January 25 - January 31

    Here we are at the start of March and I am just now getting the end of January finished. Welcome to another busy year with The Simonson's. 

    Monday January 25th school was cancelled due to the snow and I was still not feeling the best so I ran to town to get a Covid test. The results were negative and I felt much better sending the kids to school and Rachel to practices knowing that I more than likely just had a head cold. After my Covid test I dropped the kids off at the dentist and waited for them to get their teeth cleaned. Alec again had 2 cavities and Becca's tooth was still not in enough to proceed with more ortho work. Rachel still has no cavities and got her last mouth guard and is officially done with ortho. That afternoon we came home and had leftovers for dinner.

Scooping a path for Mike before work

Snow Much Fun!

   By Tuesday we had 7+ inches of snow and the country roads were not good so we got another day off school. Alec and I again worked on clearing the driveway and the kids had a great time playing with the dogs outside. I cleaned the house and then ran Rachel to Piano at 4:30 and basketball practice from 5-6:30. That night we had lasagna soup for supper. It was okay but the noodles cooked too long and got really mushy.

Rachel's medal from the McCook Tournament

   Wednesday the school had a 10 am start and we all went early at 9:30 as I had to sub for 2H. Second grade is one of my favorite grades as they are always full of so many stories. After school we went to CCD then came home and dropped of Rachel and Alec before taking Becca to basketball practice. Mike had a meeting and was able to pick her up which was nice to save me a trip to town. 

Beautiful Sunrise

   Thursday I took kids to school then came home and worked on laundry and cleaning out all my files and getting a new filing cabinet. I started a roast for supper and then went to grab the kids. We came home and worked on spelling and ate before I took Rachel back to school for basketball practice from 6:30-8:15. Friday the kids had school and I came home and worked out. I then ran to town and got all the last minute things for our baked potato bar fundraiser at school. Mike was on call so Ella and Avery Thompson came over and played with Becca and Alec after school while Rachel and I helped clean and prep potatoes.

    Saturday I got up early and made a big roaster of chili to serve that evening. Rachel and I headed to town around 1 to get everything ready and work the concession stand. The kids all worked hard and made some good money. We did not sell as many potatoes and we would have likes but overall we had a good turnout for the first event of the year that outside food was allowed to be served. 

Rachel, Jensyn, and Sarah taking a break

  Sunday I got up early and headed to Hershey to serve church breakfast. After serving breakfast I came home and cleaned up the house. The kids and I ended up going to church at 5:30 that evening since we didn't have time to go that morning. After church we grabbed some ice cream and then came home for books and bed. A slow start to this week was just what I needed to make it through the super busy weekend.

January 25: If you got caught describe your consequences: The cops came and shined their spot lights around and everyone ran off so they let us all just go our own ways.

January 26: Relate and experience or memory of a cousin: I have so many babysitting memories of all my younger cousins. Cousins that are the same age usually came to stay with us during the summer at some point. We caught chickens, had sleep overs, went ice fishing in the winter, and always got to see everyone at different holidays. So many memories and we are still making more.

January 27: Did your mother work outside the home? Yes she did book work for Gary Olberding's Milk Trucking business and Grandma Tielke's books for her deli and Grandpa Tielke's Dairy Supply store until she started as co-owner and manager of Tielke's Sandwiches.

January 28: What did you and your sisters fight about the most? Life. I can't remember one cause just that we fought a lot and then someone would call mom or lock themselves in the bathroom.

January 29: What was the dumbest stunt ever pulled by you and your sisters? I can't remember that we pulled any stunts.

January 30: Tell about the worst winter storm that you can remember as a child. I don't remember any one big storm, we always had lots of snow in the winters, I remember the power going off on occasion. One new years while I was young we had sheep and I remember helping move and build pins as fast as the sheep were having babies. 

January 31: What did you use to go sledding down a hill in the snow? We had wooden sled with rail and a handle when I was young but he best sledding we ever did was when the driveway iced over and we had plastic roll up sleds. We could go all the way from the top of the hill down the the corrals in one turn.