Five for Friday

1.   Brian and I were invited to a pancake breakfast this morning to honor the kids who got nominated for the Boomerang Award.  (It's a local program that recognizes and honors youth in the community for exemplifying and living by one of 9 Developmental Assets).  Reilly was nominated for the month of November!

She was chosen for the category of Interpersonal Competence--Young person has empathy, sensitivity and friendship skills.  Young person cares about and is aware of other people's feelings.

Her teacher nominated her after being impressed by how she befriended a girl who had just moved into the school.  

We are super proud of this girl!

2.   It's hard to believe that about a month ago, I was actually excited to hear that we were expecting a huge snowstorm.  I'm officially DONE with winter!  This has been Philadelphia's 3rd worst winter ever on record.

The above picture is a perfect depiction of the SNIRT that is currently covering the streets.

3.   I am a floral snob. There!  I said it!   I guess working at Black-eyed Susan for a few years will do that to a person!  I went into Michaels today and couldn't resist taking a picture of the wreath debacles on display.  I can't imagine someone actually paying $50+ for one of the these bad boys!

4.   And speaking of bad boys...

For mutual last Tuesday, the activity was for each kid to dress up as one of their ancestors and come prepared to tell the story...(It's amazing what a little electrical tape and mascara can do for one's image!)

Brian's great great great grandfather, Christian Monson, was the son of a jailer in Norway.  He was in charge of feeding the prisoners each day.  One day, the mormon missionaries were thrown in prison for teaching "lies".  As he fed the missionaries each day, they talked to him about the mormon teachings.  He began to gain a testimony about the things they were teaching him.  He wished to be baptized, but the missionaries were the only ones who held the authority to do so in that area.  One night, he snuck into his dad's office, took the key to the missionaries' cell.  They snuck down to a nearby fjord where he was baptized in the icy waters.  

They returned to the jail where he locked the missionaries up again so his father would not know. 

A few weeks later, he confessed this to his father who was so angry with his son that he disowned him.

5.   Is it just me, or is he almost edible?  I mean, seriously!  I could just spread his deliciousness onto a cracker!