Today was a big day for both girls! Kayla has been working on the special memorial for her friend Alex. His sister has been working on it too, to create some cool pictures for the library windows and get out the word for the special Lego contest. Students at the middle school could build something out of Legos that was in the spirit of the How to Train Your Dragon book series. The special scholarship fund at the school sponsored some nice prizes.

What made today special? Today was the judging for the Lego entries. Alex’s mom thought it would be good for the girls to NOT be judges, to avoid any issues with kids at school. Instead, Alex’s little brother and grandfather acted as judges, along with the superintendent and a couple of teachers.  As a special nod to our family, Ashley was also asked to be a judge! She was so excited to get released from school a little early, walked over to the middle school, and allowed to be part of this! The bigger girls acted as the accounting firm, tabulating the points and determining the winners. Kevin and I zipped over after work to see the final display put together, help out, and take pictures. Tomorrow at school, Kayla and Emma will be part of the big annoucement for the winners and the book donation (so that students know that the books will soon be available for check-out).

Here are a couple of pictures. The winning Lego entry is in the bottom left of the display – 3 boys from Alex’s scout troup made a Lego replica Viking village, with dragons and everything! It was very cool and so true to the story! The picture of the top shelf has Kayla’s dragon Furious (the enemy dragon in the book series), the book collection, and then the replica Toothless and Hiccup that Alex built.

Kayla in front of the library doors. She helped color in all of the pictures taped to the windows on either side.

The books, Kayla’s dragon , and Alex’s dragon.

Kayla and the Lego display. The 1st prize winner is in the lower left.

We finally got some snow! It has been over a year since we had measureable snow that needed shoveling. The girls were absolutely thrilled to get out there and play. I have some pictures of the snowiness, but none with the girls. I couldn’t get photos – I was trying to get home! It all started Thursday afternoon. By the time I left work, traffic was at a standstill. My usual 20 mile commute normally takes about 45 minutes. On Thursday, it took me 2 hours and 45 minutes to get home!!!!!!!!! I could barely walk from sitting tensed in the driver’s seat that long. However, the snow sure looked pretty, far prettier than the yucky dirty we have been looking at. Here are the pix:

Thursday night, while it was still snowing.

Early Friday morning

 

Of course, it is now 40 degrees and raining today. The snowman is beginning to flop over and melt, and there are puddles everywhere!

Now for the sniffles part. Ashley has been super sniffly the last few days, with one of those dry tickly coughs. No fever, just enough to make her a little miserable.

And then the sore throat part. Kayla woke up this morning with a terrible sore throat that has just gotten worse all day long. No fever, just super sore throat.  I took her to the Target clinic for a strep screen (I have gotten 2 letters from the school about strep). The rapid was negative, and now it will get sent to the lab to grow. We will know by Wednesday, which seems kind of silly. If she has a virus, she should be seeming better by Wednesday. If she does indeed have strep that didn’t have time to get going enough for the rapid, she will be worse by Wednesday and I will probably have already taken her in somewhere for a new screening. I just want her to be well for Wednesday at school. That is the day that her special library exhibit is being unveiled, and I want her to be there for that!

Otherwise, it has been a lazy bum weekend. We had the girls watch the original Star Wars trilogy for the first time. They enjoyed it, especially the Ewoks! Now they know the basis for the Star Wars stuff they see at school. Next on the movie docket – we may watch The Goonies! Kayla wants to see Jurassic Park. She has read the book, and she would like to see how the movie compares.

On the home front, the bathroom tiling work is done! The old plain white tile is gone, and the linoleum is gone. We now have ceramic. Mom and I spent this afternoon finding carpet for the bedroom.  And the credit for the way it looks ALL goes to Mom! She is our design consultant on everything, and it would not look nearly as nice without her help! I keep telling her that she should go into business doing this. People would pay for it! Some before and after pictures:

Bathroom before:

Bathroom after:

Now it’s time to paint the bathroom, and then the carpet for the bedroom will be all set!