Monday, January 31, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
Snow Day Fun
I thought I'd let you in on how we spent our first snow day this week...
Katie and Jenna (and I) did this 300-piece puzzle-- they really enjoyed it and it went VERY quickly. Then I started a very hard 1000-piece one that I'm still only 1/10 of the way thru...
The girls played hard all day, and had a great time together. It's such sweet music when they have so much fun together! (Micah played with them sometimes, and other times he had to be occupied elsewhere) Above is the tea party they had.
Claire and her cockatoo sat in a "nest" for a while.
Katie invented a feather game-- they had to blow it into the other person's area. This proved to be very loud and hilariously funny for them. You see they have leotards and tutus on. They also danced around the living room for a while.
They played outside for while, but most of the snow came later in the day. So on Thurs, they played out much longer-- Katie and Jenna were out there for hours.
The below pic is from Thursday, after the 8 inches of heavy snow came.
Katie and Jenna (and I) did this 300-piece puzzle-- they really enjoyed it and it went VERY quickly. Then I started a very hard 1000-piece one that I'm still only 1/10 of the way thru...
The girls played hard all day, and had a great time together. It's such sweet music when they have so much fun together! (Micah played with them sometimes, and other times he had to be occupied elsewhere) Above is the tea party they had. 
Claire and her cockatoo sat in a "nest" for a while.
Katie invented a feather game-- they had to blow it into the other person's area. This proved to be very loud and hilariously funny for them. You see they have leotards and tutus on. They also danced around the living room for a while.
They played outside for while, but most of the snow came later in the day. So on Thurs, they played out much longer-- Katie and Jenna were out there for hours.
The below pic is from Thursday, after the 8 inches of heavy snow came. 
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Shrimp Clothes
Last night, we had breaded shrimp for supper. When Jenna saw that, she cheered and said, "I love it when the shrimp has stolen the fish sticks' clothes!"
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Snow Sick
Best thing about yesterday-- our Happy Boy came back. :) Micah hadn't been his regular happy self since the Sat we went to the Farm Show (10 days ago), but yesterday he was mostly normal! A big relief to all of us, since he was pretty fussy for a lot of that time.
All the girls are healthy right now. I just have a bit of a sore throat, but it's not getting any worse yet.
Other recent news here-- kids haven't been in school since last Fri. We had Mon off for the holiday, and yesterday turned out to be a day off. We thought it was just a delay for freezing rain on top of snow, so Chad took the kids to school, only to find no one there-- guess we missed the updated announcement that they had cancelled. Kids were thrilled cuz they had been pretty disappointed that it was only a delay.
And now, today, there's another delay for freezing rain again last night. You can be sure that we'll check for an update before we leave for school. :) I sure hope there is, tho-- altho we have fun when everyone's home, I don't get much of anything done. It's nice to sprinkle in those days and not have many in a row!
Very nice that the bad weather has been well-timed so that I've hardly missed any piano lessons-- esp important since we're preparing for recital on Feb 20.
All the girls are healthy right now. I just have a bit of a sore throat, but it's not getting any worse yet.
Other recent news here-- kids haven't been in school since last Fri. We had Mon off for the holiday, and yesterday turned out to be a day off. We thought it was just a delay for freezing rain on top of snow, so Chad took the kids to school, only to find no one there-- guess we missed the updated announcement that they had cancelled. Kids were thrilled cuz they had been pretty disappointed that it was only a delay.
And now, today, there's another delay for freezing rain again last night. You can be sure that we'll check for an update before we leave for school. :) I sure hope there is, tho-- altho we have fun when everyone's home, I don't get much of anything done. It's nice to sprinkle in those days and not have many in a row!
Very nice that the bad weather has been well-timed so that I've hardly missed any piano lessons-- esp important since we're preparing for recital on Feb 20.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Jenna's Hagerstown Project-- 3
Jenna's Hagerstown project is due in May, and it involves putting all these pics and info into a scrapbook, so we figured we'd better get going on visiting more places. We still have about 5 to go after these. 
This is the Hagerstown Roundhouse Museum. I think Eric and Boden went there with Chad and kids when they visited last spring. It's an old building with lots of old pics but also lots of train stuff.
This is a spectacular train layout. Lots to look at. It's up for Dec-Feb. They do a different layout for this time period every year. There are several old men running it. They told me they worked on it for about 7 hours a day every day from Aug thru Nov.
Jenna met a nice train conductor. She was kinda mad that he wouldn't look at the camera when I took the pic.
