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.

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!

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!

Winter Waterpark Getaway

The family took a long weekend break to enjoy an indoor waterpark at Pigeon Forge, TN.  It was only 3 hrs away, so we found a great hotel rate and headed out.

The orange and green water slides were our favorite because the whole family could go together.  They were huge tubes where you swished way up one side and then up the other, then a large waterfall-like drop that scares the heck out of you, especially if you're the one going backwards!

 

They also had indoor surfing, so the guys had to show off their skills....

Another favorite was the indoor/outdoor hot tub.  You start off inside the arena, but can then swim through a tunnel to the outside hot tub.  It was quite chilly in the air (20 degrees), but so toasty in the water.

This is one place we'll have to re-visit.  It was the perfect adventure during a long winter weekend.

Family Ski Trip

The whole family went on a ski trip together, as opposed to Daddy just taking the older two.  We went somewhere close, just 2 hrs away in NC.  The little one had never been on skis, so she spent lots of time on the beginner slope learning how to snow plow.


















Older brother was on the other side of her ready to catch if she went too fast, or help pick her up if she fell.  But after a while, he decided to go back to the blue courses and find his older sister.  He did pretty good, though, considering all his prior experience is in snow boarding.  After one "practice" run down a green slope in skis, he was ready for blue the rest of the day.

The little one had a bunch of falls, but enjoyed the snow.  By the end of the day, she was riding off the ski lift herself without falling!  Mommy was proud.  After not skiing in 20 years, I did pretty good as well.  I ended up on a blue run by the end of the day.  As for our oldest, she preferred the black diamonds.

Distinguished Young Woman

Our oldest has decided to participate in a scholarship and academic pageant.  Years ago, the program was called "Junior Miss", but re-branded itself a few years ago to Distinguished Young Women.  The program is based in Mobile, Alabama, but has state and local representatives in the year leading up to nationals.

This year's local competition will be held on February 8th.  A link to the website and contestant profiles is here DYW Anderson County.





The program is based on 5 areas:
- Scholastic
- Interview
- Talent
- Fitness
- Self-Expression







The scholastic portion is based on your SAT scores, class ranking, and overall GPA.
The interview will be conducted earlier in the day as a sit down discussion with a panel of judges.
The talent only gives each participant 90 sec (cannot go over) to show off skills & abilities.
The fitness is a dance routine that all girls will perform together like a dance, showing endurance.
The self-expression is a knee-length dress with heels, stage presence, poise, and grace.

We all know which areas my daughter will excel, and which areas she has the most to work on.  She doesn't wear makeup, and asked if heels are required.  I'll keep you posted....

Tomorrow I have the priviledge of taking her shopping for a dress.  She has already disliked the first 3 I found and texted to her phone.  Anyone want to fly to SC and do this for me???  (please!)

Waiting for Santa

Our youngest was determined to see Santa this year.  She made a palate between the fireplace and the tree so that Santa would have to either step over her or go around, which would surely wake her.

I'll have to admit that it made for an interesting evening.  Mommy kept checking on her to make sure she was warm and that she was sleeping soundly.

Well, Santa came on schedule and must have put pixie dust on her head to put her in a deep sleep, because she didn't hear a thing!  Santa went about his business stuffing stockings, eating the milk & cookies (on the fire place brick entrance), and setting out toys and gifts.








On Christmas morning, she couldn't believe he came and worked right in front of her eyes!  Next year, she plans to set up a motion-detection video recorder.  Her favorite gift was a stuffed frog sticking out of her stocking.  "Froggy" had to go to Mass with us that morning, and has been by her side ever since.