valentines day

Going through the valentine loot collected at school parties looks a lot like Halloween, unstuffing stockings at Christmas, and Easter egg hunts. What a bounteous candy harvest to get us through till the next candy holiday!

I was "valentined out" by the time Valentines Day actually arrived that I'll admit my family got nothing, NOTHING, from me in celebration of the occasion. I'm rather disapointed in myself for that, but sometimes that's just how things work out. It all started with a RS mom and tot activity on the previous Friday in which I was in charge of the food. I made huge batches of taco soup and chicken noodle soup and served orange slices, rolls, pbj sandwiches, cheesesticks, and cupcakes to go along with it. We had a fabulous turnout with lots of moms and about 50 kids. Fortunately there were a half dozen cupcakes left over, so I guess those qualify as a Valentine treat for my kids. On Sunday morning I helped Ryan, Jacob, & Matthew get their valentines put together for their school classes. With the ginormous class sizes at our school, it makes for a lot of valentines! Then I was dingbat that somehow got myself into volunteering for two school valentine parties on Monday. I prepped a bean bag game and prizes for Jacobs class and then headed down to Ryans class where I was in charge of more games! I came up with some great ideas, apparently, because everyone seemed to have fun and not think anything was "dumb", which is definitely considered "success" when you're dealing with 6th graders! I had offered a few ideas to other moms for food treats in the classes that day, which they used, so I felt pretty good about that too. Mark arrived home from work with a card, some dark chocolate, and tickets for a play I want to see at the new theater. We had spaghetti for dinner, which everyone likes, and then had FHE and watched the valentine Simpson episode where Lisa gives Ralph the choo-choo train valentine card. So with all that, I can say Valentine's Day was officially celebrated.

ear tube

Jacob had tubes placed in his ears a good couple years ago. They generally fall out in 6 months to a year and you never see them because they are so tiny. Well, we knew this one was FINALLY on its way out after a couple doctor appointments. We went swimming one night and when we were in the car on the way home, Jacob said, "I can feel the tube coming out of my ear!" I said, "Don't stick your finger in there, you'll shove it back in." Jacob, "No, Mom, I think I can get it... I got it!!!!" And yes he did. Amazing! It looks like a teeeeny tiny spool of thread. Pretty cool!

a pirates life for me

You never know what your kid is gonna look like after a fun day at preschool!

family circus

So this post kind of goes back to Christmas, but only partially. This is one of my favorite gifts that I received this past Christmas. It's a circus tent to add to my Christmas village. My sister-in-law, Karen, intricately paints these wonderful little buildings. She chose to give our family the circus tent because she figured that's probably how things are around here with 4 boys! She's right! (And she totally knows she's right because she's raised 4 boys of her own!)
Here's the back view of the tent with the giraffe peeking out. Love it! So anyway, it is a circus around here at times as evidenced by these pictures of family wrestling.


It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye, -- um, I mean someone gets hurt or starts crying. Guess who it was this time?

groundhog day 15 years ago

I don't care much for Groundhog Day. And it doesn't have much to do with whether Puxatawny Phil sees his shadow or not. I remember exactly what I was up to on Groundhog Day 15 years ago. I was in the hospital trying to have our first baby. My body was far from being ready to deliver a baby and so the induced labor was simply horrid. The emotional pain probably made it even worse. And then in the very very very early hours of the morning on the 3rd, our little Jordan made his appearance. His little body was perfectly formed and he was sporting loads of wavy blonde hair. What a little miracle! I'm glad we could spend a little time holding and cuddling him. It's hard to believe that was 15 years ago! So today my heart is a little sad, but there's a whole lot of peace in there too. I'm wearing purple today in honor of Jordan (purple amethyst is the February birthstone). It has always been one of my favorite colors. Mark brought me flowers and I made myself a new watchband with purple and green beads. Happy 15th, Jordan -- we love you!