This is a diagram of the roundhouse, which has been demolished. Hagerstown is called The Hub City, because so many train tracks criss-crossed thru the town. The roundhouse had a turntable for facilitatings storage and servicing trains.
This is the Hagerstown Police Station, a former train station used as police station since 1980, I think. This was used when the tracks in town were down on the street level. At one point, it was a big deal that they moved all the tracks up higher so they wouldn't obstruct car traffic. I sure am glad they did!
A print of the old train station. Explanation below.
This is a historic millstone from Millstone Circle. There are 8 millstones set into the pavement surrounding the traffic circle by City Park. Traffic circle is below. Millstones are directly around the part where you drive.
More millstones
The courthouse-- explanation below.
One of the places on the list is the Washington County Hospital. Here the building is, but it'll probably soon be demolished. There is no sign that says "hospital" still. On Dec. 11, all operations moved over to the Meritus Medical Center on Dual Highway. Pictured below.
Municipal Stadium where Hagerstown Suns play.
This is the Hagerstown Roundhouse Museum. I think Eric and Boden went there with Chad and kids when they visited last spring. It's an old building with lots of old pics but also lots of train stuff. 
This is a spectacular train layout. Lots to look at. It's up for Dec-Feb. They do a different layout for this time period every year. There are several old men running it. They told me they worked on it for about 7 hours a day every day from Aug thru Nov. 
Jenna met a nice train conductor. She was kinda mad that he wouldn't look at the camera when I took the pic.
This is a diagram of the roundhouse, which has been demolished. Hagerstown is called The Hub City, because so many train tracks criss-crossed thru the town. The roundhouse had a turntable for facilitatings storage and servicing trains. 
This is the Hagerstown Police Station, a former train station used as police station since 1980, I think. This was used when the tracks in town were down on the street level. At one point, it was a big deal that they moved all the tracks up higher so they wouldn't obstruct car traffic. I sure am glad they did!
A print of the old train station. Explanation below.
This is a historic millstone from Millstone Circle. There are 8 millstones set into the pavement surrounding the traffic circle by City Park. Traffic circle is below. Millstones are directly around the part where you drive.
More millstones
The courthouse-- explanation below.
One of the places on the list is the Washington County Hospital. Here the building is, but it'll probably soon be demolished. There is no sign that says "hospital" still. On Dec. 11, all operations moved over to the Meritus Medical Center on Dual Highway. Pictured below.
Municipal Stadium where Hagerstown Suns play.Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Little Wingert Update
I called last week "Date Week"; this week may be called "Sick Week". It has been a fairly pleasant sickness, tho, so I am thankful for that.
Saturday at the Farm Show, Jenna had no energy-- I wondered if she was getting sick. Sure enough! Sun thru Tues she spent at home. Mon she spent the WHOLE day in bed. Had no energy to do anything. Had a sore throat and slight fever. Now her nose runs, but we decided she was good enough to go to school today (after our 2-hour delay for 2 inches of snow). She's been very perky since she got up Tues morning.
Micah had a rash on Sunday, so we didn't let him go to church. Itchy rash. No other symptoms til Mon. Now he's had a slight fever ever since Mon morning. His nose runs, too. However, if I keep Tylenol in him, he's been pretty active. And he's enjoying having sisters home to play with him-- and I'm enjoying that they are all sick with, I assume, the same thing, so I don't worry about them staying away from each other.
Claire last night told me her "neck" hurt. She still has trouble distinguishing if she's referring to neck or throat. Upon investigation, I found she was referring to her throat; and this morning, she has a cough, too. So, even tho she has tons of energy right now (she and Micah are running around playing puppy with each other), we kept her home from school-- thinking she might be getting the same thing.
Bummer about sickness and weather problems on Mondays is all the lessons I miss. 10 lessons is quite a chunk of income to give up. However, I was still able to do them all, since Chad came home to stay with the sickies while I went to school, and Katie stayed downstairs with sickies while I did the home lessons. It was also crucial to do these lessons because we have a recital coming up on Feb 20; and, since we just had Christmas, many of the students need to be kicked back into gear. :)
Yes, we had snow last night-- 2 inches. The girls watched it and cheered. They were so excited about snow, and having school off. I was, too. I was really hoping for a whole day off. When the snow stopped at 9pm, Katie noticed and was disappointed. She was pretty upset about it this morning, too. Jenna wasn't, because she had just had 2 days off school. And Claire wasn't, cuz she's home today. But Katie's really missing out. Wishing she were sick, I think.
