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?

Time Out

After such a busy week, I feel like I need a time out! I was away from school two days this week doing FBLA testing in the surrounding schools. And no, I didn't get stuck in the mud anymore! It's nice to be away from school every now and then, especially since we always make sure to eat a nice lunch somewhere, but I pay for it when I get back to work because there's a ton of catching up to do!

The real point of this post, however, is this photo. Luke had a little time-out this morning, and when Tracy went to get him, this is what he found. I knew I had to get a picture, so I hurried and grabbed my camera, and was able to snap this before he realized we were there. Isn't he pitiful? He was a better boy afterwards though!

Stuck

In the mud.

Now some might say I am a "stick in the mud" but today, I was stuck in the mud!

I had it all planned. I was not going to be at school today or tomorrow, because I had (have) to go to the other schools in my FBLA district and administer the objective test portion of their competitions. However, this morning I realized that probably needed a copy of a file that is on my laptop at school. I really had not planned to go by school this morning, because it seems like once you get there, you always get tied up with something, especially when you're in a hurry to leave and get somewhere else! So I decided I would park at the side door, slip in to my room, print my file, and the slip out.

Now, you have to understand that there's no "real" parking at our side door. However, there is a big grassy area, and I've pulled up there before if I had a lot of things to unload from my vehicle or just need to run in for a minute.

But not when we've had 6 inches of rain the week before.

I had no trouble on the way in. I hurried in to my room, printed my file, and was on my way. Until I started up the ever so slight incline to get out....and then I felt my truck getting stuck. Fortunately, I had enough sense NOT to keep trying to get out on my own, spinning my wheels, and getting bogged down deeper. However, I was on a tight schedule...I HAD to get out of there! My first thought is that I would ask the ag teacher to pull me out, but that would entail him getting out the tractor, driving it all the way around the building, hooking it up to my vehicle, etc. I didn't have time for that. My dear friend and next-door neighbor (at school) suggested I just take her car, and maybe the mud would have dried enough by this afternoon for me to get out. I really hated to leave my vehicle stuck. So I got a couple of my students to go round up some other boys and ask if they would try to push my truck out. Then if that didn't work, I knew some of those kids had four-wheel drive trucks and could pull me out. Let me just say that we have the best students in the world at my school. Those boys were so willing to help me out. Long story short, they decided to push my vehicle backwards (back down the incline...they're smart, too!), and then I could just jump the curb and be on my merry way. Made it to the first testing site right on time. Not early, like I had planned, but right at starting time.

Sure, our students are like all other teenagers are sometimes...they get bad attitudes, or don't feel like doing their work, but when it comes to helping other people, they are always willing to do whatever is needed. Today I appreciate that quality more than ever! Looks like I'll be baking a big pan of chocolate chip gooey butter cakes tomorrow night....:-)

**********************

We took a little trip this weekend. I had a school-related meeting out of town on Saturday and Sunday, so on Friday, my "entourage" and I hit the road. On Saturday morning we visited with my Uncle Mikey and Aunt Frances, as well as some cousins. We did a little singing, a lot of talking, and had a nice lunch together before my meeting. Then while I was in meetings Saturday night, Tracy and Matthew went to the monster truck show. Matthew has always wanted to go to a monster truck show, and luck would have it that Monster Jam was in town! He had a ball and has already asked if we can go back next year! He doesn't understand they're not always in the same time at the same place every year!

That's all from here. I hope the rest of the week is very dull compared to this morning! Have a great week, my friends!

I've Got Nothin'

That seems to describe my blogging lately. I'm having a terrible time figuring out what to blog about. Since the holidays, we haven't had anything really interesting going on. We've been going to school, playing a little basketball, and doing lots of just staying home trying to stay warm! I'm glad we've gotten a break from the bitterly cold weather over the last few days! Anyway, I will think about a post, and then decide, "Nah, nobody wants to read about our boring day-to-day happenings!" But then I remember that I actually enjoy reading about your day-to-day experiences, so I figure at least I could post a few pictures.

This little guy has decided he really likes a "big" chair much better than the high chair, and if it's not something too messy, I've been letting him. Don't you love little ones in warm jammies with bedhead?

Luke was feeling a little puny the day of Matthew's first basketball game, but he went this past Saturday and loved it! Toward the end, he even started saying, "Go Matthew!" You can see he had fun!

Hopefully I'll be back soon with things that are a lot more interesting!