She’s now taking an art class after school and has been so excited about it. Last week was her first class and she came home tired but it happy. I asked her how class went and what they did. She said they didn’t do anything. Surprised by this, I tried to find out a little more about her class, she was in a pretty good mood for not doing anything. I finally got out of her that they made fancy name tags and read a book about primary colors.

I asked her if it was an interesting book. She said, “No, I knew it all already.”

I was a little bummed that it didn’t seem like the art class went very well, but I figured it was the first day and things would get better each class. She didn’t seem upset by it in any way, so I thought it best to leave it until next week and see how that class went.

Then I opened her book bag to take out her school papers and found this!

I know that as her mother I’m biased but I can’t believe she drew this at only 6 years old. It’s a picture of herself drawing a picture of herself drawing a picture (very Inception-like). See her hand on the right holding the paper and the paint brush on the left? And that’s her at the table drawing with her teacher beside her.

I was bowled over that she grasped the concept to do this. I asked her when she did it and after much confusion, because she’s still working on telling time, I learned that she drew it while waiting for art class to start. I asked her if they gave her the idea or if she thought of it on her own. She said they told them to draw about why you love art, so she drew herself drawing and her teacher watching.

So cute and so good!

Anyway, so I just had to share how proud I am of Kora and how amazed I am at her every day.

We all got up early this morning and headed out to McDonald’s for our traditional family pancake breakfast.

It’s not fancy, but the kids love it and look forward to it every birthday. Kora has school today so we had to get up extra early, which they both thought was really neat.

It’s going to be a great day, with lots of celebration and memories. While Logan can’t believe he’s 5, I’m not sure I can either! Where does the time go?

These first few pictures were taken in Lake Geneva in Switzerland by Jean-Pierre Scherrer. Aren’t they incredible?!

I can’t even imagine seeing this or how long it took for it all to melt!

Here’s a few of our own ice storm pictures from outside our living room window over the past couple of years.

I’m getting my cozy blankets and hot chocolate ready!

What about you? How is your weather?

We’ve been trying to stay as active indoors as possible. The kids play games like tag and duck-duck-goose. Sometimes we set up obstacle courses or Kora & Logan do funny things like try to both fit in the laundry basket!

We also love to play games on our Wii, which surprisingly can get you really moving. One of our favorite games is Wii Fit Plus. I love that it keeps us all active in fun games. It really does a great job of making it not seem like you are exercising.

Kora & Logan really love what they call the “kitty run” and “doggie run.” You get to run along a path with a cat or dog at your side. It is pretty fun and you barely notice you are working up a sweat.

Here’s a photo of Logan after he voluntarily ran over 3 miles on one of the Wii Fit Plus runs! It took him over 20 minutes and he ran the entire time.

Needless to say he slept well that night!

Those are just some of the things we do in the winter to fight off cabin fever. I’d love to hear more suggestions though.

What do you do to keep cabin fever at bay? Any fun games or toys we should try?

Since trying them at my parent’s house over Christmas, I think Kora and Logan have eaten one every day since and I confess to eating up to 3 or 4 a day!

We all love them because they are so sweet, easy to peel, and have no seeds. I was never very fond of regular oranges, but clementines I just can’t get enough of them. They are great when you want something sweet like candy or chocolate and, of course, are a much healthier choice which goes along well with our New Year’s Resolutions.

I often wondered what exactly a clementine is, so I looked it up on Wikipedia. It says that it’s a variety of mandarin orange – which makes a ton of sense because I love mandarin oranges. Interesting.

What about you? Have you tried clementines yet? Are you as addicted as we are?

Kora and Logan have been wondering where the snow is. We had a brown Christmas (I’d say green but all the grass has turned a lovely shade of brown) and they have been itching to get out and play in the snow we don’t have.

I was watching the news with Logan this morning and the weather came on. He saw that snow is predicted this weekend and was so excited! While I”m not a fan of shoveling snow or clearing it off the car in the morning, I have to admit that I do kind of miss it too.

So in absence of our snow, here’s a look back at some winter photos from the past:

What about you? How has your weather been this winter?

