The Chocolate Thief

Apparently, I have at least one child who loves chocolate as much as I do. Last week, Luke managed to get the stepstool, get Matthew's little box of Valentine candy, and proceed to unwrap every single piece AND eat them! There were only five pieces in there, but still! At least the child is honest....I found the wrappers and began to investigate and I asked him, "Did you eat Bubba's Valentine candy?"

His response: "Uh huh! I WIKE choc-wat!"

Here's the evidence...

We had gorgeous weather this past weekend! You'd never believe that it snowed here just one week ago! We enjoyed getting outside just to be outside a little. Tracy and Matthew decided to work on getting Rio to ride the Mule.

And while we were outside, I managed to step in a hole, fall, and sprain my ankle. :-( I really didn't think it was that big of a deal, until a few hours later when my foot started swelling and I couldn't put any weight on it! So we ended our Saturday with a trip to the urgent care clinic for x-rays. Thankfully, it wasn't fractured, just a bad sprain, and after keeping it wrapped for a couple of days, it's as good as new. Not exactly how I wanted to spend part of my weekend, though!

Being outside made me take notice of just how much work I need to do in my yards. Is anyone else starting to get spring fever?

I Heart Valentines!

We had a fantastic, extended Valentine's weekend. We sort of celebrated all weekend long! Actually, we celebrated last weekend too! While out of town for the concert, we enjoyed a nice relaxing lunch by ourselves, and then shopped a little before coming home on Saturday.

Friday, of course, was the big snow day, so we were at home all day. Somehow in the middle of watching for snow, taking pictures of snow, and playing in the snow, I managed to bake a chocolate cake, complete with old-fashioned, cooked icing for our Valentine Banquet at church that night. That's probably my favorite dessert! Tracy was the cook, and did a fantastic job on the steak dinner. We all had a great time!

After the banquet, the boys opened their Valentine gifts from Grandmommy--new hooded towels. Matthew had a dog towel that he had just about worn the ears off of, so Mama got each of them a new animal towel.

She came over to watch the snow with us and go to the dinner, and wound up spending the night because we were afraid that we might have to make a late night run to the ER with Luke. Unknown to us, at the steak dinner someone gave him a cookie....a peanut butter cookie. Matthew is severely allergic to peanuts, and Luke...well, we just didn't know. So, we waited....and waited....and kept him up way past his bedtime to monitor him for signs of a reaction. Thankfully, he was okay, but I am still treating him as though he's allergic. There is such a small amount of peanut butter in single cookie, and he only had about two bites, so I don't feel comfortable in ruling out the allergy just yet.

On Saturday, Matthew played his final basketball game of the season. He actually got his hands on the ball and dribbled down the court a few times! He was kind of timid at the beginning of the season, but he's getting more confident and going after the ball more.

On Sunday, we all exchanged Valentines, and Tracy gave me these beautiful roses. I must issue a disclaimer here: His mother is a florist, so it's a given that I'm going to get flowers for Valentine's Day! Disclaimer #2: That's also about the only time of the year I get flowers! She had a new variety this year, called Jade. They look somewhat like a cream rose, but have a hint of green to them. Very pretty, and the pictures don't do them justice! FYI--If you received flowers for Valentine's Day, let me give you a tip to make them last longer. Change the water every day. Don't just give them more water, actually change out the water every day. Dump the whole vase of water and refill with fresh water.

Today we had Matthew's party at school. It was postponed until today because of the snow on Friday. I enjoyed baking cupcakes for them and then visiting for a few minutes during the party. When I arrived, the teacher was talking to them about Valentine's Day and they were sharing "warm fuzzies" about their other classmates. So sweet!

Hope your long weekend was full of fun and time spent with the ones you love!

Snow Day

Those are words we rarely utter where I live, but Friday, we got a snow day! School was closed, and we spent a good part of the day staring out the window, anticipating and hoping (and maybe even doing a little praying!) Until Friday, it had only snowed here 3 times in my life, and one of those times, I was too young to remember it. So I was just as excited as Matthew was, and Luke kind of "caught" our excitement too!

Friday morning started out with rain, then some flurries. We didn't go out then, because I was sure it was going to continue. I was so disappointed when the flurries disappeared and it was only rain again. I had just about given up, but around 2:00, the flurries started again. I decided I was NOT going to miss that chance, so Matthew and I bundled up and headed outside. (Luke was inside asleep, and my mom was over here, so she stayed inside with him.) Thankfully, that time when it started, it kept snowing for an hour or two, and it stuck! We played until we were soaked and freezing, then came in for a while. When Luke woke up, we headed back out again. We had SO MUCH FUN! I was just like a little kid myself!!! Unfortunately, Tracy had to go to the church to start cooking for our Valentine Banquet, so he didn't get to play with us.

Here are some scenes from our day.

What I'm Loving Today....

--A little boy who still wants to wear Christmas pajamas, even in February

--The anticipation of getting ready for Valentine's Day...baking cupcakes for Matthew's class, etc.

--Taking a personal leave day on a rainy Friday

--Going to a Gaither Homecoming concert tonight

--Meeting up with longtime friends that we don't see very often (at above-mentioned concert)

--That Tracy's business has taken off by leaps and bounds since the beginning of the year

--Getting all the laundry done today so that I can relax tomorrow!

What makes you happy today?