Winter

Here it is, March already. I think it is safe to say that we have survived our first winter in our new home. Actually, our winter was much milder than it was for my old friends in Rochester. Rochester got hit a lot harder with the snow, which made all of us (except Shawn) insanely jealous. The entire city of Rochester literally shut down at one point, which I have never experienced before. No fair! I figure if it's going to be butt-cold, then we might as well have tons of snow to look at. Also, I'm not expected to go anywhere. "Sorry, it's mac & cheese for dinner, I couldn't drive to the grocery store this week." Being home-bound was exactly what the girls were hoping for as well, but Olivia didn't have a single snow day this year. I have never heard of such a thing. We have always had snow days during the winter, ever since I was a child. When Olivia and Genevieve have a snow day, we love to watch movies and drink hot chocolate, thoroughly enjoying our stolen time together. My car even started every day! I'm so baffled.

On the plus side, there is now tanning available at the hardware store in town. I don't know how comfortable I would be stripping down to the buff in a male dominated atmosphere, but apparently they get a lot of business. Creepy.

Olivia, now the ripe old age of eight, recently applied for her first job. (I know, I know, why wasn't she working already? Kids are so spoiled these days.) There is a restaurant in town called "Kim's" that we like to go to. Granted, there is only one other cafe and a Subway, but we really do like Kim's. Kim and Wendell own the place, and the girls think that they are possibly the neatest people ever. Olivia decided that she would like to be the cook, and Genevieve figured she should be the waitress. Kim graciously discussed this scenario with them, and promise them jobs in the future. Olivia only needs to wait seven more years, and Genevieve, a mere ten. The girls settled on drawing them pictures for now; cats and horses eating pizza and drinking hot chocolate.

I recently had conferences with Olivia's teacher. Olivia is reading at a high fifth grade level, and is above average in everything. Her reading and comprehension skills are in the top 98% in the NATION! Of course I'm proud, but I can't help but feel a little stupid. She's pretty much smarter than me now. I once had lofty aspirations of helping her with her homework until she was in middle school. I suppose I can make her tutor Genevieve from now on, and not have Gen discover my lack of intellect until later in life; although, I'm guessing Genevieve suspects more than she lets on. She can navigate the computer far better than I ever will, and most likely thinks I'm dense.

I am still surviving our Laura Ingalls lifestyle. No television, no cell phones, and I try to make all of our food that I can. We only recently began buying vegetables from the grocery store- our frozen beans lasted this whole time. Our apple butter and pickles have lasted as well, and we gave a lot of apple butter away as gifts for Christmas. Now, with Amish cookbooks from my mother, I have even begun making things like crackers and cereal! Yes, I am most certainly impressed with myself. This summer, we will have a large garden of our own- not just Harry & Christine's to raid- plus I will get more apples from the tree (I didn't even know until fall last year that the apples were edible). I plan on freezing not just vegetables, but pies as well. The apple pies that are made from our tree are amazing! I cannot wait to can again, as crazy as that sounds. It's so much work, but is very satisfying.

I will leave you with something to ponder... kids always help me look at things in a new way. The other day Genevieve closely observed some bird poop and mused, "It's all smooth- like man boobs." Something to mull over, no?