Ringing in the New Year.

So I guess you could call this an update post.

To start with before new years we had a dump of about 25 cm here.  The snow stuck around for about five days and almost stopped the Mrs. and me from getting in a long run.  It did not however stop the kids from having a good time.

Of course with the snow comes the cold crappy weather of January.  I am telling you it could be Grand Forks in April.  And without central heating it means staying in the one room with a space heater.  It also means shouting at any kid who enters the room or leaves the room without shutting the door.  Our oldest is easily the biggest offender.  So what do we do when it is cold and crappy.  We hang out in doors.

The last couple of days the oldest boy has been sick.  So I have activated my crafting gene and whipped up two activities.  Activity one was making a paper bead necklace.  Basically you make long isoceles triangles (no I will not explain which type of triangle that is) out of coloured paper.  You then roll them around something thin and cylindrical and glue down the last bit of the tip.  After stringing together three bracelets for the little ones the daughter finally got to make her necklace.

She is still wearing it today, so that is a win.  The next project was started this morning and completed this afternoon.  a) We started by taking pictures out of a magazine and making a collage.  b) Then we cut up the collage to make a jigsaw puzzle.  Part a) was easy and fun.  Part b) gave clear definition to why there is a saw named after a puzzle.  It is the other way around.  You make this type of puzzle using a jigsaw.  Using a dull exacto knife is time consuming, frustrating, and not particularly effective.  Next time I will use stiff paper instead of cardboard.

Other than that the kids are back to school next Tuesday.  I am looking forward to getting our routine back up and running.  Lots of people with free time stuck inside together is not always a recipe for fun.  Sometimes but not always.

ps.  We also went and picked up the pottery we made back in November.  It was glazed by some professionals and looked pretty good.  While we were out the Mrs. got to making some homemade bread.  Here is a picture of our current works of art.

(pot by me, buns by wife)