Winter Olympics 2014

We are working our way through world history by studying different countries within each continent. It just so happened that the Sochi olympics coincided with our study of Russia. I jumped on the chance to incorporate the history of the winter olympics into our studies. Before I knew it, Howard and I had planned a night of winter games for our kids.

We kicked off the night with an olympic oath. The kids had to promise to be good competitors, win or lose and to try their best. 

From their we moved onto the torch relay. We began it by running around our bedroom and then passing the torch to each child in order of age, and having them run around their room (or country) before passing it to the next sibling.

We then all paraded down to the place we had designated as the place for the torch to be "lit" to begin the games.

We had a moguls event where the kids had to jump back and forth across the line from beginning to end.

We did every event at least twice but the kids could only medal in it once. :)

Each event was followed by a medals ceremony, where the kids took turns receiving the different place medals while Howard and I hummed very loudly the first few bars of our national anthem. 

On a side note disregard those terrible olympic rings. We were all trying to draw them from memory and what a terrible thing memory can be!

This was our version of the slalom. The kids had to slide between the cups as fast as they could without knocking them down.

Chase was in love with the skeleton events so we tried it out, but it didn't really work well on the floor...

We had a figure skating event. Each competitor had to spin on one leg one time and then sit down and spin (a sit-spin) and finally twirl around three times before completing their performance with a leap. 

Howard is showing his off here. :) Yes, mommy and daddy participated, we just didn't win any medals!

Tanner showing off his sit-spin.

Mommy's turn!

Our modified curling event.

Many nights prior to the family olympics, and a few after, the kids would spend the time at the beginning of the real olympics performing their versions of the different events. Here they are snowboarding. Alexa is locking in her boots and Chase is performing a jump.

The kids had a great time and we topped it all off with popcorn and the real olympics on TV. 

I used this woman's site for our medals and many of the ideas for our events. It was a really great night of laughter for us!

More snow, more fun!

The snowblower made us a nice luge track!

The kids were having fun yesterday, trying to get it packed down  and ready for today.

Alas, it is snowing again today and we have about 3" thus far. They are still trying to pack it down but we will have to be out again tonight to hopefully get it a little slicker.

Howard blew a walkway out of the track to the road below but it's a long walk uphill to get back to the start of the track so the kids are struggling to find ways to come directly back up!

Snow and more snow!

These first few pictures were taken a day or two before the big snowstorm we received yesterday.

We grabbed the shovels and dug a snow tunnel through all the plowed snow.

I had to carve steps into the snow so the kids could get back up and over to the other side. The ice coating was strong enough that they were sliding down the hill on the backside, and couldn't get up and out!

Another sign of great fun! We had tracks everywhere from the hours of snow play these crazy kids have been enjoying!

Yesterday, part way through the snow our upstairs window began to accumulate a bit of snow...

It has been a little hard for the kids to get around since this last batch of snow. 

If I fall through both layers of ice crust we have, the snow hits my mid thigh!

First snowman! The kids are standing on an ice crust or they wouldn't be there. It's the only way they can get around by staying on top of the snow.

This morning the window had been blown this deep but the sun is shining and it is beautiful!

This is supposed to be a sandmound...No one wants to walk out to it. You will have snow in your boots and up your pants!

On the flip side I do know a snowblower carved a path down our sledding hill and we are on our way out to make a luge track!

The Birthday Post

I decided to save all the birthday stuff for one big post this year. Here's a brief round up of the goings on in our neck of the woods!

Our big girl turned 5! This was a party year for her so she had quite a few friends over for a princess themed party. The girls all dressed up in their favorite princess outfits.

They played "Pin the Tiara on the Princess",

 We had a scavenger hunt with clues and a treasure (chocolate coins).

 I tried my hand at gumpaste and made a miniature "princess Alexa" for the cake. She loved it. :)

One of the fun party favors we gave out to her guests.

For some reason I don't have many pictures of Howard's birthday this year so I give you one of him blowing out his candles.

Chase is all about Batman right now and so his siblings dressed in their superhero outfits to show their support.

 He received a baseball bat from Nee Nee and Poppy that he is eager to use when the weather gets warmer.

Our family joined in supporting Chase on his special day. Somehow Billy and Renee escaped from the picture.

Chase had just family and his best friend over. No superhero birthday would be complete without a Batman cake.

My birthday came in the midst of snow and we had a great day of playing out in the it. It was perfect!

It's a Coldstone cake for me!

Tanner is the last of our crew to celebrate for this season. He was surrounded by family to celebrate.

Two of my three kids are not keen on blowing out their candles so we've taken to inviting their friends to help blow them out. His cousin was right there to get the job done! :)

It was cold out and the snow has melted and re-frozen around here so the girls were sliding down our hill after cake and ice cream.

We all took turns getting a few runs in down our very slick yard and across our swale which is full of frozen water.

Watching the kids making runs down the hill.

The kids playing in the snow fort we built on my birthday. Despite all the ice and quite a few falls amongst the kids, Peter and Howard came away with the biggest scrapes/cuts of everyone. Tanner got a busted lip and everyone has some good bruises. All marks of pride for the fun we were having!

Of course no birthday post would be complete without showing you the cakes for each of the kids this year.