and Daddy Warbucks become fast friends. Then it was time for cake and presents!! The cake was amazing, a replica of the Candyland game. There was a little candy on their as you can tell!! Present opening went as it does at all kids parties with the kid who is giving the present 'helping' Annie open it. She didn't seem to mind, was much more interested in reading her cards aloud! As we were leaving, we were given goody bag #2, thankfully filled with pencils, straws, notepads, and only a few candy pieces. What a fun party!!!!

Molly and Annie!

Emma, Molly, and Annie!

Potter getting guarded!

Potter gets a good shot off, even though the kid guarding him is a good head taller!!!

Dribbling practice

Getting some good skills with the dribble!!!!

Potter gets a basket!

Warming up, waiting for all the kids on his team to get there, Potter sinks one!!!

Potter starts basketball

My absence on blogging only represents that we have been doing the same old routine for the past couple of weeks.......until yesterday!! Potter's basketball program started yesterday afternoon at Highland Park rec center. He could hardly wait to get there and had an extremely busy, fun packed hour of instruction and practice! The first two weeks (sadly, he'll miss next week when we are in Maine) are practicing basic skills like dribbling, layups, shooting, guarding, etc....then they will have games against other teams each week. Potter enjoys his coach who is a good motivator, includes all the kids and gives specific feedback to the kids as they practice. As a parent, I appreciate that! Potter had a lot of self-confidence as he played and left feeling, rightfully so, as if he had done very well. Since we don't have basketball hoop at home for him to practice in between weeks, I did purchase a basketball for him to use to practice dribbling and passing, and he can practice shooting against the cement wall of the house. I don't want him to lose any momentum!!! Oh, and ps., they decided yesterday that their team would be called (for now) the alligators (gators). Granny would love that!!