Pizza Day

The kids at Tender Steps all made their own pizza lunch this past Friday. Noah's teachers are incorporating cooking into the curriculum at school, which I think is great. These are the cutest pictures (thank you Sangeeta and Danette).

Noah and Micah carefully roll out the dough.

And then spread the sauce on the pizzas

The other boys get in on the action.

Even Elijah gets to cook.

It's always critical to put your whole hand into the sauce.

And pat down the cheese. Yum yum.

Swimming

Noah and I have been taking a swimming class at the rec center with our friends Karen and Sean. Unfortunately, we missed 4 weeks of the class between the snow, the instructor being sick, and a swim meet. So, we're coming to the end of the class. Noah really enjoys the pool, though sometimes the water is cold and he is less than thrilled.

Missing the Dog Days of Summer

Noah's daycare teacher, Sangeeta, sent us some pictures she took last summer of Noah and his friends at school. I so miss warm weather!

The Gang Back in the Day

Here are Noah, Mia, Sienna and Greydon when they were about 8 months old. Still buds today.

Presidents Day with Mia

Mara, Mia and CJ came over this morning for brunch. It is Presidents Day, so we were both off from work. Mia and Noah had a wonderful time playing with each other, though Noah had some issues sharing some of his toys with baby CJ. Interestingly, he was perfectly willing to share anything with Mia.

The Ski Jump

Actually, this isn't a ski jump, it's our front steps (Darren has since shoveled them).

Oatmeal Cookies

We are quite snowed in again today. I would say we got another 10 inches or so and the winds have been extremely strong. So, another day of cabin fever.

We made oatmeal cookies from scratch. I am not much of a baker, but we actually had all the ingredients on hand. It was funny because I wouldn't let Noah eat any of the batter because of the raw eggs, but I think I freaked him out because when they were first done he wouldn't eat them because he said they had raw egg in them. Obviously, he got over that little hurtle.

The Second 2-Foot Snow Storm this Winter

I'm not sure if we live in Washington DC or somewhere in Northern Canada these days. On Friday and Saturday we got hit with another snow storm that dumped over 2 feet on us. The snow from the last 2 foot storm (and the two "minor" storms in between) hadn't even melted yet. And, on top of that we're supposed to get 10-20 inches tonight. It really is terrible in a townhouse community because there is nowhere to put the snow. We luckily have a small side yard, but mostly there are 6 foot piles of snow on either side of every driveway on my street.

Noah is not a huge fan of the cold, and he hasn't wanted to spend much time outside. He's also not a fan of wearing mittens because he has a hard time picking things up. But he does want to "help" daddy shovel. He's got a dust pan in a couple of these photos.

Needless to say, the federal government has been closed today and yesterday, and considering that we're getting another dose of snow now, it will probably be shut tomorrow too. I'm thinking we may go back to work either Thursday or Friday. Maybe. The biggest problem is that the region is just not equip to deal with storms like this. We don't have the kind of plows, salt, budget for it. This is understandable, as we are about to break the record for snowfall in a season. The last time DC had 2 storms as big as these was in the 1880s.

The roads are not great. We were out today to do some grocery shopping, and yesterday we got out for a little while and went to Toys R Us. But other than that, we've been shut up in the house. Considering how boring it is, Noah has been on excellent behavior, but he misses his friends.

I don't know where we're going to put another 10-20 inches when this latest wave is over. The pictures below are from Sunday.