Cinderella!!

It's no secret that Rebecah loves the Disney Princesses.  She acts out different parts of the movies regularly.  She also pretends to be the princesses and that is determined by the movie she has seen most recently.  For the last few days she has been begging for a wet cloth so she can clean the floor like Cinderella.  I have put her off because I don't want her to think she is the resident slave, but I finally gave in today.  She happily wiped a good portion of our floor as she sang "Sing Sweet Nightingale" the song that Cinderella sings in the movie.  Here is a picture of Rebecah, I mean, Cinderella.  She is all smiles.

Cinderella cleaning the floor.

News Flash...

After almost 9 years of marriage, we have purchased our first TV.  We started thinking about buying a TV at the start of the year, but it wasn't until we realized we needed a new computer that we seriously considered a TV.  We have been content to watch movies on our laptop, but when we get a new computer we probably won't have a DVD player with it and I still wanted the kids and me to have the option to watch movies.  For those of you who don't know, Joseph rarely watches movies.  I do most of my movie watching when Joseph is working evenings/nights.

I'm sure our TV is small, only 32'', compared to the TV size most people have, but I honestly didn't want a big TV.  The TV seems big to us, especially when you consider that we have been content to watch movies on our laptop for years.  The man at Best Buy tried to convince us that for the size of our family room we NEEDED at least a 40'' TV, but I wasn't buying it.  I didn't want a huge one and I didn't want to have to pay for a huge one.

The kids are excited to have a TV, but we don't plan on paying for a monthly cable service so our life will remain pretty much the same.

Monster Jam

Joseph and Kimball went to Monster Jam over the weekend.  For those who don't know, it is a monster truck event that is perfect for the truck lovin' boy, and even if your boy is more into Legos now, he will still love it.  Kimball had a blast.  He rarely plays with cars anymore, but he was so excited about being in the Carrier Dome (Syracuse University stadium) with all of the huge monster trucks.  Joseph said every few minutes Kimball would tightly hug Joseph's arm and thank Joseph for taking him to the show.  I thought that was sweet.  

The noise level was high, but Joseph and Kimball went prepared with ear plugs.  Most people wore ear plugs, but a few brave--crazy-- people didn't.

Joseph and Kimball left about 30 minutes early to beat the crowd and traffic.  Kimball was a little disappointed to leave early, but if they had stayed they would have sat in traffic at least an hour and with the time change and church the next day it just wasn't worth it to stay to the bitter end.  There is always next year.  Kimball is very excited to make this an annual Father/Son event.

Before the show starts.  The stands were full before too long.

Joseph took other pictures, but for some reason we can only view them on Joseph's phone and they are just blank shots when we try to transfer them.  Bummer.

Valentine's Day 2014

I love Valentine's Day more and more every year.  It is so fun to plan the food and decorate and decide how we will make everyone feel loved.  This year I was so busy making the heart garlands that I didn't make the time to make very many valentines for my family.  I did remember to include a valentine in Kimball's lunch one day.

Joseph worked 2:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. on Valentine's Day so we actually celebrated on the 13th.  Kimball was excited to celebrate a day early --he even mentioned our early celebration to his school teacher.

We had a yummy dinner and a triple chocolate mousse cake for dessert.  The first night the cake was good, but it didn't excite me.  The more I ate the cake the more I liked it.  Everyone was disappointed when it was gone.  Rebecah especially has become a huge chocolate fan.  

I thought the layers were especially pretty.

With my two favorite little valentines.

Each year we give the kids small presents for Valentine's Day.  I really feel that the day is about loving our friends and family and not just the romantic love shared between a man and woman. We always include the kids in our Valentine festivities instead of making it just a couple thing.

Rebecah with her magi-clip Aurora.

Newest Magic Tree House book:  #51 High Time for Heroes.

Kimball reading his new book.  Can I just say it made my morning
when I saw him reading without being asked.  I really
want my kids to develop a love for reading.

Joseph and I were able to attend the temple together on February 15th so we still managed to get a date in and what better date than going to the temple together!

We have a Snow Cave

 We have a snow cave...Joseph has been planning and dreaming and anticipating building a snow cave since we moved to Syracuse last year.  Last winter we were in our apartment half of the winter and then we were busy moving and settling in that we didn't fulfill Joseph's dream last year.

When we got our first snow fall in November Joseph and Kimball made a plan and started on the snow fort.  The construction of the fort has evolved over the last 4 months until Joseph finally decided on a method that worked best.  My sister, Heather, told me to take a lot of pictures of the fort/cave under construction, but I don't think the pictures below do it justice.

Phase 1:  Joseph decided to just "shovel" the grass area and piled it all in the middle of our back yard.  He made three walls and had one side of the rectangle open for a door way.  This first attempt didn't work great because here in New York we have very powdery snow and it doesn't pack down unless it is above freezing.  Once the walls were 4 feet tall Joseph just couldn't proceed.

Starting to accumulate snow...November 2013

It is hard to see in this picture with white on white, but you can see some of the
walls of the fort and they are between 3-4 feet high and 2-4 feet thick.

 Phase 2:  Joseph decided that the first method wasn't going to work for a fort so he decided to start making blocks of snow out of a 5 gallon bucket.  This method worked better, but not much progress was made until we had 3-4 days where temperatures were above freezing and Joseph was able to make his blocks during the day, spray them with water and let them freeze overnight.  Slowly, Joseph was able to make a dome for the roof of the fort.

