Allison driving

Today I got to ride along with Allison on her last drive for drivers ed. She did a good job and even learned on a stick. We feel that it is important for our girls to learn to drive a stick. We don't own one but at least they know just in case they are ever put in situation where they need to know how to drive one. Allison was so excited to drive one of our cars so she drove Ashley to practice tonight. Madison had the little car so she got to experience the Suburban. It was interesting. It is going to take a little bit more practice to get more comfortable.

When I hoped in the car after her I had to move the seat back. That never happens to me. It was kind of nice.

She isn't shorter then me so I don't know how long it will last before I will be moving the seat up after she drives.

Basketball

This the second week of season play for Ashley. It sure has been fun watching these girls come together as a team. They have won all four games so far. Ashley is sure loving playing and loves the team that she plays with. Her coach Tara is also so great with the girls and they are learning so much. She works with all the girls and wants to see them all succeed.

I can't wait for the rest of the season.

Dinner

Tonight Ashley couldn't find anything to do so she told me she was bored. I was still working on homework so I told her she could make dinner for me. She didn't hop right on board but I kind of hinted that she didn't have a choice. She made the whole dinner with only a little help from Madison (which she now looks back on and wishes she wouldn't have ask for since she messed up apple cider vinegar for apple cider).

It turned out good even with the little mess up. Ashley told me that it wasn't that bad making dinner and she will help me out some more.

Handcuffs

Today I got this funny text from Dawn.

I ask Allison if she wanted to be Jacobs guinea pig and she got a kick out of it. When Allison was two or three we were over at their house and Jacob had just got a pair of play hand cuffs. He was only 9 or 10 and was so excited for the new handcuffs. He ended up handcuffing Allison to his bed and it freaked her out pretty bad. She has not forgotten it. It was funny to think back on that memory and I find it interesting that Jacob has put his handcuff skills to good use in the police academy.
The warmer temps have been nice but they still haven't been warm enough to get rid of all the snow and ice. Allison had the day off school today because it was senior project day at her school. She didn't really know what to do with her time so she decided to chip away on the ice in front of our driveway since she is almost done with drivers ed and will be driving soon.

Warmer temps

Our temps have been below freezing since before Christmas. I never thought I that I would look forward to 30 degree weather but when I saw this this morning I was ecstatic. This Texas girl does not like below freezing temperatures and my Idaho girls don't either. Ashley just wants to be able to go outside at recess but they haven't let them with all this snow and the low temperatures. I hope this is a turning point for this winter and we start to see a bit of our normal Treasure Valley winter.

Quilt

The quilt I made Kevin several years ago the backing has been ripping over time. The wholes recently have gotten out of control so today while out in Kuna with my friends I took it apart to prep it for a new back. I am hoping to get this done quickly because I know Kevin sleeps better with his blanket but I guess we will see.

I am glad that the top is salvage because I definitely wouldn't have time to do a whole new quilt.

More snow

Since the girls returned to school the snow has died down but today it decided to come back. My kids weren't excited that the snow was back because the reality of making up snow days has settled with them. So far they have school on Presidents day and Martin Luther King Day. They might have one more day that they have to make up but the school district hasn't mentioned anything yet. High school finals have been pushed back and some of the half days have been canceled for them. All this snow has really wrecked havoc in our lives.

I hope this doesn't bring another snow day for the girls.

Basketball Jamboree

Today Ashley played in the beginning of the season Jamboree. This was kind of a weird start to the season. The girls have only practiced together once because of all the snow days they couldn't practice at the schools. At least our girls got to get one practice in because some of the other teams didn't get to get one in. I was a bit nervous for this game because I had no idea what to expect. Ashley did a great job. It was fun to watch the team play together. It will be interesting to see what this season brings. The girls played two games today and for some strange reason they played the same team both games. They lost the first game but won the second game. They did a good job considering they didn't practice much together before today.

Today was also Y day at the BSU girls basketball game. The girls got in for free with their jerseys on. Two other people also got in free with a Y player so it was a fun afternoon for Kevin and I with Ashley and Kinnlie.

These girls really had fun and it was a good game.

After the game we hung around so the girls could get the players signatures. It was fun watching them. They were in awe like they were meeting celebrities.

On the way home the girls were already talking about the next time. We are definatly going to have to do this again.

Service 4WD

This morning as I pulled out of the driveway to take kids to school I got this lovely warning on my dash.

Is this winter ever going to end. If our Suburban breaks down I don't know what we are going to do. Madison's car can not drive in the neighborhood with all this snow. Even with the plows it still gets stuck. The only reason she can drive to school is because we live on a main road out of town. I am so over 2017 winter. There was some good news for Madison though when she got home from school. Kevin shoveled the end of the driveway and she can drive to school tomorrow.

