Catch Up

I've spent a lot of time away from home recently, and there doesn't seem to be much of an end in sight. We're so glad to have the minivan!

Last weekend we went to Cincinnati to visit sweet little Vivian.
On Saturday Van and Liz treated us to a trip to the Aquarium. While we waited for our entrance time we were entertained by this juggler. I can't believe I let Henry volunteer to participate after I had seen this guy drop a few things, but he was excited. And Clara was fascinated.
Here's Clara with her patented sideways smile getting ready to see some fish....
...and frogs.
Sunday was Vivian's baptism. Everyone was dolled up in their Sunday best, especially Vivian Opal!
I love this photo so much. I wish it were in better focus, because I feel like it totally illustrates what is likely to be the lifelong relationship between Vivi and her adoring uncle.
We were very proud to stand with Vivian on her big day!

Petite Fleur

We took this photo to send to our French-speaking friend Mariah today, but it was too cute not to share. We're going to be cooped up in the house today due to a 2nd snow day and cold cold temps outside. If we need another activity I may let Henry and Clara take over the blog...we'll see...

S'no Business Like Snow Business!

The Huelkes are never afraid to venture outside. I was half-hoping to spend the day in my pajamas, but figured we'd better get out before it was too cold. The cars actually weren't this snowy when we first got up...it was round two of the snow that made them look like marshmallows.
Norbert is a true snow baby.
Pete left the shovel out overnight, which was a good thing because the garage was very much snowed-in.
Here's the view from across the street.
The kids decided to play in the Huelke's backyard a bit. Clara and Sebi opened up a donut shop.
Out front Ed had shoveled out a maze. Later we also got sleds out and tried out the mini hills a bit.
The kids played hide-and-seek in the snow maze for a bit and the grown-ups did lots of chatting over snow-blowers.
Norbert went in after a bit. Helena handed us some snacks out through the window too, but she ducked down for this picture.
Now we're cozy and warm inside, watching some movies and eating chocolate blizzard cake.

Blizzard

Here's how we're looking so far this morning. Last night there was so much swirling and blowing that we couldn't see across the yard. We had thunder and lightning. We could hear the wind howling most of the night. The porch is what I'm upset about....that's going to be a challenge to clean up before everything melts. If you look at the photo of the front door you might see that the snow blew in under the corner of the storm door! Crazy. We're supposed to get a few more inches this morning. I'm planning to stay in my pajamas for a while and put on some cartoons for the kids. Later we'll bake a blizzard cake.