A Man Turns 45, in the Company Of His Family

 

Very blessed to have this man as my partner through life, and the father of our children.  Here's to the downward slide towards 90!

Cooks In the Kitchen

Reagan and Quinn were in charge of dinner tonight.  Reagan has discovered that she cooks a mean grilled ham and cheese sandwich, and Quinn specializes in sautéed carrots.  We ate very well.  Very well indeed.

 

A Sledding Party

Temperature is relative these days.  Outside "warmed up" to 14 degrees, so we were able to go to the local sledding hill and enjoy the heat wave.  Others there commented on the fact that I make my children wear helmets when sledding.  After seeing them barrel head first at high speeds and wipe out against trees.... that question was made moot.  They are CRAZY when they sled.  And they need helmets.

 

 

Baby It's Cold Outside

Some snippets of our week, which has been devoid of things like school and leaving the house and getting things done.   The pipes in the bathroom are frozen; it's a balmy 58 degrees INSIDE the house despite a furnace, wood boiler, and inside wood stove; the snow blower on the tractor died; the garage door refuses to close; and the kids are wound up and injuring each other.  All because, dang it, it's COLD outside.   Way.Too.Cold. 

Winter can be done any time now.  Yes it can.  I'm done with it.

Mardi Gras

Lent is upon us, and far be it from us to pass up an opportunity to celebrate prior to our time of fasting and prayer.  So in true "Fat Tuesday" style, we had purple and green waffles for dinner, with syrup and sprinkles to boot.  And chocolate cheesecake for dessert.  And pop to wash it all down.

Rob calls it "death on a plate" Tuesday.  There may be some truth in that, but... hey.  It's once a year, right?

Valentine's Day Surprise.... and Disappointment

So, my awesome-sauce husband surprised the heck out of me, and had these lovely things delivered to my work for Valentine's Day.  Because he luuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuvvvvvvvvs me.

 

The only problem is - it's February.  In the U.P.  And we have been having ridiculously cold weather for far too long.  So, within a day or so of getting the above-listed flowers home, they looked like this:

 

 

This is the problem with spending ridiculous amounts of money to buy flowers on the internet and have them delivered during winter.  Winter is COLD, and flowers do not like travelling in below-zero temperatures.  The good news is, though, that apparently this was a wide-spread and well-publicized problem, and the flower company was truly apologetic.  We got a refund. 

Next Valen-time, I told Rob to go to Walmart, spend $10, and deliver the flowers to me himself. 

Still.  It's the thought that counts, and the thought makes me swoon :).

Thank You Grandma Betty!!

Grandma Betty retired, and got a sewing machine as a retirement gift.  Two years ago now, but that's beside the point.  The point IS, that she actually recently took the sewing machine out of the box it came in, and took a class on how to use it!  Progress!!

And look at the awesome things she made for Reagan and I!  An adorable pink cat lunch box, and a stunning pine-tree table runner, which I love love love love.

Thank you, Mom!  I'm so glad you're figuring that machine out!  I have a few suggestions for future projects for you, now that you're so good........

Skiing ..... Again

The only way we keep our sanity around this time of winter is by getting outdoors to do SOMETHING.  This year, like last, that "something" was skiing.  Soaking up what miniscule Vitamin D we can makes these long winter months somewhat bearable.  And THIS time, we happened to meet up with our friends the Sommervilles!  Skiing with friends always makes things more fun.

Winter Carnival

The Kindergarten class went on a field trip to see the snow statues for Winter Carnival.  When it's six degrees outside, the snow statues lose their appeal to five and six year olds.  And forty-two year olds.  Still.  It is impressive what those Tech students can do with a bunch of snow!