Baby Shower!

Isabelle's baby shower was on Saturday. It was fantastic! Martine, Marthe, and Isabelle decorated amazingly. Check out the presents area:

And check out that lovely banner. The girls and I made it!

Here's the amazing spread. Everything wasn't even out yet in this photo--there was eggplant parmigiana, fruit kebabs, a bunch of salads, and tons of other stuff, I don't even remember it all. Plus a TON of candy, cupcakes, tiramisu (I was too sick to make it, so Erik bought one), and Isabelle's flower rice krispies on a stick). Amazing.

And punch! How could I forget the punch?

After food, games!

Games and more punch...

 There was "guess which babies are Isabelle and Erik," "guess the candies," "unscramble the words," and "guess the size of the belly."

Speaking of belly:

Also note the cup in the foreground. Punch.

She looks amazing!!

The girls and I drove down on Saturday morning with Isabelle's friend Bianca and Nick stayed home with the dogs. Very smooth trip down, no traffic, great driving weather. Maybe our next trip down will be to meet the little guy!!

Sick!!

Ugh. The girls stayed home today, and I the only reason I went to work was because that was easier than being home with them. Lucky for me, it was early release day, I had two free periods at the end, an no one wanted me sneezing my germs around the faculty meeting after school, so I got to go home early. Tomorrow I'm pretty much all set to have a sub, so if I don't feel better, that's ready to go. The girls are doing much better, so hopefully this one is a quickie.

In good news, that awful nor'easter is far enough off the coast that we're getting some wicked winds, but NO SNOW!

HOORAY!!!!!!!

Tomorrow it's supposed to get above freezing too! Oh sweet warm upper 30s! Maybe I'll go swimming! Lay out in the sun!

Unreal that it's almost April and we're still shivering, scraping ice off the windshield in the morning, wearing snow pants... Worst winter ever, hands down.

In more triumphant news...

I got roped into participating in the student/faculty game this week at school. I wasn't going to, but the student body president is our babysitter and in one of my physics classes, and she knows me too well. She popped into my room one day and asked,

"Mrs. Scorcia, will you play in the student faculty basketball game? There'll be cupcakes!"

And before I knew it, an enthuiastic "YES!" escaped.

Then she was off! Before I could gather my wits, she was gone. And so I was on the hook.

I warned the kids that my response to a ball coming my way is a duck and cover, but they were all excited I'd be playing. When I tried to back out at the last minute, the rest of the staff said our staff team was super short on players and I had no choice. They also roped Nick in last-minute too. Our hodge-podge team ended up being half staff, half staff spouses, student parents, and student's parent's friend (any team that needs me is clearly very, very desperate).

Then a miracle happened! Someone tossed me the ball (not my husband, who totally ignored the fact that I was wide open), and I shot it as quickly as I could (those high school boys are big! And no high school girls were playing, so I couldn't escape them). And it went it!! Swoosh, just like that. The odds were like, one in 10,000, so they gave me three points. Incredible!

But then something even more amazing happened. I got the ball again, and again I got rid of it like a hot potato. I made a three-pointer (and was awarded four points for it)!!

My students were adorable. All the next day, I heard, "Mrs. Scorcia, you drained it!" (Which means nothin' but net, I think. Or just making a basket, someone explained but I forgot).

It was truly epic. I've been sore ever since, but it was worth it.

For the record, Nick also scored a two pointer and a three pointer, but this was not nearly so miraculous, since he's been playing at least once a week since he was a kid. I dunno, I might have to start joining him at his games!

Welcome Spring!!

It's hard to get good photos of snow coming down, even when it's coming down in huge, fat flakes, but here's my attempt:

You can just barely see it in the photo, but it looks 10x thicker in real life. Strange.

Everything still on the ground has been there for like, 5 years. The stuff coming down right now isn't supposed to amount to much.

Yay though! Nothing like a late March squall when we've been dealing with the frozen white stuff since November. Welcome spring! Looks like we're in for a real doozy mid-week, too. I can't write any more, only obscenities are coming to mind.

Best air guitar ever

I finally got it up on you tube. Hilarious.

Wrecking Ball

A new family passion...

Pictionary!

Here's Maggie with her kangaroo. She did great!

And here's Nina with her drum.

Hours of fun! We played in teams, the "N" team (Nick and Nina) versus the "M" team (Maggie and mom).

We certainly need lots of family fun indoor games to play, because short of today's lovely forecast of mid-40s and rain, the rest of the week is going to be horrid. Freezing, of course. I think we're on track for the coldest March ever. Yay.

That winter that just won't end continues...

Yesterday we had a 2 hour delay, and it should have been a snow day.

It's the middle of March! It wouldn't be such a big deal if this were a snowstorm that marked winter's last attempt to take control of the weather, but it wasn't. It was one more snowstorm after 15 others, with almost no break in the cold.

It's better today. Sunny and 28 degrees, which is about 25 degrees warmer than it was when I woke up this morning but still 15 degrees below normal for this time of year. Yay.

The extended forecast isn't much better, either. Saturday should be nice, but Sunday and Monday are back to the twenties with overnight lows in the single digits. Unreal. This winter just won't quit. Someone's going to have to dig it up and drive a stake through its heart.

