Fighting winter blues

what a busy weekend we are having! but there's nothing like going to gatherings with friends to beat the winter blues that tend to overcome all of us around this time of the year.

to start off our weekend, the girls and i went to a valentine's treat exchange, hosted by my friend, Shannon, who writes the blog, Cooking with Friends. do check out her blog! the goal of the exchange was to partner up with another person attending and make the treats together. Kristin and i got together with the kids that morning to make rice crispy treats covered with butterscotch and chocolate (Kristin's recipe). the kids had a great time and it was so fun to be in someone else's kitchen to cook. thanks, Kristin, and thanks, Shannon, for hosting such a fun party!

then on saturday, we hosted a brunch party with some friends. on the menu was blueberry bread pudding and cheese grits (a shout out to my days in North Carolina), and friends brought delicious quiche, fruit salad, tabouleh, and breakfast pastries. i baked a cake in honour of valentine's day (this time, i tried a chocolate cake with chocolate ganache - i had a great time experimenting with the ganache which worked so differently from frosting) and shared the treats i got from the treat exchange the day before. the kids put on a dance for us after the meal and we had a great time catching up with friends.

i have learned that this is the only way to see people during the cold winter months because we are all hibernating inside and even when we are outside, we're all bundled up we can't recognize anyone! the girls loved spending some time with their friends and i think it was early enough in the day that no one really had a melt down!! :)

in the afternoon, Phil took Skye to her school carnival while Claire napped (a rare occurrence, but the party tuckered her out). and then i took the girls to a chinese restaurant to meet some friends to watch their lion dance. the girls were terrified of the fire crackers and the masks, but couldn't take their eyes off.

today, we will celebrate lunar new year with a group of korean americans. the girls want to put of their hanbok (korean traditional dress) and do jul (bowing to elders who give you money). i'll try to take pictures if the girls manage to keep their hanbok on. :)

happy valentine's and happy new year, everyone!!

treats from the exchange and my chocolate cake

Winter knitting

whenever winter rolls around, it always feels good to pull out my knitting needles and yarn. i started knitting when we moved to Madison and while i'm not a fast knitter, there is something satisfying about knitting warm winter wear. i haven't ventured into knitting ambitious projects like sweaters and such, but i do enjoy knitting mittens and scarves and leg warmers. mittens are a necessity every winter - someone is always either losing them, or shrinking them, or growing out of them. right now, i'm in the middle of knitting a new pair of pink mittens for Skye who seems to be growing long every which way (Lamb's Pride worsted wool) and i finished a scarf for myself - i stitched the ends together so that i don't have to tie the scarf around my neck, i just loop it around twice, saving me a few precious moments when bundling everyone up (malabrigo yarn in holly hock).

New Year Eve 2009

hmmm...it would be nice if my new year's eve was a bit more exciting, but with kids, i'm far too tired to party into the wee hours of the morning. instead, we went to a friend's house and had the countdown in Rio de Janeiro time (it was midnight there at 8pm Madison time :)). and now that everyone has gone to sleep, i can catch up on my blog.

i've wondered about new year resolutions, but it's hard to come up with goals when i know life is going to go into full chaos once this third baby arrives. but i am going to try my best to chillax a little more and try my best to roll with the punches. i do still have a list of things to accomplish before the baby arrives, so those are in the immediate future, but other than that, i'm going to try to embrace whatever life has in store for me this year.

here are some pix from yesterday when we drove up north to my sister-in-law Megan's parents' lake house by Dutch Hollow Lake. the girls had a great time opening up more gifts and having a second Christmas. they went sledding down a great hill and built a snow fort. Skye went for a walk to the frozen lake with Phil and Uncle Mike.

Winter challenges

this is now our fourth winter in Wisconsin, and every winter, we are faced with new challenges. last winter, it got so cold, one of our pipes burst. this winter, the roads have turned into ice skating rinks. and since this is just the beginning of the cold, who knows what other challenges are ahead?

when i took Claire to preschool this morning, the roads were slick, but not too bad. i was just mad at the drivers who were driving as if in normal conditions. Skye comes home on the bus at 3pm, but by then, the sun was going down and it was getting really cold. the roads were frozen. when Skye's bus didn't show up by 3:20, i knew something was wrong. i called her school and found out her bus was stuck in the snow about 6 or 7 blocks from our house. i bundled Claire into the car and started driving. not only was the road slick, but by then, there were so many cars on the road, a few minutes drive turned into 15-20 mins. and the strangest sight was of course seeing the big yellow bus on top of a snow pile. i was just thankful the bus hadn't tipped over or anything like that!!

when we asked Skye if she had been scared, she merely said she and her friend wondered if they were going to be on TV. :)

thankfully, we are all home for the night, safe and warm. i hope the bus doesn't get stuck tomorrow!

Snow, and more snow

the snow started falling early Monday, all day, and continued all night and all day today. tomorrow, we're supposed to get temps of around 10 F!! at least today was warm enough for us to get out and enjoy the snow.

Going sledding (Singing in the snow) from slkim on Vimeo.

