Fleece Pajama Pants

Yesterday we stopped into JoAnn's to look around.
While there CJ spotted the soft flannels and asked for a new pair of pajama pants. Since they are super easy to make and we had today off too and CJ said he would help I said yes. The flannels quickly lost out to the super soft fleeces and solid lost out to camo.
CJ soon found out that on this project I was helping him, not the other way around!

He pinned.

And cut.
At this point we used a scrap so CJ could be ninja sewer.


And sewed.

And now has a brand new pair of pajama pants.
I think I just got snoockered into letting him stay in his pjs all day!
The excess yardage was going to be turned into a pillowcase and scarf but instead became a cape.

Hockey in Columbus

Way back when, there was a group of friends who went to a 'couple' of hockey games.
They had the best seats in the house - way up high where the real fans were.
Tuesdays, Thursdays and the occasional Sunday were reserved for the Flyers.
This weekend they were back together.
It wasn't Tuesday or Thursday or even Sunday.
It wasn't way up high on the corner.
It wasn't the Flyers.
But, it was hockey and it was fun!!!

Steve, Christopher, Eric, Steve

And in reverse order still with Steve bookends.
Steve, Eric, Christopher and Steve

The Blue Jackets played a good game.
A couple of times it looked like Rick Nash would get a hat trick and Eric would have to sacrifice his beloved hat.
The good news was that Eric kept his hat, the bad news was that the Jackets lost.

CJ enjoyed the awesome seats. He said he would love to see another game, as long as we got these seats!

12 Years Old

January is birthday month.
We started celebrating on the 10th by taking CJ to pick out some D&D items. We don't normally let CJ pick out his birthday presents. This time was different as we were clueless to where to start with Dungeons and Dragons. Off to the local hobby store where they are not clueless. The guy at the store had a good time with CJ. Throughout the store there are planes hanging from the ceiling . CJ was quizzed on make and model and knew most of them, impressing the sales guy. Then it was off to a book store where CJ had seen some D&D stuff 6 months ago. At this store Steve began his birthday celebration by purchasing 3 new/used CDs.

On the morning of his actual birthday CJ was allowed to open one gift. In the past he's opened more but the middle school bus comes really early.
He chose the one from Bunny. Bunny is a Star Trek fan from way back and was excited to send CJ a battle scarred USS Relient and a birthday card featuring starships that CJ had designed while playing on the computer at her house.

After school CJ wanted to open more gifts. He was distracted, slightly, by watching a movie and doing homework. The long skinny gift had him very curious.

After dinner he was thrilled to finally be allowed to open the rest of the gifts and to dig into the birthday cookie.

A side note on the weather, it snowed everyday from December 27th thru January 12th. The temps did not go above 30 and most days not even close to 30. It has since warmed up and we even saw the sun a couple of times.

So That's Why He Mumbles

A little while ago CJ started to mumble.
Upon losing yet another tooth we realized that the mumbling may be directly related to a lack of teeth!!!
The teeth have started to come in and thankfully the mumbling is getting better.
I wonder how he chewed his food????

Two of CJ's Favorite Things

Orchestra Hoodie


Dickens

A Real Snow

For more than a week we got snow every day. The tiny flakes would come down all day and amount to no more than a dusting. Eventually the dustings added up to something the kids could sled on and that was good.
Then on Thursday it started to snow. This time it was a 'real' snow. The kids got home from school and went out to play.
CJ finished his homework just in case there was school on Friday, then before bed he flushed ice cubes and did the snow dance.
It worked!!!
No school and 4 inches of fluffy white stuff to play in.


CJ, Matt and Hunter built snow forts and filled the recycling buckets with snowballs.
No easy feat with fluffy snow!
After the battle it was time for hot chocolate and snacks.


The birds were happy with their snacks on a cold, cold day.
Even a woodpecker stopped by.

What was that?

The other day Steve looked out back and called us all to see the giant bird in our backyard.

It was flying close to the creek, below the tree branches. It had a huge wingspan, so big that it could barely get through our 'forest'. The wings were an amazing shade of blueish gray.

We think it was one of these - a great blue heron.

If so what was it doing in our little creek/forest?
Did it come up from the river?
Did it hear about our abundance of mice and voles?
Will we ever see it again?
Does anyone out there have any thoughts on what it may have been?