Just another CarleSpawn weblog

Ezri is competing in the reading games, a trivia competition supported by the district on 12 selected books.

Our team knew we wanted an animal mascot but we could not agree – each team member had a different animal to champion – snail (small but mighty), pig (smart), unicorn (magical), axolotl (unique), cat (friendly), dolphin (talented), snow leopard (wild).

What if we could combine these animals? Luckily, Maura (8th grade) took on the artistic challenge to combine elements of these animals into a single creature. The Creature has the shell of a snail, a tiny unicorn horn, pig hooves & curly tail, a dolphin tail, leopard spots, cat ears, and axolotl face frills.

With Creature t-shirts and visors they will be ready to compete in a week !

We rang in the New Year with cream soda, root beer and wine . . . and pancakes!

And then we showered and played the game Exploding Kittens. I exploded.

Ezri spent time trying to stand on the red sled and “snowboard” down the hill. She could stay up for a few seconds and then did some dramatic rolls in the snow.

Thora coined the term “cousin-friends” because you see cousins on holidays. Thus friends you share holidays with are “cousin-friends.” Paul brought everyone a roll of nickels for some fierce dreidel spinning competition. Eric cooked up a huge pile of latkes. There was silliness and fun. The candles burned and it was a light night in the dark time of winter.