An Update (long winded)

So did you hear it snowed here? Ha! You would have thought based on the news coverage that it had never snowed here before...EVER. I'm not kidding when I say that we had round-the-clock 24 hour news coverage about...S-N-O-W!

As you know, this family is no stranger to the white stuff, so we found it somewhat comical to hear everyone so stressed out over white stuff. The city literally closed down because it was impossible for them to keep up. The city simply does not have the resources to clear the roads, sand them, salt them and care for them before, during and after the snowfall; emphasis on the after the snowfall. Cars would be found STRANDED on the highways / roadways for DAYS after the snow fell. Schools closed for 5 days. And you would have thought it was TORTURE for families to spend that much time together in one house! I've learned that Okies don't like to stay home much!  Two days is their max before they start to get cabin fever. So you can imagine what it was like for many to have to be home for 4 days!

Anyway, we made the most of it. If you didn't see the pics posted on facebook, we built a snow village. It was an tunnel igloo, which actually made local news! Our neighbor down the street called it into the news station and they came out to film the boys playing. It was pretty cool.

Here is the footage:

The boys had a blast in the white stuff. They aren't afraid of it, or about getting cold. They just wanted to be IN it! Especially Zach. And if we're being honest, he the real Canadian in this family. He plays hockey and likes the white stuff. (I've converted ~ Tee hee)

We also made Valentine Crafts for school

 

Zach in all his glory in the white stuff

Zach peeking through the tunnel

The boys stepping out for the first time

 

The second snow blizzard of the season we had a sleep over with one of Zach's bffs. It was a lot of fun. We made puppets and puppet theaters out of brown grocery bags. The kids were really creative with that suggestion.

Here are some pics:

I've been really busy planning the 2nd annual Earlywine Dash! It is a fundraiser for the kids' school. In an attempt to get more student involvement, I've been working with the Dolphin Dashers, the running club I organized at the beginning of the school year. Our goal is to complete the 1 mile Fun Run. We started off with just 21 kids, and have since grown to 28! It's been pretty amazing. And out of those 28, 5 are signed up to do the 5K ~ their first! YAY!!! Anyway, Just yesterday I organized a small pep rally to get the student body excited about the event. JayZee from the Jump!Zone (an indoor inflatable park) and the Y-Guy from the YMCA (our co-beneficiary of this event) both came. Guess who was the Y-Guy!

Word is getting out and they are getting lots of attention for their efforts. I've had parents contact me almost weekly asking if they could bring their kids out to the club. Parents from neighboring schools. I think that's great, however, I've been encouraging them to start a club within their own school so we could have little meets. I'm hoping that is the direction we move into next year.

What I love the most about this club is the parental involvement. Each and every week the parents show up and are out there encouraging the kids. And each and every week the kids respond and push themselves to do more. It's pretty cool to witness. What is even cooler is seeing their involvement within the running club, show up in other areas of their lives. Take for example Jacob (pictured below). He was involved with the Reflections program within the school district. The theme this year was "Together we can....". Students were asked to submit entries with that theme and they could make it anything they wanted. The categories were video, poetry, dance, visual art and photography. He submitted "Together we can run"...and it won!

His entry:

His brother, Johnathan, and another teammate, Maggie, both 6th graders, were nominated to participate on a youth panel within the YMCA to discuss health and wellness issues. So very cool to see them being recognized for their accomplishments within the community. Including an article about them in a local publication next month! It is so exciting to see how our community has embraced them and what we're doing as a club.  I am so proud of them.

Speaking of running, HOCKEY has taken over our life. We've been running to and from practices two times a week and then a few weekends ago had our first hockey tournament. It was so cool! Zach has really found something he loves and it's great to see him have the opportunity to be apart of such a great organization.

Zach as a winger (red jersey)

Zach is front center in red jersey

He's been playing with the 8 and under crowd but has also taken private power skating lessons with Mike McEwen. Not a bad coach eh? Anyway, through Mike he was invited to be a flag bearer for one of the OKC Barons hockey games this week. He got to do this with his other BFF William. He loved it! Here are some pics from that night. I didn't get GREAT shots but you at least can get the jist of what he got to do:

Before hitting the ice ~ nerves of steel!

They know they are cool!

Lined up and ready to go

Zach and Will ready to get out on the ice to pump up the crowd!

Looping the rink once before the Barons come out!

Blurry: That is Zach in the spot light to the right, holding the flag as the Barons came out on the ice

At the game, Zach retrieved a loose puck shot on the net!

We've also had some time to just chill out and spend quality time together, without a hectic schedule. That has been equally enjoyable by us parents and the kids and quite honestly we're the outdoorsy types anyway so we make it a priority. We spent last Saturday hiking in the Wichita Mountains, exploring the area and taking in some of the scenery and wildlife. I love that our kids are at an age now that we can do these things, without worrying about missed naps, packing snacks, strollers, diapers and baby wipes, etc. We can just get up and go.

It was a great weekend and we all loved seeing hills again. Oklahoma, as you know is just so flat and boring (yet beautiful in its own right), but we northerners need something pretty to look at and explore and we're so glad that we were able to share that with the kids.

There is lots going on here, but we're having fun. Life has been good to us and we're appreciating our time together and making the most of it!

Thanks for reading.....