Our BIG German Pancake. I had the top oven rack too close, and it grew up between the bars. I had to take the upper rack out first.
Lyddie and Josh eating "muffin man's" Lyddie has been singing a lot lately. "Do you know the muffin man?" was a favorite, and she always refers to muffins or cupcakes as "muffin man's."
The book worms. It's nice to have some quiet time after Josh and Lyd are asleep to sit down with a good book.

We have so enjoyed having our own little skating rink here at home. The season really was from the first weekend in January until the middle of February - now the weather isn't staying cold enough. We skated about 5 days a week, except for a week of January thaw. Since the initial flooding and surface work, there has only been one hose down maintenance period. I think we'll do it again. Next year ought to be even more fun - with Lyddie able to skate without help and a new baby to pull around on the sled.
There were times when ice play became wheeling tractors and wheelbarrows around. It's just as well, it provided hours of fun. The three surfaces here are: first, snow left on ice that was just too thin to skate on (in fear of ripping the plastic) after our January thaw. The rink was big enough without it, so I didn't spend a lot of time and water on that high end of the rink. The second section they didn't want me to shovel off because they were making paths and things in the snow. I did shovel the far end for some smooth skating.

When the boys heard we were going "camping" they wanted to bring their tent. They set it up in the Yurt. Here are Lyddie and Daddy enjoying the little tent.

When sleep finally overcame the children it was deep. It was almost 10pm.
By the time we were going to bed everyone was sweaty! Quite a variety of temperatures we experienced on this Yurt trip. We all had a good enough time that we're planning a second trip!

Last night we spent the night in a Mongolian Yurt on the Colgate Campus. Here Scott mans the fire.
These are the Nelsons, the friends who invited us for the adventure. When we arrived at the Yurt the outdoor temperature was 15. The inside was just about as cold. Dan figured out the gas lamps while Scott built the fire.
This is the view from where we parked.
Here's Josh with an icicle he found. Looks interesting, huh?

Time for books. Josh and Lydia have had their snack and are choosing books for the night. We have had a pretty good night time routine going on. After three weeks, Josh is all set putting himself to bed. We take him upstairs by 7pm, and usually don't hear from him again. Lydia is also doing very well, take her in by 6:30, sing a song and say goodnight. Caleb and I usually sit in the living room and read independently in the quiet until 8pm. So nice to have night time peace.

One car family. We have had the Odyssey for two and a half years, and we finally sold our "second vehicle." It was a very sad day at the Larchar house. Caleb particularly was very emotional about it. Our final conversation about it was about money. When Caleb understood the idea that we don't need such an expensive 2nd car, that Daddy can spend just a few hundred dollars to have something to run around in, it seemed to make more sense to him.
We did need to take several pictures of features that Caleb is going to miss. This shot shows a feature we will most likely never have again in a vehicle - a tape deck along with the CD player. We still play tapes at home so the kids know what they are. Yesterday we were marveling at how Josh and Lydia will never know what film container is. Caleb asked Josh to grab him one for a project, and he didn't know what he was talking about. Oh, the children of the digital age.
Lydia and I saying goodbye to the Camry.
Even Daddy saying goodbye. It has been a good car for us, and it was sad to see it go. We wish the best as it goes onto it's next owner.

Here are my little skaters. Getting better all the time! It is so nice to send them right out the door to skate and not have a project of going to Norwich! Lydia and I enjoy the skating, too. I need to have the kids take some shots of me on the ice - I'm nervous to hand them the camera while they are slick on their feet!

On Monday we had the day off from school, so we went to the Syracuse Zoo. Diane and Benjamin met us there. The temperature got up to 25, and we had some snow, but it wasn't too windy. We started our visit with the outdoor exhibits, then ate some lunch and walked through the indoor stuff. A total of about 3 hours. It was a nice time. Each day since Lyddie has been asking for Ben to come to our house to play. It was good to be together. There were hardly any people there, so it was nice to not have to reign the kids in too much.
The penguins were my absolute favorite for the day. I took a ton of pictures, and we spent a lot of time watching them.
Isn't this a great interactive shot?
A great exhibit!

We began our visit trying to see the elephant, but he was in because of the cold. We lucked out at the end of our circling the outdoor animals to find that he was taking a little time outdoors.
The penguins!

The sign in the background tells us that the tiger can eat the equivalent of 300 Whoppers in one meal.

We were lucky with many of the animals being easy to spot, like this tiger sitting right on the other side of the glass when he could have been out in the "wilderness" for us to spy.
This girl was on the move. She hardly rode in the stroller at all. She also helped to "mother" Benjamin, making sure he was sitting properly in his stroller and often walking beside him with her hand on the rail.

Lyddie helped me make chocolate cupcakes.
The night of Caleb's 3rd grade production. It was also Joshua's half-birthday celebration in Kindergarten.

Children actually working together to build a "house"

The animals are set up to watch a video with us.

Jared and Lydia getting ready to go inside.
After the little ones went inside the older ones created this game board in the snow. Sunny taught them a fun game of tag on the grid.
Lydia, Sela and Jared in playing kitchen in Lydia's room.

We had our friends, the Nelsons and Rains come over for a play in the snow and dinner. It was scheduled to be a skating day, but the weather got too warm for the ice. We all had a great time!