This Week

Since this winter has had a completely pitiful amount of snow thus far, when we got some snow on the weekend we wanted to take full advantage of it!  Mike and I took the kids tobogganing on Saturday afternoon.  It was about as successful as I thought it might be, and I suspect it was much less successful than Mike thought it would be.  I'm glad we went, but the youngest two were not very impressed - especially when Aaron did a full face-plant on his first time down the hill.  The hill we picked was also not a very suitable location, as when we arrived we found it to be extremely cold and windy with the wind coming in from off the lake.  Mike took Peter during Sunday afternoon nap-time and they had a lot more fun with the two of them, even cheerfully surviving a bloody nose incident.  On Monday I made a snowman with for the boys in the backyard, and he is currently melting into a slushy pile, as all snowmen are eventually destined to do.  This is a picture of Nate on our first tobogganing trip.

This picture serves as a warning to myself to pay attention to what is going on in other rooms while I am on the phone.  I was in the kitchen talking to Danielle on the phone the other day, and Peter came in to tell me that "we are only making a mess by the bookshelf".  I told him, "Ok, just don't make a big one because it's no fun to clean them up again" or something like that.  A few minutes later I walked into the living room and Danielle got to hear a big "Oh dear" on the receiving end of the phone.  That pile contains pretty much all the toys they could get a hold of from the shelf, their bedroom and the pack-and-play, all mixed together in a heterogeneous pile of stuff.  A barn, about 10 books and three plastic toys were the only things left on the shelf.  Too big and messy of a mess for them to figure out how to clean up on their own.  So yes, I did learn that "it's no fun to clean up big messes" because I got to do it.   

And then we got to Valentine's day.  It's not really a huge day in our house, but I think it's fun to drum things up a bit with the kids being a little older now.  I was treated in the mid-morning to a phone call from my dearly beloved, to let me know that there should be hot water brewing in the coffee pot and a cup of hot chocolate with a card hiding in the cupboard for me.  How sweet!  I greatly enjoyed my drink. 

 Peter cut out hearts for everyone in his class and wrote his name on them all. 

 It was a big job for him, but he did really well and was pleased with his task

 My three sweet little "be mines" sitting on the couch - a little distracted by the movie playing in the background

 Lunchtime!  Strawberry jam sandwiches with a twist

When Pete came home from school, I discovered (as I should have known) that home-made cards are quite out of fashion - his was the only one.  However, I also discovered that store-bought Valentines contain REALLY dumb messages that don't make sense, and I liked Peter's Valentines much better. 

 A delicious dinner of prime rib steak, oven roasted heart-shaped potatoes, and beets

 Dessert - it wasn't anywhere close to "gourmet" and doesn't look terribly appealing in this picture, but we had strawberries with whipped cream, topped with a heart-shaped jello jiggler.  The kids were fans!