We did it in record time too.

We returned yesterday afternoon from Christmas #4 in Michigan where we celebrated with my side of the family and got right to work.

Kora was a big help and we were finished in just under 2 hours.

Logan popped in & out to help in between building Lego vehicles.

It was definitely not my most organized undecorating session. Next year I’m sure I’ll be shaking my head wondering what I was thinking, but right now I’m glad to have it done.

I do have to say the house looks pretty plain now.

I’m going to have to do a little redcorating to add a bit of sparkle and shine in to our every day decor.

That should keep me busy during our upcoming cold & snowy winter months here in Cleveland.

What about you? Have you already undecorated?

As for New Year’s resolutions, Dave and I are joining the rest of the world in our quest to be healthier.

We both would love to get in shape and to make more nutritious choices when it comes to eating. It’s tough during our winters in Cleveland to get out and exercise and even to find delicious fresh fruits and vegetables. But we are going to try. I’ll keep you apprised of how that’s going.

Kora and Logan  are looking forward to doing more of what they do best – being kids.

They both really enjoy school and even doing homework right now, so we want to keep it that way. Logan has a birthday this month and he is going to start playing basketball. Kora is sticking with gymnastics which she has a real talent for and as long as she has fun with it, we are all happy.

Those are some of the things our family is looking forward to in 2012, how about yours? What are your New Year’s Resolutions?

Kora feeling a bit better 

The doctor there said it is normally caused by strep throat and even though her strep test came back negative she could still have strep throat. I’m not sure they even ran her strep test correctly – she didn’t even flinch when the stuck the swab in her throat and said it only tickled a little, that doesn’t sound like a typical strep test, does it?

From the reading I’ve been doing, I’ve found that it seems 90% or more of tonsillitis cases are caused by strep throat.

I also learned that tonsillitis can cause sleep apnea type symptoms. This made so much sense because Kora was not sleeping well at all. One night she was up 12 times!

I kept asking her what was wrong and she just kept saying she wasn’t comfortable but couldn’t tell me why. Now I realize she kept waking up because her tonsils were so inflammed they were probably blocking her airway a bit either causing her to snore or to wake up.

So now that she’s been on amoxicillin since Monday, she’s been doing much better. Wednesday evening we saw a huge improvement in her and she almost seemed like her old self. Thursday morning was even better. No fever at all the entire morning. Yay!

However, Kora evidently decided to be in the holiday spirit and share her strep throat/tonsillitis with her brother. That same Wednesday evening that we saw improvement in Kora, I noticed Logan’s face was bright red. I took his temperature and it was nearly 101. I looked in his throat and his one tonsil was huge.

So he had a pediatrician appointment on Thursday and the doctor said he actually probably doesn’t have strep but instead an ear infection! So he is on amoxicillin now too.

I do hope Logan gets over it quickly. It’s no fun being sick on winter break. I can’t believe the kids go back to school in only a few days. I feel like we haven’t had a break at all. But I suppose there’s always spring break to look forward too.

What about you? How has your family’s health been this winter?

She didn’t really have any other symptoms but those of the fever. So I was really concerned. I was glad the fever responded to the over-the-counter medications though. I decided if her temperature was still high and bothering her on Monday, I’d make her a doctor’s appt. Little did I know almost no doctor’s were open the day after Christmas.

So I took her to an urgent care/walk-in outpatient clinic. It was our first time there and I was impressed by their kindness and efficiency. They did a strep test which came back negative.

The doctor came in, took one look in her throat and said she had tonsillitis. He showed me her tonsils and they were so huge it looked to me like they were touching. Kora hasn’t complained of a sore throat or difficulty drinking or eating. She has a bit of a loss of appetite though and now I can see why. The doctor also said the glands in her neck were really swollen.

I have no idea why none of this is bothering her. I don’t know if it’s because the fever is bugging her so much she’s not noticing the other symptoms. I do know if it were me, I’d be miserable.

She’s been a champ though. The doctor prescribed her Amoxicillian and said it’d be 2-3 days before she starts feeling better. Poor Kora. I really hope it’s sooner than that.