Winter Fun!

January began with a stressful time for our family.  Uncle Mike suffered a major heart attack on their way to spend the winter in the Florida Keys.  Luckily they were stopped for the night.  Barb saved his life by giving him CPR.  We couldn't bare the thought of Barb being a lone so far from home during such a difficult time, so without little thought or discussion Duane headed to Virginia to be with them.  He knew where he needed to be. The next few days were treacherous.  Mike suffered two more arrests but after two procedures was on his way to recovery.  For days we didn't know if he would be able to make a full recovery, but weeks later he was walking 30 minutes each day on the beach.  Thank God!  The power  of prayer is amazing!  Madison participated in Jump Rope for Your Heart at school in Mike's honor.  We are so grateful for how things turned out for Uncle Mike.

We have had your typical Ohio weather this winter.  This year our snow days were cut from 5 to 3 so we are going to have at least one day to make up.  In February we had a nasty ice storm.  It was a wild night.  The trees were covered with ice and there were high winds.  All night long you could hear the wind howl, branches snapping, transformers blowing and ice and branches hitting the houses.  We were lucky to have power.  Our friends across the street lost theirs for a few days.  We stayed in our pjs, built forts, watched movies and baked cookies on our snow days.  All of our favorite snow day rituals.  The girls spent a little time outside sledding and playing in the snow.  But the temps were pretty unbearable.  I had my fill of winter weather early on.  It's amazing how much winter can impact your mood.  The girls had their first adventure ice skating.  When I first came up with the idea I thought I must be crazy.  But the girls all did surprisingly well.  Of course Mallory needed lots of support, but she was a trooper and had improved a lot in a short time.  Molly held her own and Madison was a naturally.  We had so much fun!  We made a trip to the rec center for an afternoon of swimming.  The girls miss being in the water on a regular basis in the winter.  The girls and I went for afternoon tea at our favorite tea shop, Central Perk on Martin Luther King day.  We had a lovely afternoon together.  We had a little scare on a rainy winter evening.  I settled in for the night and started having severe stomach pains.  I wasn't sure what it was so we decided to go to the ER.  Thank goodness for a good friends Lisa and Rosanna.  They were there to help with the kids.  After a day in the hospital and several test they decided it was the flu.  I was really surprised with the diagnosis.  After some research and another episode of stomach pains, I suspect that it may have been a reaction to an antibiotic I was taking.  I continued to volunteer in the girls classrooms and they participated in their regular activities.  A few days later I was feeling much better so we took a trip to the Cincinnati Museum Center.  The kids really love it there.  We walked past a large tub of water and sand that was used to show how erosion works.  Mallory dipped her hand in the water and made the sign of the cross.  That girl is hilarious!  We all watched the Omni Max movie Hubble.  It was awesome! Madison played a season of indoor soccer and Duane coached her team.  We're looking forward to outdoor soccer and warmer weather!   I continued to volunteer in the girls classrooms.  I did a literature circle group with Madison and some kids in her class.  It is so refreshing to have in depth discussions with kids that are old enough to really delve into a good book.  I enjoy my time in Molly's class too.