Hee hee hee

We were walking on uneven ground and I took Rylee's hand and said, "Be careful, I don't want you to fall."  She replied, "I know, because I'm your favorite."
Love this kid!

Also funny to me:  She was giving me crabby face at the Scout event the other night, so I took a picture.  Then I "wolfified" her!  Makes me laugh every time I see it.

Trying something new

 On Saturday, Dan found himself driving 2 hours out by Hiroshima to ski and snowboard with the Boy Scouts.  He had volunteered to help drive before he realized it would be $60 out of pocket in tolls.  He was enthusiastic about getting skis on again, as he has skied before.  Joshua was less than thrilled and would have preferred sitting at home, warm and dry.  He did give it a shot, but will probably decline any more opportunities to attempt to slide down a mountain with wooden sticks on his feet.  Dan said Joshua did not enjoy the skiing portion, but he did enjoy hanging with other boys, and I know Joshua didn't complain about it when he got home, so it couldn't have been that bad.

Dan did take a few photos for me.

Dn swears that you can see Joshua in the chair right there.  Really.

And most of the group that went.

Candy Bar Pie

 As I was perusing online, I discovered this recipe for Candy Bar Pie.  Something new!  I had to try it!  However, unlike the blogger who created this pie, I never have leftover candy floating around my house.  I required a special trip to the store.  And it had very slim pickin's!!  It was quite disappointing to realize we have few options.  But I digress.  I had sufficient candy for the mission.  We had: Reeces Peanut butter cups (heart shaped because the Valentine's Candy is in full display), Rolos, M&Ms and Cookies & Cream chocolate bars.  It cost a small fortune.

The pie was simple to make.  I was a little concerned that I maybe should have used a regular pie crust, rather than a deep-dish, but this bad boy rose up delightfully, and filled the deep dish nicely.  The kids were delighted to help make the pie and even more delighted to help with the candy snacking.  They were excited to eat the pie as well.

Consensus was:  Meh.   Some loved it, some did not, and some said it was just "good".  It was good, but I probably won't make it again for me.  It has a good wow factor, but I think needs to be served warm with ice cream.  And while it is good, it isn't fabulous and I'd rather spend my energy and calories on fabulous.  So, 3 out of 5 stars for this one.

The uncooked pie.  There is candy mixed into the batter, plus some pressed into the top.

The finished product.  It does make a lovely pie!

Maybe a little bragging....

 Really, what I want to say is how much I love the school here.  I really really like it.  Apparently it is also a top something-super-special school as well. I don't care about that.  What I care about is that they care about my kids.  And one particular kid in particular.  I just need a school that appreciates and enjoys my darling oldest daughter, and this school does.  It makes my heart so happy!

I shall now point out that Marian struggling in school and was failing math last year.  Yep, completely and utterly bombing it.  I had to hire a tutor, because the school refused to do anything that was not explicitly on an IEP, and then they dragged their feet all year and finally produced and IEP a month before school was out.  Hmmm, yep, I'm still very angry and bitter about all that.  But the bottom line is, they sucked, and my lovely girl was not doing well at all.  She was miserable and barely made it out of 5th grade by the skin of her teeth, and due to her amazing tutor.

This year.... total opposite.  I think she would not have even needed the stupid IEP had we been here.  Her teacher is marvelous and the school staff is marvelous and my girl is thriving!  It is the most amazing thing to see it!  And, she is doing well.  So well, that she missed having a 3.0 for the semester by a point!  Her teacher emailed me to tell me she barely missed it. She said that had they done quarterly numbers, she'd have had it.  But they didn't.

So at the Award Ceremony they held last week, Marian received the "Most Improved award".  Only one kid from each class got it and it was Marian.  She truly is a completely different child in this school and I want to hug her teacher every time I think of her.

Callie is a diligent and conscientious student.  She got the certificate for having a GPA between 3.5-4.0.  And I am proud of her.  She is a smart kid, but she also works hard tries her best.  It is a good combination and I love that about her.

(This event was only for the 4-6th graders and Delaney was so sad she was not included and that she received no awards.  I found out they don't use the number and point scale for the younger grades.  But Delaney is doing spectacularly well. )

I was sitting on the wrong side of the room and totally missed Marian collecting the award.

If you look close, you can see she has s real, actual smile! 

Callie getting hers. 

My kids so do not like being the center of attention!  But there's Callie on the end.

And then I got to go to the High School's Award thing as well.  Josh had a GPA between 3.5 and 4.0  and I have no idea what they called that, since the schools call them separate things, and I can't be bothered to keep track of whatever Honor-Principal-Commande List/Roll it is.  But I was proud of my boy because he pretty much is a self starter and self motivator- although his motivation has been waning.

Here he is, heading to the front.  Check out the awesome shirt!

Handshake and pose.  I was too lazy to walk to the front for the money shot.  I just wanted Joshua to know I was there and loved him enough to be willing to sit through 90 minutes of clap, clapping boredom just for this moment! I love this kid!

And I thought you might enjoy this!  Partly because I have to make the money spent on this uniform count, and also because Rylee pulled those awesome knee socks (which are mine) up over her leggings.  They are adorable higher than thigh-highs on her and cracked me up.

So Pretty!

 When we moved here, we were told that yes, we got 4 distinct seasons, but that we got very little snow.  It has been a record breaking year for snow apparently because it keeps coming! It does not stay very long though.

We had rain all day Thursday.  And when I woke up Friday morning, it was a winter wonderland!  Well, sort of.  It was thick slushy snow that clung to everything, but at 35 degrees, it wasn't going to hang around long.

My friend Sylvie called after the kids left for school and said she wanted to go out and take pictures at Kintai and would I go with her?  I confess to being a little unenthusiastic.  Then I thought, why not?!  So I went with her and it was amazing and totally worth it!  The snow was plopping off the trees like it was raining snowballs, and it was soggy walking.  But it was so gloriously beautiful!  The snow was disappearing fast and by the time we headed home, at 10:30, it was nearly gone.  I got some lovely photos and was quite pleased with my morning.