Families are the compass that guide us. They are the inspiration to reach great heights, and our comfort when we occasionally falter. -- Brad Henry

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Energy Efficient












This is our energy bill graph over the past 13 months.  The blue line is an average home's energy bill in our area with similar square footage.  The green line is an efficient home in our area with similar square footage, and the yellow line is our home.

Eric has been busy insulating our attic, insulating all doors & windows, and replacing our light bulbs with the new LED ones, among many other things.  It's really paying off, too.  Our bill in January was only $80 for a 2,400 sq foot home.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Record Snowfall

Our wintery week began early Tuesday morning with a few inches of snowfall and cancellation of school.  By 10am, all the kids were outside in their snow gear playing.
They made several snowmen (or snow families), and used the sleds to haul the big round balls of snow.

The homes with steep slopes were the most popular, and with the roads iced over, there was no threat of traffic coming by.  The kids sled from one house to another, then made the trek back up a dozen times.

By day 2, the routine was the same, only more snow.  The pile of snow gear would come & go, and it was obvious where the kids were.  No pile, the kids were outside or at someone else's house.  If we had the pile, they are either upstairs playing or warming by the fire.

We also went through a lot of hot cocoa and mini marshmellows.


By the afternoon of day 2, there was so much snow we decided to build an igloo.  It took a few hours, but was so much fun!  This one held all 3 of us, as the little one is in the back.


















Here's an inside picture of our igloo so you could see how deep it went.  It really kept us warm inside when the wind was blowing.

















On day 3, the last day of our winter storm, we woke up again to fresh snow.  This last layer added another 3-4 inches, but quickly began melting around noon when the temps rose to 45 degrees.  It would still be another 24 hrs before the roads were safe to travel.

After the 3 straight days of snow, I realized a few things:  2 jugs of milk are not enough to have on hand, popcorn & movies will bring in an entire neighborhood of kids, and amaretto snow cones made with fresh snow are amazing!

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Pageant Competition

Our oldest was in a pageant competition last weekend called Distinguished Young Women (formally Junior Miss).  It's based on scholastic ability, talent, interview, poise, and fitness.






















This was her interview outfit.  She said it went well for the most part.  But seconds after as she was asked about her passion for health & wellness in our youth, another judge cut her off for one last question. She was disappointed she didn't get to fully answer it. Not a huge deal, though, as she rocked all the other questions.
















Her talent was very unique.  She wanted to showcase her culinary skills by carving the pageant logo into a watermelon.  An awesome job, and completed within the 90 second time limit!













I didn't take any pictures during her fitness routine, unfortunately, but she was amazing.  Here is the final dance with their dresses on.  For someone who rarely wears heals, let alone dance in them, she did great.

Overall, our daughter won the scholastic competition and was awarded a $250 scholarship.  We were really proud of her performance and attitude throughout the whole 6 weeks of preparation.  It was a lot of hard work and made her get out of her comfort zone!  Way to Go!