Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone.





The boys decided that they wanted to make Valentine's like that for their friends, so I made a blank slate and taught them how to make a card. C4 made his own polka-dots, the Z filled in his own stripes. They picked their own pictures (I set that up) and then they typed their own message, requesting help with spelling. We made them 2"x4" and taped them to a box of candy hearts. They LOVED them. They could not wait to give them to each of their friends, they were so excited. I loved that they each chose pictures of himself laughing and that they also made it from little E, aka "big stuff."




We were all ready for the party, we had even gotten decorations for school, etc. We weren't even running around crazy! The Z starts to not feel well yesterday, he has a cough and so he stays home so he won't miss the party today. Not only does Z have to miss it, they sent C4 home sick before the party, too. They were so sick, they didn't even care about missing it. They were sad, however, about not being able to pass out their valentines. By the time we got to the doctor at 2 pm, BOTH boys had 105 fever (ok, C4 was 104.9) and were diagnosed with the flu. UNBELIEVABLE. Happy Valentine's Day.

By the way, I think the Z needs a haircut. Their was a lady from the DEEP country in the waiting room with us. Z looked really bad and was all nappy headed. He staggered by this lady to get a drink of water. The lady said, "wow, SHE looks really sick." I try to nicely correct her and say, "uummm, yes, HE is feeling bad." But she corrected me. She nodded over to C4 and said, "no, not HIM" and then nodded over to Z and said, "HER." I pulled Z into my lap and whispered "I think it's time for a haircut." Happy Valentine's Day.

I just read this and noticed errors all the way through--I'm too tired, too frazzled, and WAY too over it to care. Truly, I hope you had a Happy Valentine's Day.

(Let the record show that along with our motrin and soup that we had for dinner, we DID fondue with chocolate and strawberries. I tried to make it special.)

WOW!

Look who captivated me last night! I was playing with my new white backdrop and asked them to be models. These guys are my favorite subject in the whole world. Could they love her any more??

I am going to HAVE to frame this one. You tell me, which is your fav?


My boys are getting so big... it is so surreal at how long the days are, but how quickly the years pass by.




I could REALLY eat her up. Have I mentioned that I IMMENSELY enjoy having a girl?



Side note-- Speaking of swear: at school the other day, C4 solemnly had a prayer request. He wanted all his friends to pray for his mom, because she SWEARS. (when I say, "I swear.") Love it!

You're never too old. . .

. . . to do something estupido. This is C3. Last Saturday I got a chance to do some odd jobs around the house. Number one was repairing a Razor scooter that got backed over and was damaged, presumed dead. By the time I had transformed into handyman fixit mode, we had already replaced it (not unreasonable since it was Yukon vs. Razor), but after closer inspection, I had a feeling that maybe I could still make it work. So I got out me hammer and started swinging away. In no time at all, I had straightened out the front wheel and it worked! No wobble or anything!

So then I started scooting with the boys. I used my "new" scooter since it was resurrected and could ignore the fact that I exceed the weight limit by about 40 pounds. I always feel bad for taking a few turns with their scooters and running the risk of breaking it but now I have one that was previously deceased. Just a little bit of scooting, up and down our driveway which has a fair slope but is not too steep. I began playing chase and race and even handed out a few reckless driving tickets during traffic stops with the boys, "I'll need to see your license sir." We graduated to different leg positions during the downhill runs: leg forward, backward, sideways, even hooked up front around the post for 'leg across'. So I'm feeling kinda full of myself and decide to head down the steeper side drive and do a little jump. Not a big one off the 2 and 1/2 foot drop-that would be crazy-but just about 6 inches or so with a bunnyhop so I can clear the back wheel. Witness the results:




It's MUCH worse than it looks. What you can't see is the 2nd scrape above my kneecap. During the crash, I remember thinking "I hope I make it to the grass." After 2 concrete hits, I made it to the grass. I tore my jeans over the left knee, at the left pocket near the grine, and scraped my belt in 4 places-metal and leather. No other trauma except the 2 sets of deep gouges at the palm and 2 scrapes on my knee. And pain, no scrapes, to the right knee that made it hard to stand and walk. Oh yeah, and the severe bruising to my pride, made worse by my neighbor witnessing the whole thing and (classically) calling out, "are you ok? Looks like that hurt." or something like that. He at least had the decency not to laugh out loud.

So, inspired by Ralphie and my own boys, I worked up a few tears and went in to see Momma. Ok, actually she is my wife but she makes some great hot chocolate and is great at comforting. And I was needing some comfort (if you know what I mean.) Her response, "did you forget that you're almost 40?" was followed soon after with laughter and a reminder to "buck up" as we had a birthday party to attend that afternoon, a kiddie birthday party at a roller skating rink. A ROLLER SKATING RINK. Very high chance of falling down trauma which might make crash #3 where #1 was a slip on the ice the day before. Fortuantely no falls at the rink but I did discover some severely degraded balance. Or maybe it was the skates. As an added bonus the next day scab juice oozed through my church pants, but just a little bit.

Here is a bonus pic of those in the house who enjoy sweet potatoes or possibly carrots followed with a club cracker. 1st tooth has now come through at the bottom.