Today was a teacher in-service day for me and a day off for the girls at least, so that was nice for them. Last night we stayed up late and watched The Adams Family. Nina loved it. When the opening credits rolled and she saw Angelica Houston's name, she jumped for joy. She's got to be the youngest Angelica Houston fan in the country. (Angelica Houston played the grand high witch in The Witches, and she's been her biggest fan ever since).

Not much to report beyond that. I think we'll have another family game of Skip-Bo tonight, cross your fingers that no blood is shed.

Canada!

I know, no blogging lately. I've been so busy. I'll likely not be able to return to my former pace until this class that I'm taking winds up in May, but I'll do my best to at least get little things down.

My class started last week, and on Saturday we had our first of two in-person meetings. In Presque Isle. I debated taking the class because of the distance, but finally decided that it was the only one running just 2 months (all the others took 4), and that I'd rather get it all done in 2 busy months than have to pace myself through 4 slower ones. And besides, I've never been to northern Maine. Adventure!

Me leaving the girls for an overnight is still a tricky idea, so the four of us decided to drive together to Fredericton, Canada on Friday so that we could stay there with the family we met at Disney Paris last year. They were super nice and had 2 girls Nina and Maggie's ages. The mom, Jenn, and I drove together to Presque Isle on Saturday morning, and she did some cheap American shopping while I had class. And the guys took care of the 4 girls. Perfect!!

It actually went really well, in spite of poor beginnings. We got on the road alright and made great time until just north of Millinocket, where we came upon a burning tractor-trailer. Not just a few flames there, this was a tractor-trailer inferno. There were only a few cars in front of us on the highway, most waiting to see where this was going to go, but a few braving passes even though the road was quite narrow (just 2 lanes and massive snow banks). Since this thing was really burning, and we didn't know what was on it, we decided to wait it out.

And wait.

And wait.

That baby burned for 30 minutes. Finally the fire department got there and put it out. At one point there were sparks and flames shooting 30 feet from it. Nina was pretty freaked out, because we were uncomfortably close.

It took more than an hour before we were on our way again. We got a good look at it when we passed it, and there was absolutely nothing left of the cab beyond the engine and chassis. Unreal.

Canada was great though! The girls had a wonderful day, Jenn and I chatted the whole way up and back, my class was super informative, and we had smooth sailing on the way back. The girls were so excited to add another country to their list (this makes 15 including the USA).

The only difficulty was a bit of bickering in the backseat over toys on the way home. I told them to stop the fighting or I'd take the toys away, and it didn't, so I did. Wow. And I thought the burning truck was bad.

"I'm planning running away," Maggie told me. "I'm going to find a new family that loves me. I don't want to be around you any more. I don't love you. I'll never love you. No one in your life will ever love you again."

Let's let that one sink in for a second.

No one in your life will ever love you again.

I tell you, this child has a gift for cutting straight to the quick.

(I do think she loves me again, but when I tried to get her to admit it, she got upset. Talking about love reminds her that she's not really sure if I love her and that whole debacle, so it's a topic that's on the banned list for now. I'll keep you posted if we're on solid love-footing in the future).

G'night!

Family game nights

Every evening this week, the four of us and mom and dad have finished off the day with a rousing game of skip-bo. It's too much fun. Much like other family game nights of days gone by, there's an element of the unpredictable (Maggie): She might really enjoy herself, or she might barricade herself in the bathroom.

The first night went the best I think. Grandma put her coffee cup on a book under the table, and Nina warned her that it might not be very safe there. Grandma took a sip, grumbled that that was a perfectly good place for her coffee, and promptly knocked it over. Ha! Score one for Nina!

Maggie would get stressed out when things weren't going her way, but then swing over to elation when they were. "I'm back on twack!" she declared. Twack! So cute!

The night before last, Maggie had a pretty dull opening hand and all hell broke loose. She sat in the bathroom for the rest of the game, having dragged the trash can in front of the door to keep anyone out. So pathetic. Not one for bouncing back from disappointments, she wailed for a while and then expressed her remorse at having ever been born. I really do fear for the teen years...

Tonight I had one of my best games ever, finishing in second place. Nina won, of course, and poor dad came in dead last. At least no one ended up in the bathroom.

I can't wait until the girls are old enough for a game of Risk!

Things are looking up around here!

Busy weekend

On Friday, Nina had a friend over for a playdate straight after school. Then, after dinner, the four of us plus Nina's friend went to the Opera House for open mic night. Such a great time! The whole thing is organized by a BRHS student, and a bunch of the kids sang and played instruments. It was a lot of fun, we'll definitely be back there for the next one.

On Saturday, Nina did some skating at the rink. Maggie got out there, a frigid wind blew, and she was just done. Through with freezing weather, through with skating... can't say I blame her. She and I went to Hannaford while Nina had a blast. At least one of us likes winter.

Saturday night some of the moms got together at China by the Sea, and then church on Sunday. More cold and misery.

Let's check out that forecast for the week:

I had to cut out Friday's forecast because the school server put some kind of questionable content warning all over it, but it's much better. Forty-one! We're almost there! Of course, according to the long-term forecast models that'll be short-lived, and we'll be back in the 20s in no time. Yay.