january

The Lundberg family has survived January! We maximized this month's snowstorm and two days off of school with sledding, snowboarding and snowshoeing. One Friday night at the mountain Cooper became an official snowboarder and Wilson caught his highest air ever. Tony tried to keep up and was sore for a week. Max got so into snowboarding down the sledding hill, he continued until well after dark (which means he was invisible). Marcos and I made a "snow restaurant" that served hot chocolate to kids coming home from school.

My Saturday snowshoeing adventure ended rather abruptly when my friend and I discovered HUGE moose tracks and fresh scat on Steptoe Butte. She and I had already had a moose encounter on our last bike ride and weren't going to take any chances.

Eliza is so happy to be playing basketball this month. She shines the biggest grin when she makes a shot and is the team's "high-fiver" champion. Cooper is busy organizing a junior high golf team. He has gathered over 20 signatures and is in the process of negotiating with the transportation supervisor for bus services. Cooper also organized a crazy dress up day where all the 7th grade boys wore basketball shorts, white shirts and ties to school. He could no offer explanation for this event.
Wilson is getting ready to start his Eagle Scout project, restoring a brick wall at the St John Museum. Someone should probably tell Wilson he is going to be starting this project next month. Wilson has three new books on computer language and a lead for a possible summer internship at Schweitzer Engineering. There is no doubt that Wilson loves computers.

It was really fun to celebrate Chinese New Year. We handed out red envelopes to our friends, did a dragon dance (with our dragon puppet!) and had a "Chinese Steam Boat" for dinner. All we lacked were fireworks~

On Martin Luther King Day Max, Marcos, Eliza, Corbin and Kolby and I met some Rippy and Frederickson cousins in Spokane for a movie. After I explained that 50 years ago Max would not have been allowed to go into the movie with his white cousins Max said, "I'm not really black--I'm more dark white." Max has joined Eliza in the "no haircuts until Grandma and Grandpa get home" challenge so he may soon have his first ever "fro."
This was our first month to have "Family Book Group." Our books were Hugo and Ender's Game. Everyone who read the book got to go out to dinner for book discussion. Next month our book is 10,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. Anyone who wants to join the club is welcome. Thanks for joining us impromptu Jeff!





Tony is still the Bishop, still works really hard and was beyond disgusted with the last BYU basketball game.
I am learning to be a moderator and peacekeeper as I campaign for civility on our emotionally charged school board. Maybe my skills will help me maintain peace at home as well.

Happy Chinese New Year

I pulled out my Chinese silk jacket today to celebrate the year of the dragon. Thanks to Grandma, we celebrated in style with authentic treats, decorations and red envelopes for all the kids in Eliza and Max's classrooms. The kids loved making up dragon dances and feeding the dragon red envelopes. No one liked the seaweed, but all the kids tried it. For dinner we had lucky oranges, red jello and "Chinese Steamboat, " veggies and chicken cooked in broth. I should have tried egg drop soup but I had a school board meeting and was in a hurry--maybe next time for "year of the snake!"

snow!

Hurray for snow! It feels like we squashed a month's worth of snow enjoyment into a week of snow! Tony and the boys went skiing twice, Cooper had a great time snowmobiling with friends, we all have been sledding and I even had my snowshoes out a couple of times. The shoveling was a great opportunity for meaningful work and service for the kids and a good workout for mom. Marcos and I made a "snow restaurant" that served hot chocolate. The kids were out of school two days this week and we went through 2 #10 cans of hot chocolate.

Before the snow hit on Monday I took the three youngest kids up to Spokane where we met cousins for a movie. Kimberly got to come home from the hospital. The Riplet babies are doing amazingly well. They are all off of their breathing machines and getting stronger every day.

Before the movie I was explaining to all the cousins that before Martin Luther King and people like him, Max would not have been allowed in the movie theatre. Again I was grateful for their utter inability to comprehend this idea. Max explained to me that, " I'm not exactly black, I'm just really dark white." He is so clever.

30 tiny toes

With great relief and excitement we welcomed the Riplets on Jan 12, 2012. Kimberly (who is a Rock Star) delivered the babies c-section at almost 31 weeks and all three babies were about 3 lbs. As of today, baby girl Kory and big boy Bentin are off their breathing machines and little Andin is right behind them, getting stronger every day. The doctors predict a hospital stay of 7-10 weeks but I think it will not be that long. They are perfect miracles and living proof that there is a God.