Celebrating Valentine's Day

We can find any excuse to celebrate around here.  And Valentine's Day is no exception.  Most especially after being on lock down for three days.  

We heated this place up with some cookie baking {pre-camera fatality}.  While I've lost one baker to old age and 'legos are more entertaining', I've gained another in Lucy. This was her first Love Day baking session and let's just say, we loved having her in the mix.

Lucy is a quick learner.  Or possibly unaware that she is two and a half years younger than her big sis.  Because whatever Maggie does...Lucy must do too.  This is one of the reasons we've had no problem getting a bow in this little one's hair.

Lucy is absolutely enamored with her big sister.  Nothing like a little love on this day of, well, love.  And what makes it even sweeter?...this little hug was not prompted by anyone.  {sigh}

After all the mixing, rolling and cutting, it was time for the good stuff.  Decorating runs a close second to the girl's favorite part of baking.

But, if I had to guess, eating the sweet treats would take first.  Yum!

When Valentine's Day arrived my littles awoke to their "We Love" doors.  I could have gone on forever and ever but I maxed them at 6.  I just adore seeing their sweet faces when they hear all the things we love about them.

This was Jack's door...I find the "do not enter" sign ironically amusing.

Maggie's door....

And Lulu's door...

Beaming, as they should, the kids headed downstairs to find Valentine baskets waiting for each of them in the kitchen.  I don't have any pictures, {that was before my rented camera}, and they have been excitedly ripped into by this point.  But, as you can imagine, Maggie's was filled with lots of princess loot, Jack's with animal goodies, and Lucy's with a coveted Elmo toothbrush among other things.

The best part for me was their sincere gratitude and all the ooey gooey loving that followed it.

When the ice cleared, for the most part anyway, Maggie and I headed out for her only day of school this week.  But, not before we made a quick stop to drop off our broken camera and rent another.  Before you judge, we have big plans this weekend, and the iphone wasn't going to cut it.

It was a happy day at school, being Valentine Party Day and all.  I was one of the party mom's and let me just tell you, my Maggie was glued to me.  She truly adores me as I do her.  She even thanked me after the party for letting her sit with on me during the game and story.  Sweet girl.

Maggie enjoyed a red snack, heart art work, and a game of Valentine Bingo that I ran.  And wouldn't you know, Maggie's favorite part was the game.  See I told you she loved me.

{I tested out my newly rented camera {it's a beaut}, but I really have very little clue how to use it.}

So that wraps up our lovely day.  I am really looking forward to this weekend.  I couldn't have planned the timing better if I tried...this family of ours has got some serious cabin fever.

Until then...

xoxo and Happy Valentine's Day!

Ice Day

If you are in these parts, I hope you've all enjoyed your ice day or should I say, "days".  It looks like we have three solid days of school canceled, add a President's Day weekend holiday in there and my kids just might be crawling the walls before I know it.

My bag of tricks is running low.  I did, however, get them out yesterday while the roads allowed it.  Daddy handled shift one and took Jack to see The Lego Movie while the girls napped.  Then I followed that up with taking my princess Maggie to see Frozen {yes, again}.  It was the Sing Along version this time though.  {That's how I rationalized it anyway.} Maggie dressed the part...princess apparel and all.  By the time we left the theater the temperatures were most definitely frigid.

And that brings us to today...the real ice day.  We've been inside for the majority of our waking hours.  So far, so good.  Tomorrow {day 2} will be the test of how well my walls can withstand 3 cabin fevered kiddos {and more than likely, two parents as well}.

And speaking of walls, I managed to get three giant pictures of Lucy's walking session hung today on the office walls.  Love them.  It seems an ice day has productive perks.

And although, I did love seeing my new pictures up on display, my favorite part of the day was playing a game of Poppa's Pizza Topple with Rapunzel.  Who can say they did that in an ice storm?

To curb any restlessness that may have been on the horizon, Daddy organized an indoor game of baseball with Jack in the basement.  Yes, those french doors are still miraculously intact.

Post naps, the girl's decided to brave the elements and head outside for a bit.  I just didn't think I had it in me.  It was sleeting, after all.  So Daddy took them out and I grabbed the camera and hung at the cozy front door.

Except for...I dropped my camera on the mudroom tile floor and now it won't work.  I am beyond devastated {enough said}.  So these are from my iphone.

This may be all I've got for a few, unless I get to a repair shop pronto {which isn't looking like it's going to happen}.  We still have power though, so I suppose I'll go count my blessings.

Sending Love

Just thought I'd send a little Valentine love to heat things up as we brace ourselves for, yet another, ice storm.

XOXO...stay safe and warm friends...

The Nice Kind Of Ice

One would think we would've had enough of the ice around here to last us.  Apparently not.

It seems my dear Maggie has been itching to give ice skating a try.  From what I can gather it has something to do with her recent obsession of Frozen {the movie}.  I'm trying to piece the connection together.  Was there an ice skating scene?  Seems I've forgotten.  But, somehow in her sweet little head she has made a connection which surely can't be too far off the mark.  I mean it was a movie about ice and snow after all.

When I suggested we give it a try this weekend, I had very few family members on board with me {except for Maggie, of course}.  We had bets going on of how long Maggie would actually stay on the ice.  I gave her a whopping 11 minutes, others were not so generous.  And Jack, well plain and simply, he just had no interest in going at all.

Oh, but what a pleasant surprise we had ahead of us.  Both kids thoroughly enjoyed it.  And to the extent that they were pleading to go back soon.  And that little wager we had on Maggie.  Well, she showed us.  Take that 11 minutes and multiply it by 5.  Way to go my precious Frozen princess!

It seemed there was no turning back or at least we would be spending $10 a minute for Maggie to give this urge of hers a try.  Clay, who wasn't very optimistic about this little adventure of ours, was the first to point out the signs at the register.

But, I had a feeling it might go better than expected when both kids got laced up in their ice skates and were exuberating nothing but excitement.  However, there was one little glitch.  The smallest size skate available was a 12 and our tiny Maggie only wears a 9.  We had to triple her up in socks and hope for the best.

Grandma joined us.  It never hurts to have three on three.  She so graciously helped with little Lu, who was clearly too small to skate.  And Maggie was beside herself that Grandma was joining us.  She just had to wear her pink tutu so "Grandma could see it".

Once Maggie and Daddy hit the ice it went something like this...

But mostly like this...

Hey, I was just happy she was enjoying herself, even if she did hold on to the wall 80% of the time.

And Jack started like this {and mind you, he refused any help, he wanted to do it all by himself}....

But, he quickly evolved to this...

I was so proud of him for trying something new and having a great attitude about it.  That seems to be a stumbling block we have to work over often.  So when he hit the ice with a will to learn, I was ecstatic.

We found a great bench to prop Lulu up on.  She spent many a minutes there squealing, "Jah, Da, Mah" when she saw our family skate by.  And when she wasn't doing that, she was giving Grandma a nice workout with her running around.

Lucy was the first to greet her siblings when they came off the ice.  She had their shoes ready for them and was right in the mix of shedding ice skates.

Who knows maybe next time she'll be right out there with them.  It wouldn't surprise me a bit.  She is our super baby after all.

So three cheers for ice that we actually enjoyed!  Now we are bracing ourselves for a week of rain, but, I have to admit, the climbing temps aren't so bad.