Sunday was nice because the temp warmed up enough to melt some of the snow (like from the streets) and slush up the previously too-dry-to-build-anything snow, but it stayed cool enough that most of the snow stayed around. Good day for making snowballs and snowmen. Good sledding, too, because there was a sort of crispy shell on top.

Can you believe she cleared the whole street?! #prouddad

After that much work, it’s no wonder she had to sit down.

Stopping to admire the frozen pond

She repeatedly sang “Do You Wanna Build a Snowman” until we were done. #IHateFrozen

Needed the LSU scarf for a final touch

Margaux has asked that when the temp gets high enough to melt our snowman, that she be allowed to bury it and put a marker that says “rest in peace.” [Update: snowman’s nose fell off today (Tuesday 3/3) and she put in the flower bed in case a rabbit wanted it. Reuse, renew, recycle. I’ll make barbeque with snowman’s eyes.]

Margaux and I spent a little time this morning at Oklahoma State University’s Insect Adventure, a sort of petting zoo for insects and arachnids. M was completely taken by the bugs and had a ball with her new entomologist friends Zoe and Xandra. Here are pictures of some of the fun.

This is M with a Madagascar hissing cockroach. You have to get them irritated to hear the hiss, but then it’s quite audible.

This was another giant roach, called a pepper roach:

This is a mealworm, a larval form of a darkling beetle. Child has serious love for bugs.

This is a vineagaroon, also called a whip-tailed scorpion, though it’s not technically a scorpion and doesn’t have a stinger. Still pretty creepy, though.

Probably her favorite insect today was something called the Thorny Devil Walking Stick, a kind of super-sized walking stick bug. (Though not the largest they had. That would be the Jungle Nymph, a freakish large green thing. They weren’t passing around today because it was in a bad mood and they didn’t want kiddos losing digits.

But the thorny devil was mellow and happy. It clung to M’s shirt and walked around her shoulders and backpack while she toured the various displays.

When we got home, all those insects had made us hungry. Margaux asked for insect-themed lunch, so we had tarantula and mealworms (aka avocado with carrot sticks and blueberries and rolls of turkey with blueberries.

M finished lunch with a butter-mint, which she called an “egg sac.”

On Sunday, Nov. 30, my sister Megan suffered a brain hemorrhage which caused a tremendous buildup of pressure, leading to a stroke. Surgery was, unfortunately, not an option due to underlying medical conditions, so we had to wait and hope. Things did not progress well, however, and after 10 days, and in accordance with the wishes spelled out in Megan’s advanced directive, her husband, with consultation with family had to make the difficult decision to remove her from life support. She died on December 10.

Adieu ma soeur.

The excellent picture was taken by my brother-in-law, Steve.

The obituary that ran in The Advocate is here.

Lolan and Faye came to visit. Margaux’s been having a blast.

Helping grampa with the crossword puzzle:

Reading to grandma:

untitled aquarium
Crayon on white paper

Clockwise from left-top: Goldy the Goldfish, unnamed sea cucumber, unnamed electric eel, Shocking the Starfish (on top of eel…named after Crayola “Shocking Pink”), unnamed hermit crab, Shy Shocking the Sea Horse (in center), unnamed turtle, Junior the Jellyfish, unnamed frog. Background: Castle and underwater plant.

untitled aquarium

untitled calico
Crayon on cereal box.
July 2014

“Elf’s Boot”
Blue crayon on restaurant menu.
June 30, 2014

This is a gallery of Margaux’s artwork. We’ll be adding to it frequently.

[flagallery gid=2]

Margaux played with her friend Claire a few days ago, and this morning we got this text from her mom. In addition to being hilarious, the correction made me think that “barging sickness” would be a pretty interesting disease. You’d catch some virus then go around barging into every door you passed.

When I woke up this morning, the temperature was 9. By tomorrow, it will be almost 50. Gotta love Oklahoma weather.  The rather drastic snow storm we had yesterday and last night kept both women home from school and work, thus invading my home office. So, M and I played in the snow, then I cleared the driveway.  Here are some pictures of the fun…

M sat down to take it all in before setting out

First she made a snow angel

Then we took a picture together. It was really sunny out!

Then, some snow writing on the 16th fairway (don’t tell the Country Club). It says “I love you,” according to M.

And after all that playing, a relaxing snow nap.

Well, by now we should have been in west Texas, headed to New Mexico. However, nature intervened and we’re sitting around the house watching movies, cleaning house, and blogging. This morning our house looked like this:

Pretty icicles!

We decided not to find out how icy I-35 and I-44 were. Here’s some various ice-storm related images.

Another shot of the eaves:

Margaux is a trooper. She insisted on going out to play “in the crunchy grass,” even going so far as to break the ice off of the swing so she could use it.

Finally, some pretty holly berries. Funny thing…I’ve been needing to prune the lantana bush. I found that when it’s covered in ice you can actually just kick the branches and they break off. (Probably not a method endorsed by the OK Gardeners Association, but it worked pretty well, and kept me warm, too.)