We had "interview after dinner" tonight. Chris and I created a list of questions while dinner was in the oven. After we finished our delectable dinner of turkey tenderloin, scalloped potatoes and green beans we had a lot of fun as a family taking turns answering the interview questions.

1. What is your favorite color?
   O - Red
   E - Purple
   C - Green
   J - Black
   
2. What is your favorite part of school?
   E - Centers, making box towers with Lexie and Lauryn.
   O - Art & Music, and P.E. when we have rollerskating.
   
3. What is your favorite food?
   J - Cheese
   C - Crab
   O - Canned spaghetti
   E - Creamed corn & chicken
   
4. What do you like to do on weekends?
   O - Play with Savannah
   C - Play with my wife
   E - Vaccuum, clean the toilet, clean my room, help clean the house
   J - Sleep in and read the paper
   
5. Who is your favorite super hero?
   O - Underdog
   J - Catwoman
   E - Incredibles
   C - Green Lantern
   
6. What is your favorite cartoon?
   C - Road Runner
   O - Winx
   E - Clifford
   J - Smurfs
   
7. Who is your favorite stuffed animal?
   E - Buttercup the dog
   J - Baby my bear
   O - My Care Bear
   C - Eyeore the leopard
8. What do you like about winter?
   J - Weekend snow - when you don't have to worry about late starts, or early dismissals, or no school days, or getting to work
   E - Playing in the snow and trying to catch snowflakes on my tongue
   C - Watching my girls shovel
   O - Watching snowflakes fall
   
9. Why do you dislike winter?
   C - Cold and ice
   E - Trying to catch a snowflake on my tongue because it's hard
   O - Cold
   J - Cold, ice, snow, repeat
   
10. What are you looking forward to about spring?
    E - Wearing shorts and short sleeved shirts and picking flowers for mom
    O - Not having to wear all of my winter equipment
    C - Bike riding and Hawaiian Shirts
    J - Sunshine, green grass and no coats
    
11. Who is your best friend & why?
    O - Savannah because she's nice.
    C - Brian because after 30 years I can't find a new one.
    E - Reagan and Lexie - Lexie because she helps me and plays with me. Reagan because she also can help me and is polite.
    J - Jackie because she's my sister-friend.
    
12. Where would you most like to go on vacation?
    J - Italy
    O - Hawaii
    E - To visit Papa Perry
    C - Hawaii
    
13. What is your favorite restraunt?
    C - Pig's Eye
    O - Perkins
    E - Chuck E. Cheese
    J - Brown Bottle
    
14. What is your favorite sport?
    E - Ride bike to library or go for a walk.
    O - Rollerblading
    C - Watching sport is pro-football, participation sport is cycling.
    J - Volleyball
    
15. What is your favorite game?
    C - Picking on my girls.
    E - Candyland and Littlest Pet Shop
    O - Dogopoly
    J - Euchre, Sorry, Scrabble, Aggravation
    
16. If you could get a new pet, what would it be?
    J - A monkey
    C - A snake
    O - A rabbit
    E - A cat who wouldn't bite or paw
    

We had a lot of fun with our after dinner interviewing - and we hope you enjoyed reading about it!

It's nine below and we don't give a crow cause we're off to the rodeo...

Okay, we're not really off to the rodeo - but after so much of this repetitive winter weather, you just kind of have to say what the hay, whatever, hit us again, uncle...

Thursday - planned early dismissal, parent teacher conference that was rescheduled due to bad weather earlier in the week.

Friday - planned no school day.

Monday - bad weather no school day.

Tuesday - bad weather no school day.

Wednesday - right now we're at a 2 hour delay - I'm guessing it may be cancelled though as it's nine below and we don't give a crow and we're off to the rodeo...

We take our signs of spring where we can get them. Okay - what that really means is we're starting to "make up" signs of spring. So this bloom on the hibiscus this morning is a certain sign of spring. Of course, I hope this sign of spring isn't negated by Joe sitting on top of the fridge. Heat rises, so it surely must be warmer up there.

