Freaky February

This has been such a strange winter!  So much snow, so much cold.  Detroit was recently selected by Time magazine to be having "the worst winter" in the whole country - some formula based on days below freezing, average temp and snowfall.  Yay for us!  Between teacher work days, half days for conferences, a sick day, and multiple snow/cold days, it felt like school was not really part of our life in February.  Outside of school, church events were cancelled and rescheduled, services were smaller, every project or committee I work on has been postponed, cancelled or rescheduled due to weather.  Its really been bizarre.  By the end of the month of February, we were, collectively, as a region, on the verge of a huge morale problem.  Parents were fighting at school -I mean really fighting, over parking spots (since there are four fewer than usual thanks to snow), people were snarky and more prone to feeling down or cranky.  The sun doesn't make a ton of appearances in February in Michigan any year, but this was the worst ever.  Everything I am working on is behind, due to the fact that our children did not go to school for a month, so its no wonder the blog is a bit behind too.  Unacceptable, dear readers, I know.  But I am back!  The sun has been shining and the snow has been melting and the boys have been to school.  Things are looking up.  So here are some pictures I may have blogged about had I gotten to it in February.

Here is a rare day when the boys were in school AND it was warm enough to let them play outside for 10 minutes before going back into seclusion.

 Both boys got very into legos in their sudden copious amounts of free time - 

thank goodness for legos!

 This guy is still the loudest in the house, and he knows it.

 Caught mid-wrestle, a less exciting alternative to boredom.

 Fort building is always a hit!

 Sam is just loving to draw, and his projects almost always include casey, sometimes Mom and Dad too, but always Casey

 By the end of the month we were walking to school in temps that would have caused a "cold day" just weeks earlier.  But I think to avoid mutiny from parents, they stopped having those.

Here is a nice shot of a father/son pre bed time conversation about the day.  Casey loves this.

The 100th day of kindergarten kept getting postponed - but it did finally happen!