Shrove Tuesday

Shrove Tuesday ("Fat Tuesday")--the last day before Lent begins--was also when our much-touted Blizzard of 2015 hit.

Happy pancakes for breakfast--a tradition

Unfortunately, there wasn't any actual snow, as my husband, raised in Buffalo, New York, was sure to educate us. This was frozen rain that falls in a white layer on the ground, but not snow.

Icicles

Eating icicles

That this was ice and not snow didn't stop the children from insisting on donning warm clothing and playing outside before school.

To their dismay, we did a half-load of school instead of no school at all, but I figured it couldn't have been too much torture. Mary curled up on a reclining chair in the serene den, determined to do all the school she could from that cozy spot.

Mary reading her science

We were actually intending to host a Fat Tuesday party, but the black ice on the roads caused the plans to go awry. With a bit of extra time in my schedule, I was able to bake the salt dough crown of thorns with the kids so we'd have it just in time for Lent.

This year, the kids made little bowls to hold
the thorns they take out for their good deeds.