Teacher's helper

We gave Megan a red pen and a piece of paper the other day so she could "help" Josh grade papers.

Also, Grandma Mary and Grandpa Mike gave all the grandkids play tents for Valentine's Day, and Hildegard has claimed Megan's tent as her personal space. We often find her sitting inside the tent, where she hides so she can playfully swat at people walking by, or sometimes she just hops around in there like it has some sort of catnip-like effect on her. If we're sitting quietly in the living room and we see the tent suddenly move halfway across the room, we know it's just the cat.

Hildegard also has discovered a good way to keep warm ... by lying on top of the registers when the heat is blowing.

Springlike week

The weather has been beautiful this past week, with high temperatures sometimes climbing into the 70s. Today's high is 60, and we went to a park with some friends from library story time to play and eat lunch. Here's Megan with her friend, Becca.

A girl of many hats

Megan had fun trying on various hats and scarves from the coat closet the other day.

And here are Megan and Josh enjoying some cheese together.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I have been married to my Valentine for almost five years now!

Hugs!

Megan likes to snuggle!

Night out with Josh

Every year in the district in which Josh teaches, a Teacher of the Year is named for each school. From those winners, a district-wide Teacher of the Year is selected. One of Josh's social studies colleagues was named the district Teacher of the Year, and we went to a dinner last week in honor of him and all the runners up.

 Here's Josh and several of his department colleagues. They are a bright group.

PJ's and Bears

Megan and I attended a Parents as Teachers' PJ's and Bears event tonight. The kids wore their jammies and did crafts about bears and Valentines, and they had a motor area with tent tunnels, slides, and a sensory table with dry, colored rice. Megan reminded me she saw Santa at this same place in December.

One of the cutest crafts was this one. The kids put glue all over a picture of a bear and then sprinkled it with cinnamon. The only problem is that I caught Megan licking her picture several times this evening. 

She also painted a picture of a bear with stampers that leave little dots all over the paper.

These Valentine hats were a big hit. Megan is under there, although you can't see her face.

 And of course, it's always fun to play on the slides.

Miscellaneous stuff, including sleet

We got about an inch of sleet/freezing rain during the past 24 hours. We may yet get close to 10 inches of snow, but so far the worst of the latest winter storm has passed us by, which is fine with me because I wasn't looking forward to potential power outages that come with ice.

We played outside a bit this afternoon, and then Megan had fun with a big bowl of snow I brought in. I gave her a little bucket, shovel, and some people and animals, and she went to town.

 She was preoccupied with getting her little people dried off.

Also, the other day, Megan wrapped a blanket around herself and declared she was Mary with baby Jesus.