One Down - Many to Go

When you live in a house built in the 70s, you'll see a whole lot of these:

Until you replace them with these:
It's amazing the difference just replacing a door makes. One ugly, brown, 1970s door down, many to go.

Midway Ice Castles

Last night we finally made it up to the Midway Ice Castles. We've heard about this place and have wanted to go for the past couple of months. This is the last week, so we trucked it on up there to check it out.This is one place that you photography talented people would have a hay day in (you know who you are). But, sadly, I'm not one of them, so you'll have to put up with my amateur pictures.
We got there right before it got dark so we were able to see it both in the daylight and then with the lights on. Either way it's pretty neat.

We can't decide which president's profile this resembles. It kind of reminds me of a man wearing a 'coon skin hat. Can you see it? What do you think?

The castles are quite big - a few of them that you can even walk through.

You were not allowed to touch anything, which is a good thing 'cause we had no warm water to rescue Leon's tongue if it got stuck.

We were fascinated with the different directions the ice froze. At times we were afraid for our lives, or eyeballs, with all the sharp, hanging icicles.

Really, a stunning display.

We're glad we made it before it was all over.

All Good Things Must Come To An End

So, if you are wondering from the previous post what in the world Jayden is doing on top of the van, well - he's giving it a hug to say GOOD-BYE.That's right, we traded in our good ol', faithful, reliable, trusty, 130,000 mile, 1999 Ford van, and got.... A NEW (to us, anyway) 2008 Honda Odyssey.
As much as I enjoy driving this new van, I still feel a bit sad and guilty to see the Ford go. It was a great van for us, despite what reviews have said about it. In fact, we would have bought another Ford, and not joined the Odyssey crowd, if Ford still made a minivan. We are all still trying to get to know this new van, which might take a while with all it's gizmos and gadgets compared to the simple, basic, no frills Ford. You should have seen me trying to get the carpool kids in the van the first day. I learned that it must be in "park" before the automatic doors will work - good to know.
~
(So, Natalie, as much as I'd like to retake that photo of Jayden, I CAN'T - sniff, sniff.)
(Landon is dressed as a heart because he had come home from Kindergarten as a "Valentine" the day before and wanted to wear his heart in the picture to "show the van some love." Seriously.)

What the Holy?

As my sister Laurel would say, "What the holy?!"

Happy February!

So, I saw this really good idea on a blog that I peek in on every now and again. But, instead of buying actual mailboxes, I decided to make it a Family Home Evening activity and make our own. Who knew that these boys would get so into creating their "mailboxes" - even Leon got into it. A pile of paper, stickers, markers and a stapler was just about all we needed.We hung our "mailboxes" on our bedroom doors:

And, we leave notes to each other throughout the next couple of weeks. I hung a box with small papers and a pen in the hall. The boys checked their boxes many times the first couple of days and were anxious for their notes to be read. Some are just notes of appreciation and others are coupons for a day off of chores or a treat with Mom and Dad.

Now that January is over, we can move on with the rest of the year and celebrate some fun days. Happy February/Valentine's Day!