Adventures of the Bear Family: The Big Snow

Once upon a time there lived a family of bears. Although they were used to the heat of their former southern trees, the Bear family was growing accustomed to the climate of their new abode farther north.

One day they awoke to a wondrous scene: a world of white and yellow and pink and purple.

Mama Bear and Little Bear went exploring through the tundra.

Then they went with Papa Bear to the Great White Mountain and slid down a few times.

Little Bear was nervous but even went down all the way from the top with Papa Bear.

What a strange world it was, a land where even the tips of the trees had their fingernails painted with ice.

Papa Bear felt the primal need to provide for his family, so he began digging them a home. He dug for a long time. Mama Bear felt like it was plenty good enough for their little family, but Papa Bear knew his family deserved a castle.

Little Bear was very excited about the whole ordeal and told her Papa Bear to keep digging.

Papa Bear impressed Mama Bear with his home-building skills.

Mama Bear liked to act like she did a lot, when in reality she mostly just watched strong Papa Bear.

Then the Bear Family all got inside their new cozy home, complete with two windows and towels on the floor to keep Mama Bear's sensitive fur dry.

Then they decided it was time to come out and go inside a pre-made bear home that had a toilet and a heater.


The End.

A visit from the folks

One of the great things about hosting guests is that it gives you the excuse to explore your new city, and my parents' visit gave us the perfect opportunity.

We drove up a very windy, slightly snowy (aka scary) road to reach Reddish Knob, one of the highest peaks in Virginia at 4,397 feet (according to Wikipedia).

The temperature and the wind up there were absolutely brutal . . .

 . . . but the views were stunning.

Our house is somewhere down there in the Shenandoah Valley. 

My mom and I also braved the 15 degree morning on Saturday to visit the winter farmer's market. It was so fun but oh so frigid. I was thrilled with my three butternut squashes and my kabocha squash, which I've wanted to try for awhile.

Isn't it so beautiful?! There was so much fun eye candy, and the homemade, hot whole wheat donuts looked tempting as well, but I resisted.

 Of course, a visit must also include some handyman help--my dad taught me how to use a drill to hang some shelves and I felt quite empowered. I growled like Tim Allen on Home Improvement. (What is JTT--my crush of eighth grade--up to these days?)

A little downtime between adventures is always nice, too.

The birthday girl

Clara turned six years old this week. How do I have a six-year-old?

We recently read a Berenstain Bears book where the mother gets breakfast in bed, and although this is a tradition that I adored growing up, I didn't plan on passing it on to Clara quite yet. However, after reading the book she requested a similar service, and I acquiesced to her request. I told her she could pick any cereal she wanted, and she told me she wanted what she was eating that morning, generic Life (yes, Kroger makes a Life cereal--it's pretty good). Fine by me.

On her birthday, she got some excellent books from my parents and a pillow pet from us, her most desired possession. She doesn't need any more soft stuffed things, but it was quite a sweet moment watching her open it.

Clara has also never had a birthday party. I never wanted to throw her one because (1) I am lazy, (2) I didn't think she'd appreciate it, and (3) I didn't think it would be a good experience given her history at these types of events.

However, this year we decided to have a party. Clara was at times incredibly excited and at other times informing us she no longer wanted a party. This sort of vascillating is quite typical for her, so we just forged ahead.

My parents were able to come up for the event, which was so lovely. 

The theme: Snow Princess. (I failed to take a picture of the many snowflakes I cut out, dangling from the ceiling.)

The place: Our house.

The guests: Five little girls from church.

The game plan: 

some crown-making,

 some pinning-the-jewel-on-the-princess-crown, 

some pizza-making,

some puppet-show watching, (which was an absolutely hilarious play written by Michael)

some present-opening,

and some cake- and sundae-eating.

The result:

Well, there was definitely some pouting and tears (as well as some running away when the cake was being blown out because the candles were too scary), but more often there was smiling and laughter and fun.


 

 We hope she had a fun day. I know I had fun preparing it. I think I secretly wanted a crown myself.

A different view

Michael and I have both been working on faces this week.

These are mine.

 These are his.

Michael is preparing for Boards and has to trace the cephs (skull x-rays) of six patients--in addition to doing a ton of other work, which has included two separate trips back to Augusta since our move here--in front of the American Board of Orthodontics. It's a pretty big deal, and let's just say that we'll both be pretty happy when February has come and this exam has gone.

As for my profile attempt, I saw silhouettes on this blog probably over a year ago and decided to copy her idea. Imitation is the greatest form of flattery, right? (as opposed to an indication of laziness and lack of personal creativity). You can't really tell from the pic, but I used different patterns of cardstock behind the silhouettes and the overall effect is nice. It isn't too tricky to do if you're not picky. But of course, I am sometimes, so this project took a bit longer than it could have. (It also took some candy to persuade Clara to sit perfectly still while she couldn't smile and couldn't look at me.) Good thing I have an encouraging husband who helped me not throw them all in the trash.

Wish we could see more of you up close and personal, too, but I guess seeing your mugs on FB and blogs is the best we can do right now.

(Speaking of mug shots, today we got our Virginia driver's licenses, and the employee at the DMV informed me that I could smile for my picture but couldn't show my teeth. Huh?)

Cold.

Every day this week Clara and I have been trying to spend a little time outside riding her new scooter. The last two days she has taken to bringing her wagon outside, which is really a garden wagon but which she uses to transport her valuables.

It is very cold outside here right now, especially with the wind. My ears were bright red after only ten minutes outside. Michael and I walked with Clara outside as she took her wagon for a walk, but when we wanted to go inside for a minute to thaw, Clara protested strongly.

Her distress was fitting considering her response to Michael the other day. After playing outside he said, "Let's go inside to warm up."

Clara inquired, "Can we warm up outside?"

A big day

Today was Michael's first day as an orthodontist.

We discussed at length what the dress would be (we wanted to go more dressy casual), but since the current office staff and orthodontist wear scrubs, Michael wasn't about to shake things up on the first day. He wears scrubs well, if anyone can. I didn't get to take a pic of him with his white clinic jacket on over it, though. Maybe I'll sneak into the office and grab an action shot.

He has been seeing patients for the last two and a half years during residency (and obviously in dental school as well), so it wasn't like it was a foreign experience, but still, he is now qualified and all the money we paid to overnight paperwork to get his Virginia dental license will be worth it.



Today was also Clara's first day of Kindergarten, but unfortunately I did not take a picture to commemorate the event. We had held her back in school so she began full-day Pre-K in the fall, but here she had to go to Kindergarten since she's going to be six.

I was pretty nervous, and so was she. She vacillated between every day asking me what day it was and wanting it to be Monday and telling me that she didn't like school and didn't want to go to her new school, that she wanted to go to her old school.

Fortunately, she did well. It helped considerably that we had already met with the principal, her new teacher, and the special ed teacher over the break. They've all been tremendously supportive, and we hope that things continue to go well.

So all in all, January 3rd was a pretty good day.

And days like these don't happen all the time, you know.