Category: Uncategorized

Kyra and I agreed that “surprise snow days” are the best. Sometimes the weather forecast says it’s going to snow, and the night before everyone is going to bed thinking surely tomorrow it’ll be a snow day, and then at 5:30 the next morning it’s not, and it’s a huge disappointment.

Today, on the other hand, we were surprised. Well, maybe not entirely: the National Weather Service had issued a “winter storm warning” (upgraded from a “winter advisory”, apparently) for the area. Still, it had been 60+ degrees yesterday– in fact, I played ultimate in bare feet for the first time all season. So we didn’t really expect more than a few inches.

At 5:07 the phone rang with the happy news from the school district. Sure enough, looking out the window I saw that it was the real deal.

The temperature is hovering right around 32 degrees, so the snowflakes are those big wet ones. Of course, Laralee and I had to shovel the foot-deep heavy snow in our enormous driveway…

It’s still coming down, meaning we’ll need to shovel again later, but in the meantime we’re enjoying some fun at home.

Well, Google Plus finally figured it out. I might know myself.

What happens if I become friends with myself? Does it create some kind of social-media infinite loop?

Ben received a 3D printer for Christmas, and he and I were chatting a few weeks ago when he mentioned that he saw a “recipe” online to print tiles for the Settlers of Catan board game. It sounded intriguing, so I asked if he’d be willing to print some for me. He did, and they were awesome. I think they’ll add a whole new dimension to the game. (Dimension– get it? Hah!)

Of course they’re not too exciting in their native white.

But with a little paint they’ll be amazing. I went to Michaels and bought a bunch of acrylic paints, and for the past few weeks we’ve been sitting down as a family now and then to work on them.

This is Zack working on a water tile:

He really did a great job on the tornado (which replaces the robber):

Here’s my first attempt, a wheat field:

Kyra’s mountain was the best so far though:

We’ve also invited “guest artists” to join us. Kyra’s friend Hannah did an incredible job painting one of the forest tiles (although I don’t have a photo of it now). Hopefully over the next few weeks we’ll complete them, and can play a sweet game of Settlers!

A few weeks ago Kyra played in what is probably her last flute recital. She’s been taking lessons from Kaye Lloyd (the wife of Kyra’s band teacher in sixth grade) for almost six years, but once she heads off to college I don’t know if she’ll continue private tutoring.

She was great, of course, and it’s been wonderful to have someone like Kaye teaching her all this time.

Today Zack and I went to Freddy’s for lunch, and he remarked,

I saw this on the internet, and it describes my feelings exactly:

Just now I was doing some poking around on LinkedIn to get the lowdown on some people who have sent their resumes (Zing is hiring again). I noticed this one and just loved it.

It’s hard to say what’s more awesome: the hair, or the title “Grand Poobah”. If I need a lawyer, this is the guy I want.

A couple of nights ago we went to the annual high school chamber music festival. Basically, all of the band students form small groups and pick songs they’d like to play. It’s pretty fun, and a chance for them to show off their skills a bit.

Unfortunately most of the songs sounded like a sixth-grade band for some reason. Laralee and I wondered if some of the groups had even practiced their pieces. Normally it’s much more polished, but there were a lot of “rough around the edges” groups.

Anyway, Kyra’s quartet played “Three Blind Mice” (who knew?) and did a great job.

She also played in a second flute trio; they did a piece I’d never heard of and can’t remember now. Again, they were solid. A few other groups did a bang-up job, so overall it was a good time.

I saw this car the other day when I was driving home from the airport.

It’s a pretty sweet little ride. Then I noticed the license plate:

Well, I suppose if you’ve got it, flaunt it…