Winter is for the birds. All of us feel bogged down with work and cooped up in the house, except for Maya. She runs home from the bus stop every day and heads straight out to the back yard to sled down the hill. Jake built a jump for the kids and sometimes her brother or the dogs will join her. I have a couple of times, like when we built this tiny snow creature. Luna attacked it the first chance she got and the flowers from the lei were everywhere.
Anna and my foot posing together. Anna's got 6 college classes this semester, and then she'll be a junior at Mankato. This will probably be the most classes she ever has to take at once in her life.
Esther, the cat who can do math. (Not pictured, S'more, the cat who drinks out of the toilet and was recently given a middle name by Maya. S'more Ian Hawley.)
We took a day trip to the U of M Raptor Center and the Bell Museum, home of the best taxidermy specimens in Minnesota. While we were there, Dylan and Jake fought for an audience of tundra swans, Dylan picked a buck's nose, and it unexpectedly (for me) snowed about 4 inches, making the drive home a bit treacherous.
Our bird trips were to help Maya prepare for her Imagination Fair project. It included the poster below, a cd of bird sounds, a bird tree, a book she wrote about Baltimore orioles (not the baseball team), and her portfolio of bird art and pictures. She worked very hard!
In other news, Kayla's been looking for a hospital CNA job and had a couple of good interviews this week. Maya lost her 3rd tooth. Dylan's been doing rec basketball, some baseball clinics, lots of homework, and the occasional guitar lesson to keep busy. Anna's still working at Byerly's. Jake, Kayla, and I have been working out, getting huge, as Jake says:). Anna's boyfriend is taking a trip to California over Valentine's Day, so she says she'll babysit so Jake & I can go out. Pretty sweet! I hope all of you are doing well. Happy Valentine's Day!
