Kick Off Your Sunday Shoes!

Chris and I decided that perhaps Leila was ready to see one of Daddy's shows at the REAL showtime! Saturday night, Leila and I took in FOOTLOOSE at Emerald Ridge. It was late in the end for her, but she enjoyed seeing it with a real audience, seeing the final costume decisions and watching all the light cues in real time.

It seems that Leila has a new crush each year during the musical. This year is no exception. She loves Ryan, who plays the lead, Ren. Ryan is a good sport and indulges our four-year-old's admiration. Thank you, Ryan!

There are only three more shows left...March 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Come see a wonderful show with a talented bunch of high schoolers!

Footloose!!

 Last year I started taking Leila to see Chris's shows the week before they opened, while rehearsals were still at 4pm instead of a 7pm start. Well, believe it or not, last week was the week before opening week for Footloose already! It sure goes quickly! We headed to ERHS last Wednesday for one of the dress rehearsals. We met Becky and Sadie there and enjoyed Footloose together...armed with plenty of snacks!

Chris had a Footloose t-shirt made for Leila. She feels just like the cast now when she wears it! Sadie wore her little Hypokritz t-shirt to the show.

We went back on Thursday afternoon and watched for a second time. Leila loves seeing the shows, hanging with the kids and following her Dad around. I love watching the high schoolers take such good care of Leila. They adore her and treat her so wonderfully! These kids really are a great bunch!!

Happy Hearts Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! Leila and I made her valentines last night. She is thrilled to pass them out Tuesday at daycare. 

Hard at work addressing each card:

 Cupid's Arrows ~ We saw this idea in Family Fun magazine. Easy, mess-free, cute and fun to make together!

 Our sweet, little Valentine!

Valentine Cookie Decorating Party

 We threw a cookie decorating party this last weekend with Leila's closest friends! Each kiddo brought a dozen or so of his/her favorite cookies to our house. We spent the morning sharing frosting and sprinkles while creating masterpieces to eat. Everybody went home with frosted cookies and some party treats (these spoons full of melted white chocolate with sprinkles...so easy to make!).

 The gang hard at work...with lots of help from the Moms. "Oops, don't lick that knife!!"

 Erin and Elliott

The kiddos:
Ian, Kajsa, Elliott, Wyatt, Bergen, Leila and Sadie

 Best friends: Berg and Weed

Ice

 After several days of a beautiful, winter wonderland the snow froze and a thick layer of ice settled on top. The picture above is so interesting to me. It looks like it had been raining, but it hadn't. The sheen is the top layer of ice. It was so thick that Leila could stand on it without breaking through. The ice was beautiful!! It was amazing to see the way it froze on tree branches, leaves, lampposts and even the rock wall. I couldn't stop taking pictures of the ice in the yard. While it was gorgeous it turned problematic rather quickly. Trees branches were snapping and falling under the weight of the ice. Power lines were downed. The line  above our mailbox was sparking all night. We kept thinking we would lose power, but amazingly we did not!! The neighbors power line pole cracked at the base and was leaning, rather precariously, over the road for several days. The lines were 5 feet off the roadway. Chris and I spent quite some time sitting on the couch in the front room watching and listening to huge chunks of ice and branches fall onto the icy ground. I think even Chris was a bit nervous about the trees, as he didn't even tease me about wanting Leila to sleep in our room overnight. Not one bit. Her room is closer to all the trees in the yard and I was a little worried that part of a tree might come down. It was a very memorable winter storm to say the least!

 If you click on any of the pictures it will enlarge the photo and make it easier to see just how thick the ice coat was! 

 Look how thick the ice on these branches is!

Winter Wonderland Wednesday

 We just kept getting snow! Wednesday brought us LOTS of snow! The tracks from the previous days' snow play and sledding were completely covered.

Our road...which gets pretty dicey in this kind of weather. Good thing we are both teachers and have these days off! Between our driveway and our road out front, it can be tricky to get around town.

Our back porch...

 Here is our snowman from two days ago.

 We measured 7.5 inches!

  A cushion of snow to sit on.

 The BIG snowman!! A pirate snowman...probably inspired by watching countless reruns of Disney's Jake and the Neverland Pirates with our little pirate.