Snow Days!

We have been enjoying our snow days to the fullest. Life has just been so busy and it just felt good to have a couple days off! So far this year we had just had enough snow to barely cover the grass--for a day maybe! Tuesday it finally started coming down pretty good. It was enough that they dismissed High School and hour early so the buses could make their run and head to the elementary schools on time. They canceled for Wednesday, but then called off Thursday, too. It was to be student head count time too which may have been why they called off Thursday. We already have off Friday through Tuesday for President's Day and Teacher's Inservice.
Yesterday we bought some new sleds--since our other ones have long since expired. We went to the one hill in town and spent the afternoon sledding. I didn't think to take my camera with me though.
Usually this time of year we are heading up North to go skiing. This year Wayne's schedule at work is busy enough that we thought we had better stay put.
Carlin was the only one going crazy on our snow days. They wouldn't let anyone back into the school for after school activities (Thank You!) so he couldn't work on robotics! :) Today, Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday they get to work all day on their robot so they are happy again!

Wayne's Projects

From this beautiful (ugh-lee) router table
--to a much nicer larger table

Lots less mess too!

This was a fun project!

Stacking trays made this fall
Love the corners

Wayne made this stand for his folks

Spalted maple and black walnut

Happy New Years!

Happy New Years to all you dear people! Looks like my New Year's Resolution had better be updating my blog! It has been way neglected since Face Book came along.
We have been enjoying our Christmas vacation at home this year. Even the kids have commented on how fun it has been to just stay home. We didn't have to fight bad roads going anywhere. Days of sleeping in and staying up late. Many hours spent on the computer--but that will change once we are back in school.
Wayne has finally got to build his router table. He has waited forever to find time to build it. This past year has been busy enough for him at work that he wasn't able to use his vacation time until the past two weeks. He will have 2 1/2 weeks off total. Last night he finished hooking the dust collection up to it. I'll have to post pictures of his projects soon.
I have spent the past few days changing the looks in our upstairs bathroom. It isn't that many years old, but already the walls needed some updating--and I needed something to paint. We changed a wall in our living room too. I had painted in with sandstone paint. One thing I learned with sandstone--it works best with darker colors!! I had used it in Deidre and Carlin's rooms and it gave me no trouble. When I painted the living room wall with it--well, it looked awful. I used a salmon colored paint and all the sandstone is dark. It ended up looking like a really dirty wall. Wayne sanded it off and put some drywall compound on it. It is painted Cabin Red now and looks pretty sharp. (if I do say so myself!)
Monday will be back to work and school for all of us. Carlin will be starting his build season for Robotics so he will be pretty scarce around here for a couple months. He really enjoys it though. Last year he got to drive the robot during competition. It will be fun to see if he gets to this year.

Kyle's B-day

Inspecting the Spiders

Does it rattle?

Yeah! Boomerangs!
Wayne made the top one

I'm a bit behind on this as Kyle's B-day was October 29! He's a dozen years old now! This is also the last year for making treats to take in to school for him. That was kinda hard to think about--since I have been sending them in for one kid or another for about 15 years! I wasn't too creative this year. It was spider cupcakes. The spiders were oreo's dipped in chocolate and licorice legs. Good enough though for the amount of time it takes the kids to eat them!
There is a fun story behind the boomerangs. Kyle's request this year was a boomerang. Not an item that most stores carry. Finally we got online and ordered two--and a book on how to make them. Of course they weren't arriving in time for his birthday so Wayne got busy in the garage and made one. We gave that one to him the morning of his birthday--and the other two showed up that afternoon, so I wrapped them quick and gave them to him that evening. The boys took the homemade one out--and it actually flew! Okay, I'd better give Wayne the credit for making a pretty good boomerang. It is a little heavier then the others, but flies pretty well. The field across the road has come in pretty handy!

What's Up?

It's finally time to sit down and get caught up here. Since starting the school year I haven't taken the time to update.
This year has actually started off quite well. Last year it took me most of the year to figure out how to keep up with the "busyness" of the year! This year it is still crazy busy, but I've kind of got it figured out now. I just try to remember that by Thursday night, I can finally come up for air! Here is a little bit of what our day to day consists of:

Monday afternoon Carlin's Robotics team meets. I usually pick him up anywhere from 3:45 - 5:00. We have supper--I'm learning that soup or a crockpot meal works well on this day! Shortly after 6:00 we head to the Middle School where both boys are in the youth orchestra. (Except there are older people, too!) Carlin (on violin) is in his third year of Symphony Orchestra and Kyle (on cello) is in his first year of Philharmonia. Kyle's teacher is a former Barrage student--an amazing teacher!

Tuesday night--tonight Carlin is staying at school for a welder's club. He hasn't been around too much of that before, so will be interesting to hear what he thinks of it. Kyle has piano lessons at 5:30. He keeps asking when he can quit, but I tell him not for a couple more years. His teacher really challenges him--and he usually doesn't take too long to have his songs figured out! Except for this week--maybe if he actually sat a practiced he would have better luck!

I am still working at Kyle's school this year. I am lunch assistant with three fourth grade classes. Tomorrow will be my first time to sub for special needs this year. I usually do quite a bit of subbing during the school year. In November I will sub for most of the month.

Deidre is a Senior this year! I still can't adjust my thinking to that one! Not sure what's ahead--but we've got this far! This last Saturday she had Senior pictures taken. I can't wait to see them!

Wayne has been really busy at work this past summer and fall. He has kept busy enough that he can't get his vacation time used up this year! Sunday was a 20 hour day for him and yesterday was 14 1/2. Hopefully now it will settle down a bit. I'm just glad he has a job to keep busy with!

All for now. Just got a call from Carlin--needs a ride home! I think they keep busy with all the running for them so when they turn 16 we really are ready for them to do their own driving!

Last Shots of Summer

This summer Wayne installed a watering system for all my flower pots and flower beds. Between that and the perfect summer weather, the flowers were really pretty this year. The Morning Glories are Wayne's! I always tease him about his flowers! He planted them around the dinner bell and they turned out gorgeous! During the day they were bright blue and at night as they were closing up, they turned purple. I've never had coleus grow as big as I had this year. The milk buckets, coffee pot and milkers were compliments of the treasure trove (dump) at Wayne's folks this summer. There is no order to these pictures--which is just me!

Happy 19th Anniversary!

Happy 19th Anniversary to my Bestest Friend!
Thank you for all you have put up with through the years! It is fun to look back over the years and see what all we have survived! Love you more each year!