the beauty of snow

Around our home...

snow in love

We've had two major snowstorms in one week and I love it! I forgot how much I love the snow. I know, there's problems with it...schools closing, messy roads, shoveling...blah, blah, blah. It's just not a big deal to me. People complain about it so much it's ridiculous. Is it cold and messy? Yes. But it really is great. And the kids love it too, which is really what makes it totally worth it.

I think I've lost track of just how much snow we got this week. Something around 24 inches last weekend and 20 inches this past Tuesday into Wednesday. We (Connor and I) had a one hour delay Monday from the weekend snow and had off Wednesday and Thursday from the second round. That brings our total snow days up to three, which means we go three days longer in June. I'm not even going to bother complaining about it. We've been outside shoveling (yes, I did help) and we've been sledding twice. I drove for coffee in the middle of a blizzard on Wednesday morning and Carl went out for pizza when the snow slowed down a bit later. The roads were not that bad and everything is so beautiful.

Our sledding adventures...

something's gotta give...and it's been the blogging

All kinds of interesting things have been going on over here at the Heil house since my last post. Unfortunately I have discovered that I am, in fact, not Superwoman. I have not been able to find time to blog. My typical time is right now, 10 p.m. at night, after the kids are in bed and after I've cleaned up for the night. Lately though, this time of night has been devoted to the treadmill and ab roller. There just isn't enough time to do anything else. I need to pick one thing to do with my time and blogging has been losing. I need to lose weight and get in better physical shape. And if I have one more person tell me that's ridiculous, that I don't need to lose weight, I'm going to scream. Trust me, if I didn't have to lose it (and I'm talking 20 pounds by the way) then I wouldn't be doing the treadmill and sit-ups after 10 p.m. at night each night. I'm eating less in terms of portions, counting calories and trying to stick with meals only...no snacks or treats. I'm also in a weight-loss competition at work so that's helping with the motivation. The most time consuming change though has been the exercising, which is a good thing...but something's gotta give and it's been the blog. So for now, I'll have to summarize all of the fun we've been having. Just for now though, until I figure out how to do it all. ;)

We've had snow, a Chuck E. Cheese visit, power outages, music classes, snow, a visit to the auto show, snow, playroom organizing, oh...and did I mention snow? And in between, the kids have been growing and changing in every way. Connor is blossoming as a big brother...so many moments to be proud of; Emily is truly becoming a preschooler as she gets closer to three...able to interact, listen and play at such a higher level; and Camryn's language growth alone over the past few weeks is just unbelievable...speaking 2 to 3 words at a time.

Here are some pictures that capture our last few weeks:

Emily and Camryn on the simulated roller coaster at Chuck E. Cheese

Connor and Mommy in the tunnels. As I was crawling through I couldn't help but think about all of the germs. I think pumping Airborne through the ventilation system would be a good idea.

You can't tell, but the kids are sitting in the dark. Our power was out for about 24 hours. I took them to McDonald's for dinner, hoping the power would be back on in time for the bath/bedtime routine. It wasn't...so we skipped the bath and I set up a picnic in the family room. I got them in their jammies, got their nightly snacks together and grabbed a pile of books. We hung there, snacking and reading until bedtime.

Above and below are shots taken during some of the playroom re-organizing. It's still in the works...before and after shots to come.

Philadelphia Auto Show. Connor's favorite car, above. He's in a Camaro, below.

Coming soon...a blog about the snow. Pics from the recent snowfalls, complete with sledding fun, deserve their own blog. Another 18-24 inches is expected tomorrow into Wednesday!

little drummer girl

the things they say

Connor and Emily say things everyday that are funny, sweet, interesting and silly.  A co-worker of mine is always telling me that I need to write everythng down.  I wish I could.  I've tried, but there is just no way.  My only hope is to blog what they say every so often.  Here's one thing from Connor and two things from Emily, said today...

Connor:

     "I hope you live to 100 so that when I'm 71 we can be old people together."

Emily:

     "Mom, you go get the Snow White costume and I'll get the poisoned apples."

     "Can you clean those dust rabbits?" (Pointing at the corner of the ceiling.)

report card

Connor received his first report card just before Christmas.  Harrison Township does "trimesters" so there are three report cards per school year (hence the "tri"...probably didn't need to explain that).  Another fun thing in Harrison Township is the rubric grading system and the "B", "D", "S" thing, both of which need explaining and understanding if you want to get anything out of looking at the report card.

All subjects, with the exception of writing, are graded on a 4 point rubric. A "3" is the district's standard..."meeting expectations". A "4" is "exceeding expectations". You can kind of figure then what a "2" and a "1" mean. B=Beginning, D=Developing, S=Successful. I think that's it. Oh no wait, there is also the "-", "*" and "+" given to some of the skills listed on the report card under the subject areas. Just getting letter grades are a thing of the past. Now you need a college degree to read the report card.

I tried to link to the report card here but I have it saved as a pdf file and blogspot won't link it. In case I don't figure it out, here are the highlights:

• He's in the "Emergent" reading stage.  (Stages in order are: Pre-reader, Emergent, Beginning, Fledgling)
• Mathematics, rubric grade of "4".  Received a "+" in "number and numerical operations" and "patterns and algebra".  Yes, they actually call it algebra.
• Personal/Social Development...there are a lot of skills assessed here.  He received an "S" in everything except "Listens Attentively", "Contributes to Group Activities", "Stays On-task", and "Performs Fine Motor Skills".  Those areas were all a "D" for developing, which means he still needs support in those areas. 

