Outside

The mounds of sooty now at the bottoms of all the driveways are slowly melting away. At last. I was so tired of looking at them.

The ice dam on the eave over the back door is significantly smaller. And so is its corresponding ice ridge that formed a formidable obstacle to getting out of the house via the back door safely.

Today the Wii was not a recess tool during the break from studies. The kids got to don their jackets (not coats -- hooray!) and play outside on the new scooters they got for their birthdays.

They are off to the races!

Autumn Joy

Wii-cess

Winter weather recess from the school day has never been so anticipated as yesterday and today. The Wii system that made its appearance on Christmas morning has a lot to do with that!

I am thrilled that the meager half hour I can give the kids for recess does not lose ten minutes to donning coats and boots. I am happy they are playing together rather than arguing together. I'm glad they are excited about recess rather than pouting that they need to do something outdoors. And on the really yucky outdoor days I'm glad their recess is active. It is 100 times better than watching TV shows on stations that frequently don't come in well at our address.

And if you're getting the impression I'm happy about it, you should hear the kids!
The great surprise Christmas morning...Santa has installed the Wii in the middle of the night. (Tested it too!) The Artist knew what she was looking at because she has used the system at a friend's before. The Engineer is about to have a whole new world open up to him.
Now the kids have Wii-cess rather than recess. Here they are duking it out in a boxing match.