Fun in the Snow

Here's a photo of Emmett and Madison.  That's the snowman's name, by the way - he was given that name byMadison, who was evidently still enamored with "The Lego Movie."  Yes, we're still singing that song, "Everything is Awesome."  However, today's snowy day of play gave way to more songs from the "Frozen" soundtrack.  Madison gives it all she got as she shouts out "Let it Go" and "For the First Time in Forever."

Today we were out in the snow for quite some time  You can see the snowman above - Madison and Daddy were able to roll these ginormous snowballs up, stacking them near the house for a mighty snowman.  As an added touch, Daddy opted not to use stick arms, instead, sculpting some snow arms instead.  Emmett is waving to the neighbors, although not for long, as the temperature is going to be fairly warmer tomorrow.

In the meantime, it was a great day to play:  we even built somewhat of a snow fort!

It's a bit medieval, but it's also pretty big.  Madison would hide behind these walls, launching out snowballs at Daddy, who was basically a sitting duck!

We did have snowball fights, and we even filmed a movie of sorts for KidPak on Sunday.  It's brief, but we'll see how the footage comes out tomorrow when Daddy has to go back to work.

It was a great day today, our last of the "enforced" winter break.  We've missed seven days of school so far, which is seven more than last year.  But the time together has been nice.  We've enjoyed time together as a family, watching movies and playing games.

Today, Madison also did some piano, and finished up her drawing series.  Daddy told her if she could draw ten good pictures, he'd give her a reward.  She's been using her "how to draw" books to create sea creatures, flowers, and various Disney characters.  Each time, she's getting better and better with her drawing. Today, Daddy had her draw Mater, from "Cars."  Her reward for drawing so much?  Mater, from "Cars."  Daddy gave her the Disney Infinity character Mater, which of course we were playing with right away.

Daddy shoveled the snow off the driveway a second time.  This is the third time he's used it this winter - Mommy had a gut feeling, and ordered this snow shovel back in October!  She knew it would be a different sort of winter, one that had all kinds of snow.  And it turns out she was right!  We've had a great bit of "snow time," with plenty of time to go out and play in the white stuff.  Madison really enjoyed it again, and so did Daddy.  We were making snow angels and building things and just having a great time!

But soon it was time to get inside and warm up.  Mommy had tacos made for us, which we promptly horked down.  And then, of course, there was time for the Olympics - with the skeleton races, men's figure skating and freestyle skiing as well.  We've been watching all sorts of things lately, and watched them late into the night again (with no school planned for tomorrow).  We cooked up some popcorn and got the blankets together, snuggling and cheering for the athletes.

Speaking of which, here's today's entry for the Olympic devotional.  I cheated, borrowing a couple paragraphs from a Summer Games entry a few years ago, but the same idea is there - which I think is a good one...

“Work at everything you do with all your heart.” Colossians 3:23 NIrV

     The Women’s Downhill is over a mile long.  Skiers better know how to use the edge of those skis, because it’s a downhill adventure at speeds that would get you a ticket if you drove that fast with your car!  Through twists and turns, perilous jumps and icy patches, the racers zoom down the hill with times that are measured by a hundredth of a second. 

     This year at Sochi, something amazing happened, something that has never happened before at the Olympics.  Two racers, Slovenia’s Tina Maze and Switzerland’s Dominique Gisin, both had the best time down the slopes.  They had the same exact time of exactly 1 minute, and 41.57 seconds.  Both got Olympic gold with a time measured to the hundredth of a second!  On top of that, Gisin’s teammate Lara Gut was one tenth of a second behind that time, earning a bronze for the race.

       One tenth of a second was the difference between the top three racers – less than a blink of an eye. That’s all that separated these two racers at the podium. It’s such a sliver of time – it’s such an edge. But that’s what it took to win. And that’s what it will take for you to win: the edge.
     How do you get this edge? It takes something more. More practice, more effort, more determination, more of everything. If you want something you’ve never had before, you’ve got to do something you’ve never done before. Like an Olympic athlete, you’ve got to train hard – and if you want gold, you’ll have to do more than anyone else.