Beginning of 2009

i've had such a horrendous start to the new year, i'm going to rant a bit here before moving on to fairer topics. the last 2 weeks have been so full of...emergencies...it's been like boot camp. first of all, Phil leaves for 2 wks to bask in the lovely warmth of Vietnam. and most of the people who should be perhaps concerned for my well-being, showed only concern for Phil's safety. ahem! from the moment he takes off, i've been bombarded with illnesses from both children. first, a run to the ER for the first time ever in my life. fortunately, it was a popped elbow for Claire and they fixed it immediately. phew! next, Skye and i were up most of the night due to an ear infection. another run to urgent care and a day off from school for Skye. then, i breathed a sigh of relief - everyone seemed back to normal. then it was frantic packing for our trip to LA. sound crazy with 2 kids on my own? THAT was a breeze compared to everything else. so i'll talk about the trip and put up photos later. we returned to the oh-so-cold Madison. our kind neighbours had shovelled our sidewalk and driveway, i was so thankful, not realizing how much i'd be relying on them the next day. i was slightly worried when i saw that our bathtub drain was frozen. i had dripped the tap in the tub to PREVENT the freezing. the taps were frozen too. i probably should have called a plumber right away, but it was late and i had a girl throwing up all over the house on my hands. i fell asleep exhausted, hoping the worst was over. i woke up the next morning to the screams of Claire downstairs and what sounded like a pressure cooker going off. i ran downstairs to see water shooting out of a hole in the kitchen ceiling, all over the kitchen. i immediately grabbed a bucket and put in under the hole, only to have the bucket fill up in a matter of seconds. i ran down to the basement--water was up to my ankles. i had no idea what to turn to turn off the water supply. i ran, drenched in my PJs, to my neighbour's house. fortunately, he was walking out the door for work. he ran over and after several minutes of figuring out which handle to turn, he shut off everything in the house. thanks to Skype, i called Phil who was by now in Singapore and he managed to talk to our handyman and get a plumber out to the house. my phone was under the blast of the water and was completely useless. my kind neighbour took Skye and Claire in for the morning (her own children were home due to snow day) and i set about mopping up the water. once the plumber came, he located the source of the explosion and returned the heat and water supply to the house. we can't bathe for the next several days until the home insurance people come and inspect the damages, but at least we have heat and running water again.

i was so so exhausted i couldn't even cry. but, on the brighter side, i'm glad it happened after we got home rather than when we were away. and i'm glad Phil is coming home tomorrow. i'm saving the basement for him to clean up! we are very fortunate all the water drained out. i was really quite surprised. i was thinking i needed a sump pump or something, but no. it's just damp and cold downstairs. of course, the cold outside doesn't help.

it has snowed some more, so i need to shovel outside. what, with all the mopping and the shovelling, i'm really getting sick of this cold. instead of doing either, i'm blogging instead. i'll return to better topics another day.

Our various activities indoors

Skye works on a garland



Skye made a "mole house" with some clay.



finally, the girls decorate the tree and have a great time doing it!

Snow, snow, and more snow (this was an entry title last yr too!!)

yes, there is so much snow everywhere already and no prospect of any of it melting any time soon! here are some shots of our activities in the snow. i'm sure they'll all start to look the same soon!! :)

i took the girls sledding for the first time over the weekend


today, after snowing all night and most of the day, the girls and i went outside to shovel. Skye, rather than helping me, decided to build a slope for the sled. :)


frozen Claire...


Skye goes sledding on her slope


"Mum, look at my snow coach."

Winter activities

with the arrival of the cold, we enter into all the indoor activities. i have to say, there is quite a lot to do here that's either free or relatively affordable. we like to go to the Rotunda on saturdays. it's free and the kids really enjoy the shows. i still like to take the kids outside alot, but it's good to have options! :) there are plenty of indoor gyms that open up too. i think i'm still getting used to this idea of hunkering down, this idea of mostly indoor play. i'm scrambling now to come up with a list of indoor activities to keep the girls busy on days when we have nowhere to go. you are welcome to throw ideas my way!

Winter fatigue

every single person living in Madison is so sick of this cold. it's not just me--all my neighbours are out, chipping away at the ice, determined to push the cold out of here! one of my neighbours was out today putting out grass seeds on his front lawn, determined to bring spring to our block. after the construction crew left just before the cold hit, our block was left with no grass, and with the snow melting, our front yards are mud baths.

and just to let you know how sick i am of this cold, i look at my closet and get terribly annoyed that i've been wearing the same clothes for 6 months!! i want to wear dresses! i want to wear sandals! i am sick of wearing my down jacket! i want to burn all my sweaters and my snow boots! it's sort of how i felt when i stopped breastfeeding Skye - i wanted to burn all my nursing bras.

well, on a brighter note, congratulations to my friends, Mary and Martin, whose baby girl, Camille, was born this morning in California! welcome, Camille! we look forward to meeting you some day soon!

Snow in spring

just as i was thinking it'll soon be time to put the snow gear away, we get another snowfall. it is snowing all day long today. the sun did such great work melting it all away and now everything is covered once more! i am amazed at the winter's persistence, but i do hope this is the last of it. we were so excited to see a crocus blooming in front of our house, but we didn't get to enjoy it because a hungry bunny came by and ate it up! and now the second bloom that had come up is completely covered with snow.

we had a glorious spring-like day yesterday when the girls and i met some friends at the zoo. Claire was unbelievably happy and busy running around, pointing at all the animals and enjoying being outside. we could even sit outside for snack time! but alas, today is another wintry day, but we got a good taste of spring yesterday and we keep hoping we'll have more soon!

Snow?

by now, i know Madison is cold, but snow flurries already? i thought i was seeing things today when i looked out the window. the day was a little colder than usual and extremely windy. then, in the afternoon, it started raining hail. then the sun came out. and then it started to snow. it was quite a temperamental day. we are supposed to get snow this week though, so i'm getting ready to pull out snow gear. Phil keeps telling me the snow won't stick, but who knows?