Embrace the winter!

While driving home the other day from Giant's Ridge in the snow I was aware of my love for winter. The beauty of the snow, and the fun activities that are possible in the winter make this time of year so wonderful. Gathering with family and friends is also so special amid the darkness and cold of winter. As 2016 draws to a close, it is hard to capture the last month's activities in one post.

Progress on the house has been moving forward although photos will not do justice as most of the changes are hidden like electrical and plumbing. The wood floor was installed in the basement, and a Tom Saunders memorial staircase leads upstairs to the loft and down to the basement. The upstairs temporary staircase will be replaced with thick treads that allow light to pass through from the south facing windows into the living room. The downstairs will have risers but will have a similar look. So exciting to be able to walk up and down using these stairs, but really not safe with the Fifi.

Mark and Toby installed wood ceilings in the kitchen/dining room as well as the upstairs bedrooms. Partition walls have been built upstairs and down, and help to give shape to the rooms in the house as well as to allow the electric wiring snake along.

 Two bedrooms downstairs have plenty of light and a nice wood floor. The future downstairs bathroom with the tub. It is not going to actually be blue - that is just a protective covering, but it looks kind of cool!

View of the stairway up two flights from the downstairs.

This picture is taken in the corner of the dining room and makes the house look pretty large!

These three windows look out on the lake from the loft, and the sun passes through perfectly from the south to shine on the snow.

 A deer standing still outside the house while I was taking photos wondering what I was doing?

This view shows what you might see if you were sitting in the future window seat near the stove. It will be a cozy spot.

Insulation around windows and doors, as well as in the rim of each story keeps the house warmer along with two stoves installed to bring some warmth while Mark is working. We had a date night recently to wander the aisles at Menard's to pick out lighting fixtures. We are excited about the lighting choices we have made, but it will be a while still to have those installed.

Next steps include the walls being insulated, drywalled, taped, and painted. Then we can install flooring and lighting. We are thinking about the colors for each room, and debating about how much wood will be used in the wall finishes as well. This is the fun part of finishing the house as the look comes together. Wish us luck in making these nuanced decisions!

Fiona turned 3 on Dec. 18 on a dreadfully cold day which we celebrated with friends and a whitefish smoking party. There was a man there with a Santa hat on, and she was in awe of him! She really assumed that everyday was her birthday as there were presents to open almost everyday between her actual birthday and the day after Christmas. Immediately on her birthday she decided to participate in such 3 yr old activities like reverting to baby talk, alternating that with teen talk, and writing the letters F, O and A from her name. Crazy!

Cora and Raif are busy with skiing, school and friends. The first ski meet found Raif finishing in 4th place in JV, and Cora finishing a strong race despite her lower placement in the junior high race. The next race Raif finished 3rd, and Cora 17th. Cora is also enjoying dance with joy being the operative word. She comes home glowing from every rehearsal. Raif joined speech, and has been researching solar power in preparation for his topic of choice. Both kids got phones for Christmas, and we are finding out about the challenges of having those devices in the hands of the teens. They have been very mature so far in their use (knock on wood!!)

I have been helping with skiing again this year, and learning to skate ski along with the junior high students. I am trying to model positive growth mindset as I learn this at age 42 (feeling like a 50 yr old 5th grader.) Going up those hills at Hidden Valley while grunting and struggling is a wonderful workout but I know that I look hilarious:) My mind wants to say, "Oof, I suck at this" but I try to say instead, "Wow, this is challenging and I will need to work harder to learn this." Great practice for me as I try to encourage my students to have that same attitude! I have settled into my job and am finding some fun connections with students. I really am feeling lucky to have a job that allows me to work with great kids like the Ely students. I am finished with 4 courses in my grad school program, and have a short break until the next course starts. The learning I have been doing in class is very valuable for my teaching practice, and I am finding it manageable while keeping up with the classes I am teaching.

Mark has been working so hard on the house, and his morale wavers from time to time. This is a marathon not a sprint and he needs nourishment along the way. I have been trying to provide that encouragement, but each task is time consuming. We will be so relieved to have those jobs that show more change like drywall, painting and flooring! Wiring a circuit just doesn't have the same satisfaction of completion. Mark did get some new ski boots this year, and we are excited to get out together and ski.

Our holiday celebration featured gathering with our treasured friends Taura, Maysa and Mara. Mark's parents hosted, and it was a lovely time. We enjoyed skiing and a sauna, then traveled home to Ely to ski more and had an impromptu skating party on the lake for the kids with a bonfire. It was exactly the kind of fun gathering we hope to have more of in the future! We used the new basement for our warming house. Our friends Lou and Alice came for their annual New Year's visit to Ely with another evening spent singing in the fire gazebo. The Fischer's from Wisconsin made the trek north to enjoy snow and ice as well. Friends old and new make this journey richer.

So interesting to see our children learn that they feel so much better when they have a "project". We seem to have passed a curse to our kids, but they will have experience knowing how to make that happen. We continue to live our imperfect life as fully as we can. Hmm, the fully imperfect life. Seems like a good title for a book. Another project for another time...