A death in the family

We had a very sad evening tonight. Just before family prayer, Rachel put Snowball (the white gerbil) back in her cage, and when she came back, Snowball hadn't moved. And she wasn't breathing. She has had some health challenges for awhile, but it's still sad that she is gone. Rachel was especially sad because she loved and played with Snowball more than anyone else, but we are looking to get another gerbil to keep Butterscotch company in the next couple of weeks. The kids had a hard time tonight, but we will bury her tomorrow and hopefully that will give them some closure. RIP Snowball.

--Sarah

Gerbil cage extension - snow day fun

So out of the last 8 school days, school has been canceled 7 days. This morning's activity was gerbil cage fun.

Jeff thought the whole thing was very exciting.

Miriam getting the raw supplies.

Miriam had grabbed the camera and was having a great time being the photographer. Hi Becca!

Rachel showing off the addition to snowball. You can see another tube behind her.

Traffic jam. The gerbils were able to get past each other.

Miriam getting Laura ...

Brian and Miriam had an ongoing game where Brian was trying to not let Miriam get a picture of him. She finally got him.

Butterscotch enjoying the excitement as well.

Hey, I can take a picture of myself as well!

Laura did a video of the finished product. If you get motion sick, I'd stop at the 1:30 mark.

Snow week!

Here's Rachel inspecting her snow candy. We made cherry flavored lollipop stuff and then drizzled it over the cookie sheet covered in ice. It cools very quickly in wacky shapes. This was on Jan 30 and there is another cookie sheet out there gathering more snow. Yeah!

We had fun walking in the snow this morning when there was only an inch or two on the ground which is more to Jeffrey's liking than when there's 12 inches on the ground and he can't really walk anywhere. Becca and Derek worked on making a snowman around the mailbox post--I'll try to get a picture of that after they add the scarf, etc. when it stops snowing. I guess we're making up for the past few warmer winters with all this white stuff (29 inches of snow so far this winter, before this storm). The kids have been out of school all week and we're enjoying it and all the sledding. But we are just laughing and amazed at how much it has snowed--this storm comes on top of about 6 inches still on the grass, though the roads were clear. Hope you're having a great winter too!
--Sarah