I fancy myself an amateur photographer, which is to say I have a camera and don't get paid for my pictures. This picture is from about two weeks ago when we got 4-5" of snow, looking southeast from the back deck of our house. I thought the snow was beautiful sitting on the railing, and I like the symmetry of the spindles. As long as it took me to put the durn thing together, I'm glad I was able to get at least one picture out of it. That, and I hope it keeps children, dogs, and rodents from falling the 10' off our deck to the tundra below.

Brenna had her very first birthday party yesterday, and it was a wild time, let me tell you. I don't know how most people celebrate birthdays, but around here it's like a pack of feral dogs have been let loose to storm the palace. In asking Brenna to recount her favorite activity with her three little friends, she said, "Playing dollhouse." That may not sound exciting to you (or me), but to an almost-six-year-old with new Troy and Gabriella dolls, it was fast times. They had craft time, played games, did a combination slide/limbo with the ballet bar, and ate cake. Six candles on the cake, and how many times do you suppose it took her to blow them out? One? No sir. Two? Uh uh. Three? Not even. It took her four times to blow out six candles. That's either poor aim or a lack of wind. Must be time for her to hit the stepicizer. In the end, a good time was had by all, and the will shortly be back in order. Birthday party #1 is in the book for the Peanut.

We skipped church this morning. Most of us are going to Sunday School here in a few minutes, but didn't make it to the Lord's House for church (at Bethel, we have the main service at 9:15 and follow it up with SS). The Octopus had a fever yesterday, Irksome has been fighting a respitory/sinus thing all week, the Natural was wiped out from too many days in a row of getting up early/working hard at practice and needed to recharge his batteries, and Hot Wife is in charge of rehabbing the Octopus. The Peanut and Pumpkin Spice were ready to roll, but neither of them is allowed to drive yet. I just heard Black Bart say from his driveway spot, "God forbid." The only reason we're going to SS today is because I have a meeting during the SS hour with the school committee. God has put it on my heart to start a school in our church (I'll go more into this on another occasion), and we're meeting today to continue with a compilation of our thoughts and research. In spite of missing church today, I know that God still loves me, and He likes me too. I am convinced that people who say, "I believe in God, but I don't think that I have to go to church to be a Christian," are all wet. The Bible says not to forsake gathering together, and I believe we need other people to keep us accountable. Even so, I hope that missing today doesn't renew my former status as a heathen.

I'm looking a bit Jeremiah Johnson this morning, so I better go scrape some hair off my face. Power to the puffins.