>For the foreseeable future, the weather is: high 20-25, 40% change of snow. We must live in mid michigan. Next week it is supposed to get colder, so lets not think about that for now. 155 days left to spring. And what else? today is day 2 of the push up challenge? Y’all with us? This is good entertainment for the winter months up here at the north pole. Seriously, watching us (or youselves) do the family push up challenge is kind of funny. We’ve decided that form and style doesn’t matter until we can get a good solid set of week 1 push ups. Then we can pay more attention to form and style. Any wagers on when that will be? probably next week for scott. Bee and i are aiming for Jan 25, the first day the sun rises before 8am this year. We will slowly add in the artistic score, too.

>So much for the reprieve from winter. It was 12F and a windchill of -3F and snowing when we got up this morning. 8 more weeks, right? Get us to march 1. It might not be warm then but spring will be around the corner. Let the countdown begin. And, we have gotten an additional 48 seconds of sunlight today. Bee is telling me slow and steady wins the race. I guess so.

So, we have decided to the 100 pushup challenge. The goal is to be able to do 100 pushups in a row. You start with a test to see how many you can do, and then you do sets of pushups 3 or 4 days a week based on your fitness level, repeating the weeks that are hard for you. I have a hunch this will take more than 7 weeks for me. Anyhow, Bee and I are starting at level 2. Scott is starting at level 3. Let’s just say that Frankie is doing the modified, silly girl, push up challenge. We are going to do pushups as a family! Bring it on! Lets see if we actually make it. Someone please remind me that we said we would do this. Each new year I resolve to do push ups all year long, and I make it about 2 months before I forget I resolved to do that. Gotta remember this year! It’s great for the core and the arms. What we should do is take a pic of our arm muscles now and then again this summer when we are doing 100 push ups with ease. haha.

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Happy New Year! No better way to ring in the new year than playing with sidewalk chalk in sunny 45 degree weather. Of course it felt like 70 to us. We resisted the temptation to put on shorts! We’re not thinking ahead to the cold front rolling in this afternoon. We’ll just take the morning for what it is worth. And, we have gained 5 minutes of sunlight since the soltice, although I am looking forward to January 25 when the sun will rise before 8am (7:59 to be exact).

>Uncle Kevin in Little Fockers:

>….tomorrow is going to have 5 seconds more sunlight than today, and today already has 2 more seconds, so we are really looking at +7! I’m planning to use those extra seconds to play a short game of fetch with Cho and work on my presumed vitamin D deficiency.
….i was informed by a wise woman in Ohio that i should not fret about missing the lunar eclipse on the winter solstice as there should be another one in 2094. Yes!
….it is pajama day today, the last day of winter camp, which made the morning routine super easy!
….sew your own hello kitty purses for ages 5-8 year olds can be a productive challenge at any age. I’m just saying, at least for the craft-challenged folks out there like myself
….Cho Cho says she would like to use her extra 7 seconds to eat a bone, or two or three as we know how quickly she can eat them bones.

Have a great day!

>And that means that tomorrow….
SunRise: 8:05 AM EST
SunSet: 5:07 PM EST
Length of day: 9h 02m 09s

… and that folks is 2 seconds longer than today! Wooohooo!! Let the upwards trend begin!

And while we are at it, we have the lowest solar noon at: 23.9 degrees altitude. But, come boxing day, we will be up to 24.0 degrees! That is a long way off from 70.7 degrees altitude in the summer, but every tenth counts.

>Tonight is the first time the first time we have had a full lunar eclipse on the winter solstice since 1638! And the ask from the global volcanic activity is supposed to make the eclipse even more brilliant. According to NASA, the eclipse begins at 1:33 AM EST with totality beginning at 2:41 AM and lasting for 72 minutes. The actual peak is 3:17 AM. Coming home from school today i saw the full moon rise, with a pink and orange rainbow around it. That is bad news. It means the clouds are rolling in. We are supposed to get a few inches of snow overnight, so i guess we will miss our lunar eclipse! If you see it, post a picture for us!

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Cho Cho and I went running yesterday and she was going crazy sniffing the deer tracks! Here she is running like a crazy dog down the trail! Oh and here she is after the run. haha.

>We went to feed carrots to the horses yesterday! It was quite chilly, about 12F. They seemed to be doing OK with those cold temps! We took along Cho Cho who ran around the farm like a crazy dog.

Oh, and now wonder Cho Cho has been going crazy lately. She has had a visitor on our door step. We didnt get to see the visitor, just the remains of its meal.

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Here are Bee and Frankie sewing clothes for their dolls. Bee is sewing a pair of underwear and Frankie is sewing a skirt. Considering I am the one teaching them how to sew, the outfits will be very, very simple! Still, they did a really great job with a needle and thread!! Once the outfits are complete we shall have another fashion show and post pics!!