Back in school

The kids went back to school today. Other areas that have been hit worse then Meridian are still out of school. We had the Christmas break that was never going to end. The road in the neighborhood still haven't been plowed so we can't get Madisons car out of the drive way. It has been since before New Years since we have driven that car. Today she took it into her own hands to get the care out. Her friend Sadie and her got the shovels and started chipping away at the ice at the end of the drive way. She was so excited to drive again.

They took the car to Red Robin for dinner and then came home before heading to a basketball game and guess what came by. The snow plows and now the car can't leave the drive way again. She was too pooped from the first dig out to do it again so she resorted to that I would be driving her to school tomorrow again.

No school agian

My kids are literally begging to go back to school. I never thought that they would have five snow days in a row. It really needs to stop snowing so they can go back to school. I love having them around but this is beginning to get ridiculous. Madison has even joined the other two and wants to go back. Hopefully tomorrow.

SNOW DAY

Madison got her wish they called a snow day this morning after Allison was all ready for school. Four snow days in a row this is getting ridiculous. The kids could have gone to school today but the school district played it safe since the neighborhoods roads have not been touched at all by snow plows. This area is just not prepared for this amount of snow. The plows have been working around the clock for so long. The girls were getting antsy from being cooped up in the house for so long so we headed out for some sledding and retail therapy. It was nice to get out of the house. I really hope the kids go back to school tomorrow.

It was way too cold outside so Allison and I took pictures from the car.

Sunday Snow Day

We enjoyed a nice day at home this Sabbath day. We could have made it to church since ours is just in our neighborhood but the regional leaders chose to play it safe and cancel church for the whole region. I am kind of glad that they did because they have yet to plow the neighborhood and people without 4 wheel-drive would not have made it to church without getting stuck. All day Madison has been obsessively checking her phone to see if they have canceled school for tomorrow. She is so funny because she is so done with school. As of now they are going to school but Madison is still praying that it will happen.

More snow

We woke up this morning to more snow. Before it started snowing again we headed out to do some grocery shopping since we hadn't been since before Christmas. I could not believe how crazy the stores were. People were clearing the shelves expecting the worst. It was kind of silly. I am glad that we got our shopping done early because the snow started again.

With the snow coming down we cuddled up on the new couches with the fire going and played games. I am so glad that we could just stay in our house and not be out on the roads.

Church has now been canceled for tomorrow. This is the craziest winter yet. Good thing we stocked up on treats while grocery shopping. We have to keep the troops happy if we aren't leaving our house.

Root beer floats my favorite.

Couches FINALLY!

We ordered couches for our living room in September we found some that we liked while we were in Indianapolis. We don't have a Crate in Barrel in Boise so we knew they would have to be shipped but I never imagined that it would take this long to get them. I was beginning to wonder if they were ever going to come. When they called earlier this week I wasn't even sure that we were going to get them because of all the snow but they did end up getting delivered.

We will order another ottoman now that these have arrived and we can use the points we earned from this purchase towards the second ottoman. I love them and the girls love them. They have only seen pictures up until this point. They all approve. I love how they lighten up the room compared to our other couches. It is also nice to have couches down stairs to have somewhere to sit to enjoy the projector and big screen. I am really happy with how our house is coming along.
There is a lot of snow in the forecast for this weekend. This winter has been crazy and it has just begun.

Snow day #2

I can not believe how much snow there is in my yard. There has never been this much snow in the twenty years that I have lived here. One of the perks of the Treasure Valley is that it doesn't get as much snow as everyone else around it. If my first winter here was like this I would have never stayed.

The roads are not good so we are pretty much confined to our house. I got this wild hair to deep clean the kitchen today and enlisted the girls to help.

Ashley was a real trooper and lasted the longest. They have called another snow day for tomorrow. I am beginning to wonder if they are ever going to go back to school. There doesn't seem to be an end in sight.

SNOW

Oh my goodness when is the snow going to stop. The district called a snow day today. Allison came in after getting already for school and told me that the district had just called a snow day. She was wide awake and had a hard time going back to bed. Madison woke up before Allison went back to bed so she knew that it was a snow day but we didn't wake Ashley up. She came down to my room at 9:30 in a panic because she thought she was late for school. It was funny but also not funny because she was so panicked. Kevin was working so Madison and I went out to shovel. When we were about a third of the way done with drive way our neighbor Brother Blackburn came by with his four wheeler and finished it off for us. It was so nice because it snowed a lot last night.

Even with the help I was pooped so I didn't make it to the back porch to make a pathway for Macie. She wasn't happy so she just walked out alittle and peed about a foot from the door.

Allison got the crazy idea to see how deep the snow was in our backyard so she took a ruler out back to check it out.

It was deeper then the ruler. No wonder Macie does not like to hang out outside because she is only nine inches tall.
The district has called another snow day for tomorrow because there is more snow expected over night. At least Allison won't be up and ready before they call it.