The Lieslands

Today Susan asked Andrew what his favorite bands are:

1. Black Eyed Peas
2. Lady GaGa
3. Ingrid Michaelson
4. Justin Bieber
5. The Beatles
6. Pearl Jam
7. Michael Jackson
8. 10,000 Maniacs
9. Ani DiFranco
10. Patty Griffin

Elliot slept until 9:15 this morning. Not too shabby, but tomorrow should be a rude awakening for the kids when they have to get up early for school.

Looking for some last minute bracket advice? Check out our Expert’s Picks:

• Andrew’s Bracket
• Mari’s Bracket
• Elliot’s Bracket

Yesterday we got out for our first bike ride of the year. We left with the intention of checking out the flooding the has followed all of the snow we had and it didn’t take us long to find it. The best part of the ride was the ride home. On the way there Andrew was on the tag-along and Mari and Elliot were in the trailer. On the way home Andrew rode his bike and Mari rode on the tag-along, both for the first time. Well, it was not Andrew’s first time on his bike, but his first time riding it a significant distance.

Here in Des Moines, like much of the Midwest, we had a terrific Winter. Our first major snow storm was in early December and we had snow on the ground for almost the entire Winter. We had at least four inches of snow on the ground through all of December, January, and February, most of the time having at least 12 inches. We all had a great time sledding and playing in the snow.

Now that most of it has melted it is time to clean up.

A couple of years ago I made these play stands for the kids for Christmas. Now that the kids are a little older I think they are going to use them a lot more. In the past few months the play stands have enjoyed a much larger role in their play – they have even moved them around the house a few times. The board spanning the two is actually part of the shelf we use for seed starting.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I love that Andrew and Mari get to go sledding at school.

This Winter has been fun. We got our first major snow in early December and there has been snow on the ground ever since. Our kids are doing really well playing in the snow and have come a long way in learning to deal with snow in the face and in between the mitten and the coat.