In like a Lion!

Hooray! Homer finally has SNOW! We have just gotten little skiffs of snow all winter and most of February was warm, we had days in the mid-40's! We were thinking that spring might be early this year. Then March rolled in like a lion! I was trying to explain to Alectra and Alexis about the saying and they weren't understanding. Then we had a full-on blizzard for three days and Alectra said, "Mom. I think March came in like a LION!" I had to agree. This is the way Alaskan kids celebrate snow! They were so excited to have a "real" snow they ran out the door in shorts and t-shirts to play. We ended up getting over four feet in the last week, public school was canceled for two days (only the fourth snow day in the 17 years I've been here), and the Sterling Highway is still closed because of avalanches. The stores are all out of milk. It is pretty funny. We did a lot of reading and playing games inside with the wind howling at 40 mph. Alectra and Alexis have discovered the joy of small chapter books, and it's always more fun to read with a Buddy.For our anniversary Warren took me to the NRA banquet. Homer's is the second largest in Alaska and 23rd in the nation. We just went for fun and didn't take any money for the auctions or raffles. They had a free ladies drawing and gave all the women a ticket. I couldn't believe it when they called all the numbers on my ticket! I won the all-pink combo, a pink pump BB gun, a pink tactical .22, a pink carrying case, pink shooting bag, pink travel bag, a pink hat and a camo purse from NOMAR. My girls were thrilled! 'MOM, it's ALL pink!"
After that excitement, Warren and I got back to our seat and it was time for a game of "Heads or Tails". The Auctioneer flips a coin and which ever side was up got to keep playing. Heads was putting both hands on your head or tails was both hands in your back pockets. I was out the first round. Warren was in for Tails, Tails, Tails, Heads, Heads, and by then it was down to just 8 or 9 people and they all had to go stand up in front. The next call was Tails and Warren was still in, just a granny, a little kid and him for the last call. Warren closed his eyes and picked Heads. When he looked the granny and kid were both Tails. Sure enough, it fell Heads! Warren won a stainless Marlin .22 semi-auto! Happy 17th Anniversary Honey!

My ankle is doing better every day. I've been walking to the school room everyday and the uneven snow does a great job stretching it. It is still very stiff but the Dr. says I'll be able to stretch it out eventually. The kids are great at reminding me to walk without limping and to do my stretches every day. It still swells a lot by the end of the day.

We have 8 weeks of school left and the kids are counting down! We have to be done in time for fishing in May. The baby chicks and the bees are supposed to be coming by the end of May and we need to build a chicken coop and some bird houses for the swallows before then. I'm hoping to entice lots of swallows to hang around so they will take care of the swarms of mosquitoes. We'll try building a couple bat houses as well.