Panama Canal and Harmonica

Grandma Rainey and Ross are going on a cruise through the Panama Canal, so we watched a movie about the canal and played a little harmonica.

 Ross gave Ikey some instruction on playing "Jingle Bells" on the harmonica: http://youtu.be/rWDdKvij9Fc

Fourth Ski Lesson

The weather was really beautiful for Isaac's penultimate ski lesson. On the cabriolet ride down to the parking lot he said, "Mom, there's a rule about the gondola: No singing."
I said, "Who told you that rule?"
Isaac said, "Kenny said there's a rule of no singing on the gondola. That made me sad because he said I couldn't even doot quietly." Dooting is how Isaac sings a melody without any words.
He said, "It isn't fair."
I said, "Is it the same rule for Charlotte?"
Ikey said, "Charlotte doesn't even know how to doot." 
Later in the day, he told Grandma Rainey that the rules for the gondola are: No standing. No smoking. No singing.

Todd said that Kenny is killing Isaac's enthusiasm. I reminded him how many times we've asked Isaac to turn the volume down when singing or dooting in the car. Even Jovie has told him to stop singing. I don't hold it against Kenny.

Natural History Museum of Utah

We went to the museum with friends Karin, AJ and Tommy. We were an active bunch with one each of 5-, 4-, 3-, and 2-year-olds. A ticket-taker who seemed like she was too young and unforgiving to have her own kids told ours, "Knock it off. I already told you once!" She might have been a little near-sighted too because she had already told some other kids to knock it off. Not our angels.

Pancakes

We don't make pancakes shaped like trains anymore, because those will never be eaten. We are way into letters and learning to read, so Ikey got initial pancakes and Jovie got her whole name.

Snowy zoo!

There weren't very many families at the zoo on the last day of January. It was probably the warmest day of the month, but we still wore our snow clothes. Ikey watched the armadillo for about 20 minutes. It was piling up straw and shredded phone books and tunneling under. I've never seen the armadillo do anything so it was kind of funny. Ikey said he was making a fort and he sang a song, "Armadillo armadillo: Scratching the tree. Armadillo armadillo: climbing the rocks." A lady walked by and said, "That looks like a big potato bug." Jovie said, "Potatoes are things you eat."

Snow storm!

A big snow storm finally cleared out the inversion and all the built up pollution so we can breathe again. Ikey got all his snow clothes together before 8 am today and announced that he would play outside before breakfast. He really gets into the snow and really can play outside for hours!http://youtu.be/Ld-jPNKwqwo

Todd had a lot of work to do clearing the sidewalks and driveway. The letter carrier left a note that we need to do a better job clearing in front of our mailbox so that's on TB's list now too. The kids like to help out with the little tractor. http://youtu.be/rGyLrdQckbE

Home defense and our arsenal

Our powdery Utah snow is great for skiing, but doesn't usually stick together enough for forts and snowballs, but it warmed up just enough today so we made it all. Thanks to AJ and Tommy for a bricker and snowballer. We warned you that we're armed and protected over here.