It's been a busy, fun week, and it's only Wednesday.

Monday, John found out that he won a role in his school's play, Bye Bye Birdie; he's been cast as Harry MacAfee, a fairly major role. Very impressive, given that it was the first part he'd ever tried out for. We credit his excellent singing voice and willingness to make a fool of himself. (And I say that as high praise.) Harry MacAfee (played by Paul Lynde in the original movie) is the kind of part that was made for John -- it gives him a chance to show off his exuberant goofiness. We can't wait to see him in action.

Monday night, Isabel and I went to Parents' Night at Peter's high school of choice. Hard to believe he's off to high school next year. While we were there, Peter was playing basketball for his school team. A good night: 5 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists in a 35-14 victory. He always plays well when we aren't there to see him.

And today, we got hit with at least 24 inches of snow (we saew on the news that a neighboring town got 27 inches), most of it falling between midnight and 7am. I had to dig out a path for Strudel to go to the bathroom this morning. The snow was taller than she was, which really threw her; she wanted to jump around in it, but she couldn't actually get into it. It was all very nice for the kids to get a day off, but it meant three and a half hours of clearing the snow. (And that included two adults, three kids, and a snow blower working at it.) We've had about 3 feet of snow in the last week or so, and we have just about run out of places to put it. We managed to pile a lot of snow next to the back deck, which allowed the kids to do some sledding right in the back yard, launching themselves from the deck railing:

But now Isabel and I are sore, and even a little Kahlua in our hot chocolate hasn't helped.

Which means I'm too tired for cancer news. Try again tomorrow or the next day....