First Post!

Hello and welcome to Suddenly Stepmom! Today is Groundhog Day and even though it isn't celebrated in Scotland, I woke up this morning with thoughts of hibernating rodents. It's snowing here in Glasgow, but not steadily. Still, if the past week is any indicator, we're definitely in for six more weeks of winter. It's not time to put away that second down blanket just yet!

In the time it took me to set up this blog, it has already snowed heavily three times and each snowfall has been interspersed with periods of amazingly bright blue sky above. If I weren't from Seattle, this non-committal weather might drive me crazy, but instead I find it rather comforting. Each quick glance out the window yields a completely different view. Just like home!

Because of today's special "holiday," I thought of the groundhog-themed crafts we used to do at school and did a little googling with that in mind. Look what I found:

It's a groundhog that pops out of a Dixie Cup! I'm sure I made this very project in first grade and brought it home to proudly show my mother. Other fun activities I found include a groundhog mask that loops over the ears, groundhog word searches and connect-the-dots and my personal favorite: a groundhog on a stick that sees his shadow...or does he?

The boys aren't with us today, but when we get them on Wednesday, I'm sure we'll have some groundhog-themed conversations. They'll probably be the only kids in their school who talk about groundhogs at home this week. It's great to watch them learn, and holidays, even silly made-up ones like Groundhog Day, present great opportunities to help kids learn more about themselves and the world around them. Just last month, we talked about Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Burns. This month we obviously have Groundhog Day, followed by Queen Elizabeth II's Accession Day (one that will surely be more interesting for me than the guys around here!), Presidents' Day and Valentines' Day, just to name a few.

It's snowing again, ferociously this time. A quick check on Wikipedia's Groundhog Day page tells me that Punxsutawney Phil predicted six more weeks of winter. That sounds about right to me.

This is the first post of my blog. For now, I'm just going with the flow a bit and trying to find (or carve) my niche along the way. Things might change in the future, but family, food and fun will be my main talking points for now. I hope that's okay with you. :-)