Saturday at the Farm Show, Jenna had no energy-- I wondered if she was getting sick. Sure enough! Sun thru Tues she spent at home. Mon she spent the WHOLE day in bed. Had no energy to do anything. Had a sore throat and slight fever. Now her nose runs, but we decided she was good enough to go to school today (after our 2-hour delay for 2 inches of snow). She's been very perky since she got up Tues morning.
Micah had a rash on Sunday, so we didn't let him go to church. Itchy rash. No other symptoms til Mon. Now he's had a slight fever ever since Mon morning. His nose runs, too. However, if I keep Tylenol in him, he's been pretty active. And he's enjoying having sisters home to play with him-- and I'm enjoying that they are all sick with, I assume, the same thing, so I don't worry about them staying away from each other.
Claire last night told me her "neck" hurt. She still has trouble distinguishing if she's referring to neck or throat. Upon investigation, I found she was referring to her throat; and this morning, she has a cough, too. So, even tho she has tons of energy right now (she and Micah are running around playing puppy with each other), we kept her home from school-- thinking she might be getting the same thing.
Bummer about sickness and weather problems on Mondays is all the lessons I miss. 10 lessons is quite a chunk of income to give up. However, I was still able to do them all, since Chad came home to stay with the sickies while I went to school, and Katie stayed downstairs with sickies while I did the home lessons. It was also crucial to do these lessons because we have a recital coming up on Feb 20; and, since we just had Christmas, many of the students need to be kicked back into gear. :)
Yes, we had snow last night-- 2 inches. The girls watched it and cheered. They were so excited about snow, and having school off. I was, too. I was really hoping for a whole day off. When the snow stopped at 9pm, Katie noticed and was disappointed. She was pretty upset about it this morning, too. Jenna wasn't, because she had just had 2 days off school. And Claire wasn't, cuz she's home today. But Katie's really missing out. Wishing she were sick, I think.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
PA Farm Show
Saturday we went to the PA Farm Show in Harrisburg. We parked at HACC and took a shuttle to the Farm Show Building. We had an inch of snow on the ground, as you'll see. This was exciting when we were home, and the girls wanted to stay home to play in it; but when we were walking in it, it wasn't as much fun. Claire complained about wet on her shoes and pants. I had not attached her hood to her coat, so she was also worried about getting snowflakes in her hair. So, being the inventive girl she is, she took a scarf she had in the van to play with, and fashioned it into a hat-- had me tie the tails together in the back so it would stay on her head. She loved it! Katie was totally embarrassed. 
One large room had lots of tractors and machinery and vendors. Turkey Hill passed out free cups of ice cream that the kids (except Claire) loved. Claire really liked getting on a few of the tractors.
Micah thought he was big stuff on this Massey-- sure a lot cleaner and newer than the Massey I grew up with. :)
Claire was just fascinated with some of the animals-- esp horses and alpacas. Several times later in the day, she told me she wanted an alpaca. And, "I wish I were older so I could get an alpaca." and, with tears in her eyes, "It'll be such a long time til I'm an adult and I can get an alpaca."
FYI-- Alpacas are cousins of llamas. Alpacas are smaller, raised for their soft wool fiber. Llamas coats are rougher and they are raised as work animals.
We all enjoyed watching the Duck Slide. Don and Anita were with us, and she said she remembers them doing the Duck Slide at the Farm Show when Chad was little; and that he was fascinated with it then, too. There are probably 10-15 ducklings in there; they head up the ramp on the one side so they can get to the small can of food that hangs off the top of the ramp. The crowd of ducklings push the end ones off so they go down the slide into the water.
Watched some chicks hatching. This is slow business, and those poor things look so exhausted when they make it out. Fascinating process.
Saw a little of the auction-- hogs when we were there. The auctioneer's speech pattern (does that have a name?) was very interesting-- we could hardly understand a thing he said. And we were all careful not to rub our noses or pat our heads, and thus, inadvertently buy a hog.
Butter sculpture. Made with more than 1,000 pounds of butter. There's got to be a metal rod support system under that butter, right?
Micah and Claire, and even several older members of the family, enjoyed playing in the corn bins. They put out corn like it's a sandbox. With sand toys and toy tractors, etc.
And a carousel ride! Watch the video way below and you'll see if the kids liked it or not.
One large room had lots of tractors and machinery and vendors. Turkey Hill passed out free cups of ice cream that the kids (except Claire) loved. Claire really liked getting on a few of the tractors.
