My "bake element" caught on fire and corroded last week. I've already replaced the circuit board on this oven, about a year after we moved in to this house. So I'm no stranger to appliance repairs. A couple YouTube videos assured me that I was capable of this job.

$70 and a half week of no baking, waiting for shipping, and I have a working oven again! It took less than a single podcast to switch them out.

I was having second thoughts about whether the element really needed resolving. But when I put them side by side, and found a crack that easily split open, I was reassured that it really needed replacing.

I'm going to make Cornish pasties to celebrate!

Here's the kids after sledding Sunday afternoon. Red cheeks and hot chocolate:

The kids are twins today for spirit week. Perhaps the only duo who wanted to match down to their socks and undies!

Ben has an infamous story about a pencil injury when he was a boy.  He told this story to Sam for the first time and Sam thought it was HILARIOUS.  He declared that he must draw the scene immediately.

I found the drawing later and, without context, was perplexed about its subject.  Ben explained the reference, and then I LOVED the picture.

So for your enjoyment, I had Sam re-tell the pencil story in his own words.  Listen to the tale, and then you can see the illustration below.

I realized that my snapshots summary didn't capture a major part of January and February: musical rehearsals! With Amanda working in the metro area, and rehearsals scheduled during the school day, I've been able to come a couple times a week most weeks.

Obviously I don't take photos during rehearsals, I never have. But this week I had some footage amanda took for the kids to review, and I realized I could screenshot it and remove the kids faces. So here you go, a glimpse into one of my part time jobs. This is our tenth consecutive year working together on a musical!

Jack had an exciting scout meeting tonight's. After the Blue and Gold Banquet ceremonies ended they had a visit from Canyon Critters. He was really great with the kids, full of educational information about animal care, responsibilities, nature stewardship, and boogers and poop.

Yesterday I had a wonderful, low-key, happy birthday. Ben took the day off of work to take over my "mom" duties. We watched one of my favorite movies (Thor Ragnorok) and went out to lunch at Yak and Yeti Indian buffet. I got a massage while he picked up the kids and had a parent-teacher conference. We had burgers for dinner and then some friends came over for cake and ice cream. I got many wonderful and thoughtful presents and many well wishes from friends and family. It was pretty much perfect :-)

This was an essay assignment in class. I think Jack has a knack for persuasive arguments.

Though his spelling and punctuation need work :-)

"I think kids should get more recess because sometimes our brains get fried. It makes it hard to think but recess lets us calm down. Another reason is vitamin D. Vitamin D comes from sunlight which we need to survive. My final reason is that we need to be active, according to our gym teacher, Mr. Buelter. We need to be active 1 hour per day. Our recess barely meets that! As you can see we need more recess."