EARLY MORNING DRAWINGS

In the morning during extended care, the girls like to draw on the boards. Today, we got 3 special drawings.

 

Madeline and her Warrior cat, Firestar.

 

Jenna and her 2 pictures of Thumper.

FIRST STORM OF THE YEAR

We had our first storm of the year.  It started on Saturday afternoon at about 3 pm and didn't stop till first thing Monday morning.  We ended up with about a foot and half of snow total.  On top of the snow, it was blowing really bad.  They ended up closing the roads and declaring a State of Emergency on Sunday at 6 pm.  All the major highways and roads in the area were shut down.  Then to further compound the issues, the temperatures took a huge drop.  Monday morning we woke up to temperature at -14 with wind chills hovering around -43 degrees.  We got both Monday 1/6 and Tuesday 1/7 off of school.  The kids were not upset about this at all.

 

 Before the roads were closed on Sunday, we took the kids sledding to a place in town.  They had a lot of fun in the snow.  The wind was blowing hard but the temperature was a warm 32 above.

 

 

After sledding the kids played outside for another 10-20 minutes before coming in for hot chocolate. 

 

Since nothing was plowed and our truck wouldn't get out of the driveway.  We decided to take the most logical mode of transportation for the snow, the snowmobiles.  We rode for about 4 hours all over the back country roads.  There was blowing snow and drifts everywhere.  Some of the spots had drifts as high as 4 feet.  It was hovering around 0 when we headed home.  The wind made it freezing and it took a while for me to defrost once we got home.

CHRISTMAS BREAK ADVENTURES WITH LULU

Jenna's class has a monkey named Lulu that all the kids get a chance to take home.  Jenna was super lucky and got her for all of Christmas Break.  Here is her Christmas Break adventures with Lulu.

 

On that first Friday and Saturday, Jenna has 2 parties with her friends.  One was a PJ party and the other was a tea party.  Lulu joined her for both.

 

 

The elf brought the kids and myself tickets to go and see Junie B Jones play at Chicago Street theatre.  Both Lulu and Jenna loved it.

 

Lulu joined us for our Christmas celebration in Plymouth for the Bauer side of things.  Unfortunately, Lulu was left at Aunt Rita's house.  So she wasn't there when we opened presents on Christmas day.   

 

Aunt Rita was going shopping in Mishawaka and was bringing Lulu with to meet us.  We thought it would be a good time to use a few of our gift certificates and Christmas money.  We caught up with Lulu and she went shopping with us.

 

We then went to Logan's for dinner.  Lulu and Jenna loved the ribs.

 

For Christmas, Santa brought the kids a trip to Wisconsin Dells.  Lulu was so excited to come with us.

 

This is the kids' bed at the hotel that everyone, including Lulu, got to sleep on.

 

The first day, we decided to go skiing for the first time.  Lulu had some trouble at first but was flying down the hill by the end.

 

Lulu, Madeline and Jenna hit up the tea cup ride at the indoor amusement park.

 

Jenna and Lulu had a blast playing in the ball pit playground at the indoor amusement park.

 

The 2nd full day there, we went to the water park.  Before the kids went swimming, they had to eat lunch.  Jenna was not happy about this but Lulu enjoyed her hot dog.

 

Jenna and Lulu monkeying around while waiting for Daddy to get his suit on.

 

Jenna and Lulu playing hide and go seek.

 

Lulu decided the rides scared her and sat at the table with me.  She had a blast watching Jenna run up to the slides and come back down.

 

On the way out of Wisconsin Dells, we ate a restaurant called Buffalo Phil's.  The food and our drinks were delivered to us by a train.  Lulu and Jenna thought this was amazing.

 

Jenna and Lulu decided to ride the bull on the way out of the restaurant.

 

For New Year's Eve, we celebrated the event with Grandma Brenda, Aunt Ashley, Uncle Ryan and Pat.  We eat ribs, watched movies and counted down to the holiday.  Lulu was tired and could barely stay up. 

 

 

New Year's day was spent resting and playing games.  Jenna and Lulu playing Go Fish with her brother and sister.

 

Due to a winter storm, we were able to keep Lulu for an extra 2 days.  On Sunday, Lulu and Jenna went sledding during the storm before the cold weather hit.

 

They, also, played outside before heading in for hot almond milk cocoa.

 

 

Saturday and Sunday night, Lulu and Jenna spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa's.  They had to go home on Monday to help clean up and get everything ready for school on Wednesday. 

We got a call later in the day on Tuesday stating school was cancelled again. 

So Lulu and Jenna played a few games on the computer.

 

 

Then they read a few books together.  Lulu helped Jenna finish up her January Book It paper.

 

On Wednesday, it finally warmed up above 0.  Everyone went outside to play including Jenna and Lulu.  Jenna made a chair in the snow for Lulu and herself.

 

Then they played artic animals.  Jenna was the momma polar bear and Lulu the baby.

 

Daddy got out the snowmobile and both of them went for a ride.

 

After dinner, Jenna and Lulu took a bath, brushed their teeth, read a story and went to bed early.  School was on for Thursday. 

 

Here is Jenna's entries in her class's book.

 

Jenna and Lulu had a great 2 weeks together.