Three snow days in a row....

We're all going a bit nuts here with the snow, with more expected overnight tonight.  School was cancelled today for the third day in a row. Today, we officially sanctioned archery as something totally OK to do inside the house.  Lucy is running around with a bow and arrow (JB fashioned a bow from a bike spoke and some string, and Lucy is using coffee stirrers for arrows).  Who knows where we go from here.  Here's where we're going now (our yard):

33 inches is the official Lowell total.  Eek!

SNOWPOCALYPSE

Things are starting to feel a bit snowpocalyptic here.  Thankfully, we still have power and all amenities.  Also, Jake stocked our pantry well, so we are having a delightful time here at home.  Last night, in honor of the snow day declaration.  Day started with French toast.  Lucy is doing magnet science, Alice is sleeping on the couch, and Jake is cooking up something fabulous.  Outside....well, outside is just white.

Apparently there's been something apocalyptic in the air lately.  Check out Lucy's art from this week:

Monster-dude is saying "Rore! I want to eat a kid!"  and there's a pile of treasure and a pile of bones there.

That's aliens landing, and the one who has already landed is saying "Yay!  We can take over the world!"

And that's just a monster, with lots of eyes and arms and teeth.  Hopefully he will not be emerging from the snow.

We already had quite a bit of snow on the ground prior to the start of "Juno" here.  Lucy got in a bit of sledding last Saturday.  Here she is in one of the new snow-tubes:

Yes, it's huge.  We filled it with a (hand-pumped) bike pump.  So some sore arms 'round here.  We have another one we have to fill today.  But maybe we will just stay inside for now.

Stay safe out there, blizzard-dwellers!!!

Place your bets now.....

Nearly every time we go out with Alice, strangers ask "what kind of dog is she?"  Our answer is pretty much "the awesome kind" or "we don't know" or "she's a lovable mutt" or "your guess is as good as ours!"

This will soon end.

Giving in to our own curiosity and the relentless questions of pretty much everyone, we are going to settle this question: Alice is getting a DNA test.

Specifically, we are getting the "Wisdom Panel 2.0."  We were sort of interested in trying out multiple tests and seeing how similar their results were, because we are somewhat skeptical of these companies.  But for now, we're going to try this one and keep you all posted on the results.

But right now, for a limited time, you too can join in the speculation.  What kind of dog is Alice?  Some current speculation:

---A local owner of a 4-month-old Great Dane puppy insists Alice is related (they do have some of the same spots).

---Border collie (the spots, the black-and-white face).

---Some sort of collie mix (as per the adoption group).
 
---Dalmatian (evidence regarding her lack of "wet dog smell" points to this).

---Ferret, Goat, or other non-dog of some sort?

---Panda (see evidence in this video of Washington DC Zoo's new panda, Bao Bao frolicking in the snow and see if you can deny the similarity with this video of Alice frolicking in the snow:





Need more evidence?  See Alice frolicking in the leaves or Alice frolicking with an ice cube)

Please, dear readers, join the comments and place your bets.  Winner gets....well, an undetermined as of the moment, but assuredly awesome prize.  Need some photos to help you decide?

Let the wagers begin!  Send us your reckons!

Happy New Year!

We've had a lovely start to the 2015 so far, with a hike at the Andover Bald Hill Reservation, followed by a visit to the Andover Dog Park. A great time was had by all, especially Lucy, who found coins all over the trail!  So strange!  She racked up $1.05 in pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters.  A lucky start to the new year indeed.

Lucy and Ruth created their Fairy Gardens today.  Lucy received two fairy garden kits for Christmas (Thanks Ma&Pa and Jennifer&Brendan!) so we figured the best thing to do was to have BFF over so they could both do the project.  The gardens were a huge hit.  They spent a good part of the day yesterday painting them, and today was planting and decorating and pixie dusting!

Then, just because growing is fun (TM), we decided to start our own Giant Sequoia tree.  Jake brought the kid back from a recent trip, and we just got around to it today.  Good thing we got it started, because the first step is 20 days in the refrigerator!  So in maybe 300 or so years, we'll have a real nice tree.

As planned, last night we watched The Empire Strikes Back with Lucy.  It went over very well. She was glad that there was a lot more light saber fighting in this one.  (One chief complaint about A New Hope was that she had expected a lot more "lifesavers," which we soon figured out was what she thought those weapons were.  We cleared that right up.) The big Vader reveal was a total surprise, which is, of course, why we started with IV first and not I.  Which brings me back to yesterday's post and our mention of our major parenting decision.

As I wrote yesterday, we were planning to do IV, V, and then back to I, II, and III, and THEN to VI.  During a pre-Empire-watching discussion, Jake and I seriously considered cutting I entirely, and just going with "Machete order" (IV, V, II, III, VI).

But 30 minutes into Empire, my mind was made up: we are going to preserve "Release Order," perhaps in an extreme way: We are going to watch Return of the Jedi next (likely on Saturday), and then NOT WATCH THE REST UNTIL LUCY IS 25.  There's just no way it makes any sense to make the jump from the whole feeling and mood and look and story of Empire and then go to either Episode I or II.  No way.  We're gonna stick to the original trilogy, and continue to see the first set of prequels as, well, an entirely different set of movies that happen to have the same characters and bear a tangential relationship to Star Wars.

Oh, and as for midnight: as far as Lucy knows, she stayed up til midnight and rung in 2015.  In truth, we tricked her.  After Empire was over, we switched to Netflix, which had handily provided a New Year's countdown featuring King Julian.  It worked like a charm.  She was in bed by 9:45.  We followed not that long afterwards.

Happy New 2015, dear readers!