Happy Two-sday!!!

Today the date read 2-22-22, and it fell on a Tuesday.  This is certainly a once in a lifetime occurrence for us, so we celebrated!

I started the day with the two-times tables rock, followed by a few songs that have two in the title.  Once I was downstairs, I put on some fantastic tuba solos.  Alice was not impressed.

My sister came up with the two-tsie roll (tootsie roll) pun, so my dear ones had 2 shaped arrangements on the table to start the day.

Emily had ballet today, so once we got home, I made up some two shaped two-na (tuna) fish sandwiches with a two-be (tube) of yoghurt.

On Sunday, I whipped up some two-rmeric (turmeric) cookies.  I had them in my cake dome, so that they wouldn't dry out, and they were quite soft.  However, the recipe made so many that when William asked if he could pass some out to his karate friends, I was happy to help him pack them up, in sets of two, naturally.

They were really the prettiest yellow color, and the recipe was straightforward.  As to the taste, they were a nice novelty.

The final two in our day was Two-nisian (Tunisian) Quiche.  I did all my prep work on Sunday, because the time between karate and dinner is particularly short.

I would make and eat this again, though I still prefer my quiche with a crust.  The peeling of the potatoes was the longest bit, because they only had fingerling yellow potatoes at Carl's.  I would opt for bigger potatoes next time, as well as decreasing the recommended salt.

So, that was our Two-sday (Tuesday.)  It was filled with lots and lots of twos and new tastes.

later days

William's 9th Kyu Test

William tested for his 9th Kyu belt over the weekend. We were all able to attend and cheer him on!

They test by levels, so he wasn't alone, and tested with one other 10th Kyu.  We also got to watch a student test for his junior black belt!  They all passed, and it was interesting to watch.  I kind of preferred the park testing though, it was so quiet, every noise seemed like an interruption. 

Grace helped me make up a sign to hold up to cheer him on.  It was really loud when we unrolled it in the testing room though. 

We are all proud of our William!

later days

Other Noteworthy Events

For Valentine's Day, Billy braved the cold, and a line outside the door, to get me some local made dark chocolate coconut chews!!  They were really good (I actually still have some) and made me feel very loved.  I bought him a box of Reese's cups, along with a small heart box for each of the kids.  It's probably a good thing he got what he wanted while he was at the chocolate shop.

Grace woke up looking like she'd partied all night!

But we were able to tame that hair.

The twins asked how small they were when they were born.  I told them they could fit into Daddy's hand.  He didn't remember them being that tiny, so I broke out an old picture from when they were just a few weeks old.

Upon seeing it, they decided that they wanted to recreate it.  I don't recall who is who in the first picture, and looking back at my blog, I didn't say!! If I were facing the way I think I was, it should be Grace/Mutti/Juliet in the first picture. But the second picture is for sure Grace/Mutti/Juliet.

 

Grace did up her hair in three buns for Three Kings Day

They all got some small treats from Mutti and Daddy.

William built his Lego set after school.

And I got my Christmas gift in from Billy.  They are super cute alligators "biting" my ear, but they are really heavy.

We had the Cornishes over for a game day.  I was participating in dry January, and it was the first time I'd been tested, and stuck it out!  We played this really fun interactive pirate game, that we actually played the next time we hung out with them too!

Juliet made and avatar family and sent it to me.  In the small version, I thought William was blowing a bubble, I didn't realize that it was a cursor.  Oh well.

Alice and Emily thought the can in the Sam's parking lot was a meme, and wanted me to take a picture, so I did.

Juliet's hair was really pretty after coming in from playing the snow one day!

Christin and I sent one another pictures of our breakfast one day.  So now it is going here too.  Buttered toast and black tea with milk.

My mom has already travelled to Texas/FL/OK this year, but she will be leaving again this weekend, since my grandpa fell over, while petting a dog, and broke both of his shoulders (and several other bones.) = (  

I'm hoping for a less eventful end to the month.

later days

Crafts and Experiments

 We read that you could fit an entire cup of popcorn into a cup of milk.  So, we tried it.

It worked!  So, we tired water and popcorn, which worked too.  Water and rice did not, so we did not attempt milk and rice.

Emily spied an American Girl doll backpack at the store one day.  While she was admiring it, I thought to myself "I could make that."  So, when I had a bit of time to spare, I cut a template for the front and back out of some scratch paper, then pieced the pockets together from there.

I loved the big zipper pull that i had in my stash.  The heavy decorative pull will be appreciated by Emily I think.

All done.  There are a few things I would change, but I hope she will enjoy playing with her Coral and Coral's new backpack on her birthday.

I also found the motivation to finish the 2 almost finished projects that had been on my sewing desk for months (a pair of oven mitts and a small zipper pouch.) 

Since they were not for anyone special, it was really hard to find the motivation to finish them.

Grace really wanted to pass out mustache lollipops to her enrichment day friends.  I didn't have any black card stock, and ended up fighting colored paper, which was brutal.  Luckily, she only needed 20. They were so funny, I took one of the less than perfect ones for myself.  Juliet opted for lips, and I had plenty of cardstock for that.

I'm rereading some Agatha Christie novels which led to my decision to make Yorkshire pudding.  It was so good.  Since many in my crew opted against them, I ended up getting them for 3 lunches during the week!!

We were poised to do a bacteria experiment, but the dishes are supposed to be kept between 85-100F and there is just nowhere in our house that warm in February.  We'll have to try again once we are truly warm.

It's been a busy, fun kind of few months.

later days

A Snow filled January and February

We got some substantial snow the first two days of 2022.

Jan 1st:

Jan 2nd:

Alice attempted to make some maple syrup candy in the snow, but the snow was too fluffy, and the syrup melted straight through. = (

For a while, we got just little dusting or a couple of inches here and there...

...but once February arrived, it came all at once.  It came from a system that stretched all the way from here to Texas!  Alice and I shovelled the front walk and driveways 3 times in 24 hours!!  During our third clearing, one of our sweet, retired neighbors came by, snowplow on the front of his truck and cleared it for us! The piles that we had cleared the past two times were over my waist, making it harder to get the thick muck at the end of the driveway.  It certainly felt like an answered prayer.

The picture absolutely cannot capture the brilliance of the sparkling snow!

Since we had so much snow, we decided to conduct an experiment. We gathered 11inches of snow, to see if the 1ft=1in snow in our book was correct.  The first attempt we made, we stuffed the snow in really tight.

That gave us over 4 inches of water!!

For our second attempt, we gently scooped up some snow, and did not force it down.

We still ended up with over 2 inches of water.

Since the book gave no instructions on their methods, we stopped there, and decided that the book needed to give clarification.

We are expecting another round of snow tonight, but not as much (and there is a chance it will miss us altogether!) I took a picture yesterday, and today, while our temperatures were above freezing, so that I could compare to what snow we do get.

Feb. 17:

Feb 18:

I guess the snow has technically already started, but it is still "warm" enough out that it will turn to water. I'll for sure post an update if we get the snow they are predicting.

later days