Wisconsin Winter Olympics!

Continued freezing temps and several snow days have led to this beautiful backyard scene...

 and our family's first trip to Living Waters Bible Camp Snow Days!  We've been to LWBC for a Sunday School visit, and Mark & Cy have been to Father-Son Retreat three times now, but a few Sundays ago we drove up after church and to enjoy sledding, skiing, and skating.

 It was a really cold day, but we kept warm by staying busy.  As a parent, I especially appreciated the hot lunch, hot chocolate, and assistance in putting on gear.  The camp had skates, skis, and poles in all sizes...even for the little ones!
      Wynne grew especially fond of the ice skating rink.  I spent most of the afternoon participating right along with Mark and the kids, but by the end of the afternoon (4 hours into the action), I retrieved my camera from the lodge to snap a few shots.  My fingers were freezing within seconds because I had to take off my bulky mittens to take pictures, but it was worth it!

 LWBC's rink was large and smooth.  It's been a perfect winter for ice.  Wynne and I both enjoyed the figure skates, while the rest of the family preferred the sturdier hockey skates.  It took Wynne a few hours to get the hang of it, but she never gave up, picked herself up after every fall, and went at it again.

This one's for Grandpa (E.).  Hold your mouth right!

 "Mom, watch me! Watch me!  Watch me spin!"

 And here come the twinners sailing along! (2nd and 5th in the picture)

 Cy joined the girls for a few last minutes on the rink, right before the camp closed.  You can see just how big it was.

  Cy had been on this rink at his retreats with his dad, so he was actually quite good at it.   Kinda makes me wish we had a hockey club for him.

 The sledding hill was huge.  In my opinion and in my legs' opinion!  They had awesome big inflatable tubes that made the ride extra-fun!

 Mark and Ally took one last trip down the hill...

 ...what an awesome day at $5 a pop.  !  I didn't take pictures of our time cross-country skiing, but I can sum it up:  Challenging.  Fun.  Difficult.  Wynne and I got started a bit later than the rest of the family, and we must have spent an hour skiing/falling before we met up with them again.  They were on their way back as we were trying to get to the hill.  Ask Wynne how much she likes skiing.  She has some choice words for her experience! ;0

We came home with a renewed sense of family and a special appreciation for the athletes competing in the Sochi Olympic Games.  Wow, how do they stay up on those skates and skis and do all of those amazing things?!  And of course, the biggest take-away was that God's creation is BEAUTIFUL!  All seasons.

He changes times and seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.--Daniel 2: 21

Sharing the Love

In January, we start planning for our Valentine's visit to a local nursing home with our Sunday School children.  We practice special songs and make Valentines for the residents.  The Sunday before Valentine's Day is a special time where we share God's love with the senior citizens!  It is something we should do more often, truly.

 I remember being a Sunday School kid and singing at the county nursing home.  It was dark, smelled funny, and was a bit scary.  As you can see, our local facility is big, bright, and welcoming.  This is their chapel area, and it is a very special place to be.  I wish we could spend more time with the residents.  They have so much wisdom and love to share with us all.  My favorite story of the day was getting to visit with Delbert K (in the 2nd row, green plaid shirt), a high school classmate of my dad's.  It was so nice to catch up with him and to hear about old times with my dad!

 The girls made their own Valentines for their classmates.  Wynne created a special note for each person in her class, and the twins cut up paper to create some very unique wishes.  Shae's little Valentine guys are holding a stick of gum and saying...

 ..."I chews (choose) you to be my valentine!"  (She came up with this on her own.)

 Paige shared her love for pugs with her friends by cutting out pug dogs that said...

 "Pugs & kisses".  The computer comes in handy for finding images, and Paige even cut curly tails for each card!

 Mark creates the neatest personalized Valentines (complete with a pocket holding your favorite candy) for each of his kids and me.  He slips them into the kids' lockers (or on our desks) and has a special note written for each one of us.  I bought cookie pops from the musical cast (fundraiser) and had them delivered to all of my loved ones at school.  And of course, we were fortunate to have Ally home from basketball on Valentine's Night for our annual "fancy dinner.".  Since I came home at the usual late time on Friday night (ask any Wisconsin teacher how many extra hours they have to put in these days)....Mark was awesome about cooking up the steak & preparing the salad while I got dessert and other foods ready. He even set the table with the fine china & candles! I had actually planned ahead and prepared the potatoes the night before, so I think dinner was served by 7 p.m.

Valentine's Day Dinner 2014

Our guest for the evening was Mark's brother Joey, who is celebrating a birthday at the end of this month.  We all enjoyed a lovely dinner, quiet music, conversation, Princess Potosa Root Beer!

Happy Valentine's Day to all - we are lucky to share the love!

Happy Birthday to a couple of guys in our house...

Mark on the 30th! and Rudy (Pork Sausage) on Feb. 2nd!

Hope you guys both have a great year and that one of you finally gets potty-trained.:)

(Don't read into that too much;)