In January we started learning Mandarin! We met a family that wanted us to help them with their English--they offered to teach flute to anyone who wanted to (Jennifer said yes!) and Mandarin to anyone who wanted to, and in turn we answer questions about English, or give them an opportunity for them to practice their conversational English. It's really hard learning a new language!!
We got a nice deep dumping of snow. It was so deep that Matthew couldn't make much progress plowing it. Perhaps plowing it twice during the "snowstorm" would have helped.
So we all had to chip in with shovels and help make the way clear.
It was a lot of work--the driveway is sure big!
It took Matthew a really long time just to clear a short straight spot up at the top! What a lot of snow!
Inside and out of the snow, the girls play a game of "lego bingo".
Nathan helped me clear off the ice...it was getting big cracks in it from the cold...so I added slush to the cracks and it was cleared off as neatly as possible for resurfacing.
That evening when I was spraying the ice my rib sure flared up! Even worse than shoveling the snow off the driveway...I guess wrapping the garden hose around myself and yanking on it to keep it off of the ice while spraying was not the best activity. It sure hurt the next day! Ouch!
While Nathan Matthew and I worked hard on making the ice skate-able again (and I never got to use it again this season due to fear or making my rib situation worse) Jennifer and Evelyn enjoyed some carefree sliding. I doubt they felt bad for us. To be fair, they did help Melanie plow it off a few times.
Math time: Daniel behind his books is a common sight.
The snow sure got deep this year! Melanie and I often went for walks in the afternoon together on the golf course. Once the snow got really deep we ended up going a lot less far, for the same amount of work.
Melanie in the cold sunshine.
And me. (OK, we made it up the hill, is it far enough? Can we go back now?"
We took snowshoes a few times as well...they aren't any easier to walk in, but the next day the walking is a lot easier!
Hockey time!
Nathan enjoyed the ice a few times this year too. After all, he had to help rescue the rink when it was having some serious stability issues...so he got to enjoy the fruit of his labour.
Jennifer by the swing.
Evelyn built a snow fort along the side of the driveway with lots of rooms in it.
Daniel made one in the "island" of the driveway, with a fancy kitchen in it, including a nice fireplace.
More time for hockey. Philip enjoyed the ice for me.
You know a book is exciting when your child reads it in the van on the way home from church and keeps reading it while walking back into the house.
1 comment:
That was quite the dump of snow. That first snowfall photo, when it's still snowing has a real nice effect. It seems like you had quite a sunny winter, which is nice.
And I hope Jennifer does well with her flute playing! I always wanted one of the boys to take up flute but none were interested. It's a favourite instrument of Dad's and mine. As a matter of fact, we are listening to flute music this evening. ;)
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