Braces, snow, and the lingering smell of burnt pasta

Skylar got the first part of his braces today! They are glow in the dark blue. He loves them. I am feeling very old though, to have a child old enough for orthodontics. Jordan wrote a 16-page research paper on amphibians. I'm thinking this is wonderful, until I remembered that she is only 9 and the assignment expected 4-5 pages. I checked it against her sources, and she put everything in her own words, so, it is 16 pages of well thought out research on amphibians by a 9 year old. She consistently amazes me.

It is almost the middle of April and we are still getting snow. I need to do yardwork! I want to put up a fence! I want to plant flowers and a garden! But, no, it is still snowing.

And, when I came home today from running Jordan to piano lessons, of which she has the best teacher ever, (you rock Natalie!) there is still the lingering stench of burnt pasta from a few nights ago. I put a frozen pasta meal thing in the pan on the stove, ran downstairs to change laundry, and got distracted. It burned into my Calphalon pan, BUT, no stick! That was the only good thing about it. I suggest everyone get the nonstick Calphalon pans. They are wonderful! However, my house still smells like something is burning.