Snowball Dance

Every year the PTA hosts a family Snowball Dance and every year we are unable to go.  Usually we are driving to Tahoe on the night of the dance.  This year we were going to be in town.  Leo wasn't interested in attending so he went to Nana's house; Serafina wanted to go so I sent her with Tom.

 He didn't take any pictures at the dance (it was crowded and dark) but they came home with this polaroid of Serafina and Millie.

So much snow

 California has been in a severe drought for several years.  The past five ski seasons we have been consistently disappointed by the lack of snow.  Our first year wasn't great and some years have been downright depressing, but this year is making up for it.

In fact, there is so much snow and such intense weather, we have to carefully time our trips so we don't get stuck on the road (which has happened before).  On Friday, I pulled the kids out of school early and we made the drive up to Tahoe.  It took longer than usual with chain control and slow driving, but we got there a little after six p.m.  The house was buried in snow.  We needed to shovel the driveway to get the car in, but I had to get in the house to get the garage open for the shovels.  Here's the staircase I needed to climb.  I couldn't see where to put my feet and with every step I sunk into snow up to my waist.  Then I found out that I had the wrong key.  I had to make my way back to the road to get the right key from my car and try again.

 The second time I was successful and we started shoveling.  Here's Tom hard at work.

 Between the snowy conditions and the traffic, it took a long time to get to the mountain on Saturday.  Once we were there, the kids were excited to head out.  It was Serafina's first ski day of the season.

 They had a great time in the powder until 1pm, when I finished my yoga class and Tom dropped them off so he could go back out for some solo skiing.

 These guys earned some hot chocolate.

 Since there was a blizzard due to arrive Saturday night, we decided to head back home before it hit.  That meant we had spent less than 24 hours in Tahoe this trip, but for these happy skiers it was worth it.  The drive home was slow but we were in no rush since we had Sunday to sleep in and recover.  

My friend Lizzy had her third baby girl on January 12th and named her Halle.  I made her a little hat last week and it fits her nicely.  It was the first time I had crocheted in a while.  

Serafina's 100 days project

Last night, Serafina worked on her 100 day project.  The assignment is the same as when Leo was in first grade.  She had to count one hundred objects, place them in a bottle, write clues about the objects and then hide the bottle in a bag.  

She chose to do marshmallows, which is what Leo chose in first grade as well.  Her clues were more vague though: "I'm sweet; I'm soft; I come in different sizes".  Leo specifically referenced hot cocoa in his clues which easily gave it away.  

Start of our sixth ski season

This past weekend we kicked off our ski season.   Right after we arrived to our rental house, a huge storm rolled in and took its toll on our weekend.  Saturday we headed to Squaw Valley for skiing but the weather wasn't great.  In fact, it was wet and messy and Serafina opted not to ski at all.  Leo was brave and decided to go out.  

Here he is ready to go back out after taking a lunch break.

 Tom was proud of Leo for braving the elements and getting out there.

 Our housemates were up there too, and Carlo and Stephan joined them for some afternoon skiing.

After just a couple runs, they were back inside and soaked through.  

 Can you tell Leo was proud of himself for conquering the slopes in the storm.

 The storm blew in even harder on Sunday so we spent the morning packing up while the power cut in and out.  We were on the road shortly after 12 and it wasn't the worst driving conditions we've ever experienced, but it wasn't great.  Despite the weather not cooperating, we had a nice time catching up with our ski pals and eating yummy food. We are hoping for better weather the rest of the ski season.

More Legos

It was a very Lego-heavy Christmas here, but that didn't stop my kids from spending their Christmas gift money on more Legos.

Leo decided to get this Star Wars AT-ST.  I think he was inspired by our viewing of Rogue One.

The AT-ST was a little diversion from the big set he's been working on all week.  He asked Santa for an expert level (intended for 16 years and up) set and Santa must of thought he could handle it because it was under the tree Christmas morning.  He handled the building with no issues or frustrations.  He took his time and is really happy with the results.  

 He made this little video explaining some of the features.  I told him to keep it short so he ends up talking a bit fast.

Of course Serafina isn't being left out of the Lego fun.  She picked out this hot dog cart with her Christmas money.

 How can you resist a set that has a little Lego person dressed up as a hot dog?

Hatchimal, take two

Just two days after Serafina's Hatchimal came out of its shell it completely stopped working.  She was very disappointed but handled it well.  I emailed customer service and got on the phone with them the next day.  The company sent out a replacement right away and it arrived today.

Experiencing this Hatchimal's hatching made me realize just how traumatic and complicated the previous one's birth was and that it wasn't meant to survive.  This one was out in about 15 minutes.  I guess we just got a bad egg and it was probably a common problem because the company was trying to pump them out to meet demand.  I appreciate the great customer service we received and I have one happy girl now that she has a functioning Hatchimal.

Happy New Year!

 Happy 2017.  I think everyone agrees with the sentiment that we are glad 2016 is over and we hope for better days in 2017.

We spent the last day of 2016 visiting the Montalvo Arts Center with Tracy.  We have fond memories of visiting with Ruth and Mike five years ago.

 Tracy had us take a family shot.  I'm glad she did because it turned out well and we don't often have pictures of all four of us.

She also got this picture of me and my girl.  

 Here we are - two cold Southern California girls trying to smile through it.

A selfie with Leo.  

 Picture through the tree.

Interacting with the art. 

 Once we were home, Tracy brought out some crackers that included the gold crowns, a little charm and a joke.

 Happy New Year group crown shot.

 The kids went to Nana's after that and Tracy joined Tom and I at our friends' house to ring in the new year.

Today we head to Marin to see old friends of Tom's.  We haven't seen them in a long time.

 The dad, Rich, showed the kids some cool stuff with dry ice.