I'm not sure what the listening attentively thing is about.  I'm not surprised about contributes to group activities...he doesn't put himself out there.  The staying on task is related to his slow work pace.  What can I say, Connor thinks a lot, is methodical and a perfectionist.  Three qualities that I happen to have and like.  He does well with time limits if he has a timer or a person to remind him.  Otherwise, forget it...it will get done when he is done.  I've always said he has no sense of urgency.  And finally, performs fine motor skills is about his handwriting, which is so ironic to me.  The irony is that his handwriting is awesome...I need to take credit because I'm pretty sure he comes by it naturally. ;)  For school purposes however, with the exception of the first letter of a sentence, he needs to write in lower case and form his letters from top to bottom.  This is not his preference at all and he lets me know it all of the time.  He'd rather write in CAPS and form his letters from bottom to top.  Since he's a rule follower he does comply, which has actually made his handwriting less legible, again ironic.  Thus, his fine motor skills are "developing". 

Connor did well.  The best part is that he likes school and looks forward to going.  He's reading and writing and shares so many things about what he is learning.  He shares a lot about his classmates too like, who is " a good one" and who is "not a good listener" and who is "annoying" and who is "funny" and who "talks too much".  He could go on and on and typically does, in detail.  It makes me wonder sometimes what his classmates are saying about him to their parents.

christmas

I feel like it took forever for Christmas day to actually arrive, and when it did it was gone so quickly.  Christmas is really a week-long holiday, at least.  Here's how our family spent it:

December 23rd...early dismissal for Connor and I.  He had his classroom "winter celebration", a.k.a. Christmas party.  Not allowed to call it that anymore...but there's a huge Christmas tree in the foyer of the school and a parent reads "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" over the school intercom system, go figure.  That night, my mom helped me wrap almost all of the gifts and then when Carl got home from his indoor game, we finished up.  I think we were up until like 2 a.m.

Christmas Eve...went to one of Carl's brother's (Steve and Roxanne) for the Heil family gathering.  Since he has seven siblings and there are 19 neices/nephews, we only do a kids polyanna and a "wrap up something from your house that you don't want" gift exchange (the item has to be unused).  I love the kids polyanna because, well...let's face it, it would be insane to buy for 16 kids.  And I love the adult gift exchange because it gives us the oppourtunity to get rid of something that we have never used, and probably don't like or want.  There's a lot of laughing during that...you should see some of the stuff that people get rid of.  This year someone became the proud owner of our frog cookie jar.  We scored because Carl chose a great gift (they are all wrapped when you choose).  He got his sister Diane's gift, which was full of cd's.  She works for Sony and gets one free cd a month...she has to take whatever it is and many of them she doesn't like.  She stuck about 10 in a gift bag...Kenny Chesney, John Mayer, Kings of Leon, Mercy Me, Carrie Underwood, Bruce Springsteen, Frank Sinatra...not bad!

Cousin polyanna exchange

Christmas Day...kids got up around 8:15.  They were excited, even about each other's gifts.  Connor could have gotten through his in about five minutes but we were taking turns (because when am I not neat and orderly) and the girls were holding up the process.  They wanted to open and play with every gift.  Well, Em did and Camryn just wanted to play with Em's gifts.  I think we ended up skipping over Cam a few times but they were all done by about 10 a.m. and ready for breakfast.  I was going to make pancakes but didn't realize we were out of mix until it was time to make them.  I looked up the "pancake from scratch" recipe in my cookbook and immediately thought, "yeah...um...no" so knowing the kids wouldn't eat eggs I came up with the only logical 3rd option...french toast!  After breakfast and clean-up, the kids played with their toys, the girls napped, we got ourselves together, and then I started to make dinner.  My dad, stepmom Jane, sister Amy and stepmom's parents were coming over at 3:30.  Carl had to work, which sucked actually...but I knew that he would have four days off in a row Sunday through Wednesday so that made it better.  Dinner turned out great and the kids had fun visiting with Grandpop, Mom Mom, Aunt Amy, Great Pop Pop and Great Mom Mom...and opening more gifts of course.

December 27th...gathering at our house.  My extended family (cousin Danielle, Jeff and the girls; Aunt Pat and Uncle Gary; Granny Wilson) came over.  The kids had fun with Cambelle and Chloe and enjoyed more gifts.  It's always great when we can all get together, which is rare these days with our different obligations and schedules.

December 28th...my sister Dawn flew in from Ohio and brother Ken drove from Pittsburgh so we got to hang for a few hours and have a nice dinner.  I miss them being around so it was a great visit.

The 28th through New Year's Eve, we didn't do much...a lot of hangin' around, playing with the kids and their toys/games.  It was so nice for Carl to have off 4 days in a row.  We even squeezed in a trip to IKEA, which is always fun and productive!  We bought Emily her "big girl bed" and some more shelves for the playroom.  The room is seriously out of control.  I need another week off to go through it and get rid of some stuff.  So, a few more days and then back to reality for me...back to work on Monday the 4th.  January to March always seems to go the slowest at work.  It's not slow in terms of the workload, but there are no major holidays or breaks coming up.  I know, sad story right?  I'll just have to settle for my next day off, January 18th for Martin Luther King day!  Gotta love working in a school district.

I could have posted many, many more pics from our holiday gatherings but so many are just candids of the kids opening gifts.  This one above, of the girls dressed up in the princess dress-up trunk clothes that Emily received from Santa, is one of my favorites.  They have literally been rotating between princess outifts everyday since Christmas.  Their faces say it all...it really was a joyful Christmas.