Micah thought he was big stuff on this Massey-- sure a lot cleaner and newer than the Massey I grew up with. :)
Claire was just fascinated with some of the animals-- esp horses and alpacas. Several times later in the day, she told me she wanted an alpaca. And, "I wish I were older so I could get an alpaca." and, with tears in her eyes, "It'll be such a long time til I'm an adult and I can get an alpaca."
FYI-- Alpacas are cousins of llamas. Alpacas are smaller, raised for their soft wool fiber. Llamas coats are rougher and they are raised as work animals.
We all enjoyed watching the Duck Slide. Don and Anita were with us, and she said she remembers them doing the Duck Slide at the Farm Show when Chad was little; and that he was fascinated with it then, too. There are probably 10-15 ducklings in there; they head up the ramp on the one side so they can get to the small can of food that hangs off the top of the ramp. The crowd of ducklings push the end ones off so they go down the slide into the water.
Watched some chicks hatching. This is slow business, and those poor things look so exhausted when they make it out. Fascinating process.
Saw a little of the auction-- hogs when we were there. The auctioneer's speech pattern (does that have a name?) was very interesting-- we could hardly understand a thing he said. And we were all careful not to rub our noses or pat our heads, and thus, inadvertently buy a hog.
Butter sculpture. Made with more than 1,000 pounds of butter. There's got to be a metal rod support system under that butter, right?
Micah and Claire, and even several older members of the family, enjoyed playing in the corn bins. They put out corn like it's a sandbox. With sand toys and toy tractors, etc.
And a carousel ride! Watch the video way below and you'll see if the kids liked it or not.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Date Week
I think I set a personal record. I went to 2 movies in one week. :)
It had been a while since the girls had been on dates with Daddy, and we had wanted to see the Narnia movie, so Chad took Katie to it on Tues afternoon. But, Jenna and I wanted to see it, too, so I took her on Wed afternoon. (We very much enjoyed it-- much better than the 2nd one in the series) Then Claire knew her date was coming up soon, and she was jealous because she wanted to see a movie, too. Worked out great that there was a movie we'd be OK with her seeing, cuz so often there's not-- right after school yesterday I took her to Tangled. This one was the most fun for me, because she laughed out loud, and very much enjoyed the whole experience (flippy seats, theater seating, dark theater, big screen). And it was a funny movie. She hugged me and said, "Thanks!" afterwards.
So, I usually see one or two movies a year. Here I saw 2 in 3 days.
We were back in school Thur and Fri. Nice to have a short week. Hey, there's an inch of snow outside this morning! If that had happened yesterday, we might not have had school.
It had been a while since the girls had been on dates with Daddy, and we had wanted to see the Narnia movie, so Chad took Katie to it on Tues afternoon. But, Jenna and I wanted to see it, too, so I took her on Wed afternoon. (We very much enjoyed it-- much better than the 2nd one in the series) Then Claire knew her date was coming up soon, and she was jealous because she wanted to see a movie, too. Worked out great that there was a movie we'd be OK with her seeing, cuz so often there's not-- right after school yesterday I took her to Tangled. This one was the most fun for me, because she laughed out loud, and very much enjoyed the whole experience (flippy seats, theater seating, dark theater, big screen). And it was a funny movie. She hugged me and said, "Thanks!" afterwards.
So, I usually see one or two movies a year. Here I saw 2 in 3 days.
We were back in school Thur and Fri. Nice to have a short week. Hey, there's an inch of snow outside this morning! If that had happened yesterday, we might not have had school.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Our Family Christmas Celebration
Finally, we were home long enough to have our own Christmas celebration-- on Jan. 4. Started with a yummy breakfast.
Then Chad read the Christmas story while the kids acted it out. It was part listening, part fun and goofyness, part chaos.
Here's the chaos...
Here the wisemen were presenting gifts to baby Jesus. At first, Micah was supposed to be baby Jesus, but he was way too wiggly. For a while, he ran off to his room and was hitting pegs on his new workbench. Thus, Claire got a boy doll to be Jesus, and this worked much better.
One of Micah's gifts was a ring toss set. He likes it!
He also really liked the new bathrobe we gave him.
Then Chad read the Christmas story while the kids acted it out. It was part listening, part fun and goofyness, part chaos. 
Here's the chaos...
Here the wisemen were presenting gifts to baby Jesus. At first, Micah was supposed to be baby Jesus, but he was way too wiggly. For a while, he ran off to his room and was hitting pegs on his new workbench. Thus, Claire got a boy doll to be Jesus, and this worked much better.
One of Micah's gifts was a ring toss set. He likes it!
He also really liked the new bathrobe we gave him. 
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