Not a great picture since I was far away, but here Joseph is working on the roof.  As you can see there is only snow at the fort and green grass everywhere else.  Joseph regularly shoveled our grass to pile the snow in the fort area.

The next 3 pictures show the fully enclosed snow fort/cave.  About the time Joseph finished the roof, I decided it was no longer a fort, but a cave.  We celebrated the completion of the cave by roasting hot dogs and marshmallows in the cave.  We had to move quickly because after a while the roof would start to drip...once it froze again it was hard as ice.  Watch your head!  

Enjoying hot dogs for dinner.

Fairly roomy.  Our family can all sit in the cave comfortably, but if we have a fire going,
we have to be extra careful that the kids don't get too close. 

Phase 3:  After Joseph finished the first room of the cave he decided it would be cool if we added a second room with a tunnel connecting the rooms.  The second room can only be accessed via the tunnel.  He started construction on this mid January.  He continued with the snow block making as you can see here, but it was hard to get as much accomplished when he had to wait for the water to freeze after spraying them, so he decided to start dipping the formed blocks into water and then place them wet instead of spraying them.  This worked better but it wasn't the final construction method.

You can see the tunnel from the first room to the second room.  Joseph got stuck the first time he tried to go through the tunnel so he had to make it bigger.  It still isn't big enough for my comfort and I have only braved going through the tunnel once.  I don't want to get trapped in the tunnel!!

Phase 4:  The Preferred Method.  Joseph finally found a construction method that works for him.  He got out the wheelbarrow and he now mixes the dry, powdery snow in the wheelbarrow with some water.  He mixes it until it is the "right" consistency and then he uses the slushy snow to make his bricks and pack them tightly.  He uses the slushy snow also as "mortar" to fill in the cracks between the blocks.  Joseph is a strong man because he would come in with his gloves just saturated with water.  I would have given up long ago, but not Joseph.

Finished product complete with a foot of snow on the ground.

To celebrate the completion of the 2 room snow cave, Joseph and Kimball decided to sleep in the cave one night.  They made it until 11:45 pm and then Kimball was too uncomfortable and crowded so they came inside.  Joseph thinks Kimball just felt too confined sleeping in all of his snow gear...i.e. coat, snow pants, gloves, etc.  Neither of them was cold so that was the bright spot.  Joseph hopes for a solo attempt to sleep in the cave when his work schedule cooperates.

I like this picture because you can see the tunnel into the second room.

 To highlight the strength of our cave, Kimball had two friends over to play in the cave on our snow day last week when we got a foot of snow.  These two boys plus my two kids were outside for an hour climbing all over the caves.  They would climb on the roof and then slide down the sides. When I mentioned the rough and tumble play of the kids to Joseph his response was "Oh good! It was strong enough to support their weight."  It is solid ice now.

I hope the construction of a snow cave will become an annual event for many years.  It is exciting to think we have a two room snow cave in our back yard.  The snow cave is the talk of the people at church and almost weekly people ask how it is or say that they want to come see it. 

Inverted Jenny

I know you are all wondering what an Inverted Jenny is...Well, a few months ago, Kimball and I read an A to Z Mysteries (chapter book series) book called The Empty Envelope.  It was the first time I had heard about an Inverted Jenny.  I later emailed my mom feeling rather ignorant and asked her why she never told me about these rare, priceless stamps.  I consider my mom fairly knowledgeable about bits of trivia so I felt much better when she didn't know what an Inverted Jenny stamp was either...sorry Mom.  

Kimball and I did some research of our own after we finished reading our book and we were surprised to learn that a collectors Inverted Jenny stamp was being produced at the end of 2013.  When I asked about them at my post office the workers there had no idea what I was talking about even when I pointed to the sign posted in the Post Office.  This week my mom surprised me with a sheet of Jennys.  She said she wanted to see them after I told her about them and wanted me to have a chance to see them too.

Here is a little more history on the Curtiss Jenny stamp error.  This is from the envelope that comes with the stamps:

Ninety five years ago, the United States Post Office Department inadvertently printed a stamp with an upside down image of a Curtiss Jenny biplane.  Just one sheet of these stamps was sold before a customer identified the error.  This printing mistake has made the Inverted Jenny one of the rarest and most valuable stamps in collecting history.  Imagine the excitement of finding such a sheet of stamps. 

This sheet of stamps commemorates the 1918 24-cent Invert Jenny stamp.

The sheet of stamps...you had to buy all 6 stamps and couldn't purchase just one stamp.

Check out those upside down planes!

Find out more on Wikipedia about the Invert Jenny Stamp and keep on the lookout for an original!

Busy Crafting

I haven't blogged in the last month because I have been busy making six of these beauties:

Felt Heart Garland

I started off planning on just making one heart garland for myself, but when it turned out so well I thought it would be fun to make one for each of the sisters I visit for church and for the school teachers...that ended up being 6 excluding the one for myself.  I finally finished the last garland today.  I spent every spare minute   working on them so I could meet my February 14th deadline.  I still need to make the one for me, but I have gotten faster each time I make one so hopefully I can get one made for myself soon, although it will be after   the holiday.                                                                                                                                                

In other news, we went as a family to see Frozen and we LOVED it.  I have been shoveling a fair amount of snow and we have enjoyed 3 days off from school from cold temperatures and 1 day when we got a foot of snow.