Winter stinks.

However, don't mind lazy snowed in Sundays.

Happy Valentine's Day from our family to you :)

And happy 15th anniversary of the day we met to my sweetie!! This is a year of anniversaries for us. We met 15 years ago on Valentine's Day. I proposed to him 12 years ago on Leap Day, and in August we will celebrate our 10th anniversary. And we still love each other!

Out of the mouths of babes...
Elliott and I went to visit with Great Grandma Floris yesterday at her apartment. When we came in, Grandma was sitting in the dining room visiting with some friends of hers. We sat down to join them. Elliott was in prime entertaining mode. Those of you who have seen her do her spinning routine know what I'm referring to. But yesterday - instead of physical spinning - it was verbal spinning.

She told the women all about her bed. She has three beds, one on top, one below, and one in her pink tent. But now she goes potty before she goes to bed, so she doesn't have to get up at all during the night. One of the women commented that it sounds like her mom has got her trained. Elliott responded, without skipping a beat - now we just have to train my dad!

This was after Grandma had asked her what Daddy was doing today, and she said that he was watching t.v. - and that's all he ever did on days that weren't school days. Just watched t.v. and ate more than mommy thinks he should so he's not hungry for dinner. The ladies got quite a hoot over that. Poor Chris though - it's really not an accurate portrayal. The guy works just as hard around the house, if not harder, than any of us girls. And he may snack a bit - but I wouldn't say that he grazes straight through the weekend.

So - I questioned Elliott further on what we needed to train Daddy for. She said that we needed to train him not to tickle and tease so much, and we needed to train him what was wrong and what was right, and there was one more thing that escapes me now.

She was in prime form - she even sang songs for the ladies. Not the alphabet song, or nursery rhyme songs. Songs that she made up about going grocery shopping, and winter, and spring - and I do think she would have continued on and on.

It was quite the visit - but it really makes me wonder what her preschool teachers get to hear about. One of the ladies had been an early elementary teacher and she laughed remembering all that she got to hear about the families of her students. She said that she never got too worried over it...

So here's to training Daddy :)

Okay - yeah. That last post shows indeed how bad it is.
Sparklers not sprinklers. The girls and I did not run through the sprinkler on the deck in the fresh snow.

If winter continues for much longer we might - but we haven't yet...

Okay, the Janesville girls have done their part to help entice spring. We put on our boots and coats and headed out to the deck to do sprinklers in the fresh snow last night. The girls (and I'm sure the neighbors) thought that I was a more than a little lu-lu. At this point in the never-ending winter, I would say that's an accurate assessment! Let's just hope it helps...

On a completely unrelated note:
Things you never think you'll say.
Me, watching Elliott undress - noticing that she has gone all day sans panties - "why don't you have any panties on?" "I don't know..." "You know, if you're not going to wear your panties we might as well send them to the starving children in Africa."

Yup - it's time for spring :)

Warning: The following post is the result of shower thinking. I said it aloud to my husband outside of the confines of the bathroom. And Yes - I do realize how melodramatic it sounds. Still...

I think that the wait for spring is much like living with a colicky infant. They assure you that colic does not usually last longer than 12 weeks. To a logical person (read - not sleep deprived, not dealing with a crying baby for hours upon hours) 12 weeks is a mere drop in the bucket. However, when you are the person caring for the colicky baby even the thought that it could continue for 12 weeks is unbearable. It seems like an ETERNITY. So, while 6 weeks more of winter is, logically, a drop in the bucket. It still seems as though it will never come.

Sigh...

At least winter doesn't keep me pacing the floors at night...

Funny how vivid the memory of pacing the floor is still 8 years later...

And this too shall pass.

Okay Phil, I'm not a violent person - but I just might have to make my way to Pennsylvania... Seriously... 6 more weeks of winter. Have you no mercy????

I think that this year we will defer to the Janesville squirrel. Her name is Hope. And she assures us that spring is NOT 6 weeks away. Surely it's right around the corner.

Good girl Hope - we choose to believe you!!