The Blizzard of 2015

Well...the Blizzard of 2015 was a bust for Central Maryland.

We only got 3" or so.  Just enough for a day off of school and some decent sledding.

We went down to the Udvar-Hazy Center on Saturday because Jim had to make a trip to Dulles.  Unbeknownst to us, it was Open House Day there - so there was all sorts of extra things to do.  The kids did a scavenger hunt and earned a badge when then found planes named after animals.  Thinking we were going to Story Time under the space shuttle, we happened upon a presentation on one of the planes that is currently under restoration called "Flak-Bait".  Sam and Caroline sat through the 40 minute presentation on the B26 Marauder, mesmerized.  Sam was so interested that he declared he wanted to do his project for the Social Studies Fair on "Flak-Bait".  This is a good thing, he had previously wanted to know where his great-grandfathers went when they were in the army in WWII, but that's a lot for a 1st grader to handle - so we're making it into a family project.  Sam has spent the last few days watching training videos and documentaries and looking in the WWII books he has got out of the library to learn what he can about Flak-Bait.  It's pretty cool stuff.

Caroline has got some cool books out of the library on Marie Curie and radioactivity.  Thanks to some NRC videos aimed at kids, I'm pretty sure she understands enough about radioactive elements to explain the what and why.  She is way more interested in Marie Curie and plans to dress up as her to present to her class.  Guess I'll be breaking in the sewing machine very soon.  Nothing like working on a deadline!

Oh  - I forgot to mention.  Benjamin was nominated for an Academy Award in the "Best Performance by a Juvenile Actor" category for his epic performance at Mass on Sunday morning.  It started off with him just being a little more rambunctious than usual.  It ended with Benjamin dropping himself prone on the church floor in a most dramatic fashion and then flipping to yell "I. Don't. Want. To. Be. Quuuuiiiiieeeettt!!!" during the Consecration.  At the end of Mass, Monsignor made a special effort to welcome everyone to the community - even those that don't want to be quiet.
I'll be honest - three years ago I would have been praying to be swallowed into the ground with an episode like that, but by that point in the Mass on Sunday, I was so done that I couldn't even manage a blush.   I am doing the best I can with what I have.  If people can't figure that out...oh, well.  Maybe more people will bring their kids to Mass because they figure it's not a problem to get them to behave better than ours.  That's worth something, right?

On a snow day last week, the Youngers put together birdhouses.  It took me a while to convince Nate that we were not going to have a bird living in the house.  He got over his disappointment quickly once he saw that he got to use a hammer.  The sight of Benjamin with a hammer was enough to make me break out in hives - but they built their houses.  Nate did a lot on his own.  He was pleased. 

This morning, Caroline was up at 5 and the rest up soon after so they could build a lego village.  Yes, that is Sam wearing his winter jacket and Caroline wearing a hat indoors.
What's a Mama to do?  They were happy.  I wasn't going to change anything!