What Has the Katie Crew Been Up to Lately?

Hi Everyone,

It’s been a minute. Actually, it has been 37 days, which might be the longest I have ever gone without blogging since starting this blog.

Here is what we have been up to:

Mr. Katie flew to France for his job during the second week of January and returned to us eight days later. He flew into Paris and spent the bulk of him time in the city of Clermont-Ferrand. He did take a one-day trip to Lyon (a very old city and the third largest in France) at the end of his stay. During this time, we on the homefront managed without him. The boys had a four-day weekend from school near the end of his trip and we went to see The SpongeBob Movie at the movie theater.

Here is a picture that is being shared with permission from Mr. Katie of a cathedral that he saw in Clermont-Ferrand, France.

Cathedreal in Clermont-Ferrand, France. Photo credit: CB Nicholson

About a week after Mr. Katie returned home the cold and snow started falling. Here is a picture of sledding back in mid-January on the day Mr. Katie came home.

Here is a picture from January 17th when the snow still felt like a novelty. In fact, you can see see the grass which feels like a long time since we have seen it. I don’t think that we have seen it since that day.

This picture above was taken the day after the previous picture while I was walking around town. I remember the snow still looked idealic then. I do remember that it looked pretty in this picture but I hated feeling it on my face. that day

Here is a picture of Nugget in a drift in the parking lot near our house a week and a half later after another snowfall.

We also visited this hill on a nearby college campus to sled once with friends and once by ourselves. During the week when the boys had (1) school cancellation, (2) flexible instruction homeschool days, and (2) two hour delays. Around that time we were really looking for active things to do.

If I were being completely honest, it did not feel like my boys had very much school in January with the extended New Years holiday, plus a four-day MLK Day weekend and the snow and cold cancellations and delays.

I also started my new, completely online, three-credit community college teaching job in mid-January so after the boys returned to school when the weather improved, I felt like I was doing a lot of catch-up. That’s why you haven’t heard a lot from me lately. I kind of regretted taking a work-from-home job during that stretch.

We also spent sometime in January preparing for the Pinewood Derby, which was held near the end of January.

Here are the cars.

Here are this year’s batch of Pinewood Derby Cars. Their names are L-R: USA!, Robbie the Racing Bus, and The Book of Bill Car.

After reading (well, Mr. Katie read it), a book that I got out of my library and inheriting a box of Pinewood Derby speed supplies, we (Mr. Katie) finally cracked the code of not coming in last place. (Last year, Mr. Katie won the toilet bowl trophy for being the adult leader who ranked last among the adults.)

This year, I am proud to report, all three cars finished in a respectable range somewhere in the middle of the pack (1st standard deviation probably even!)

Here is a picture last year of the guys with their cars and Mr. Katie with the toilet trophy.

Nugget came in 3rd place last year because there were only three Tiger Cubs present.

We are gearing up for another President’s Day, four day weekend! I hope that you are all doing well. I hope to write more soon.

-Katie

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One Reply to “What Has the Katie Crew Been Up to Lately?”

Katie Gurksnis says:

February 13, 2026 at 12:12 pm

Happy to hear from you again Katie! We had a very similar January/February with lots of cold days and snow. And a whole week off of school (one cancellation, 4 virtual days).

What Has the Katie Crew Been Up to Lately?

Published by Katie Nicholson

One Reply to “What Has the Katie Crew Been Up to Lately?”

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