February

Today as I have been washing dishes and making food, the song June Bride has been in my head, particularly the parts about the winter months.

January, higher still, 
To the parlour window sill, February finds a drift And a storm that seems never to lift

Well, we haven't had tons of snow and nothing close to reaching our parlour window sill. There have been a few drifts, but only one small one after a little snow storm. However, we have had cold weather that seems to be sticking around.

And, this is all that has been happening around here lately.

We enjoyed a nice family candlelit dinner. We had both been wanting some lasagna, so we made up a pan of it and enjoyed it along with some heart cookies for Valentine's Day. Russell really liked having the candles. 

 We finally tried out Ben's Christmas present from Ben and Shannon: Bacon Bowls!

 There have been quite a few days where we haven't changed out of our pajamas. Russel and Meghan have both had colds the last several weeks. They have not been very chipper and Russell mostly wants to veg on the couch watching Curious George while I try to get Meghan to sleep. Anytime we've have been gone for a while, Russell asks if we can go home. He has also been asking to take naps.

Meghan has figured out how to feed herself. Now Ben and I have a chance to eat a little bit before she wants us to finish feeding her.

I am patiently waiting for the weather to warm up some because now we live close enough to the trail system that we can walk a couple blocks and be on the trails that go all over town. 

My Birthday

This is the year I turned the big 3-0. I wasn't terribly upset about it. I like birthdays, and since Ben is a good 5.5 years older than me, I never am going to be the old one. One of my friends is also turning 30 so she and my other friend (yes, I only have 2 friends here) wanted to make sure it was special. They had a little surprise party as part of our monthly book club the week before my birthday. It was fun, plus they also made it a little bit of a house warming party, too.

Then on my actual birthday, Russell and Meghan were both getting colds so they were crabby/clingy/grumpers, so naturally I also was crabby/grumpy (I was sick of people being around me, especially little sick people). My birthday was on a Wednesday, so Ben had Young Men that evening, so after we ate dinner and cake, and rushed the kids off to bed, I sat at home by myself for a couple hours. Russell and Meghan then decided to not sleep well at all for the next three nights in a row.

The friend who is not turning thirty brought lunch and came and ate it with me (and Russell and Meghan and her two girls) the next day. She wanted to make sure my birthday was extra special and had a called me up a couple days earlier insisting on bringing it. We decided that Thursday would work better because she lives out of town and would be coming in for playgroup Thursday anyway. And, she made one of my all time favorite soups, so it was even more awesome than not having to make lunch for you and the kids then clean it all up afterwards. The only bummer was that I had to clean the house before she came (dirty house because of sick kid(s) who wouldn't leave me alone).

So, that was how turning 30 was. I feel no different than when I was 29. Just a little chubbier.

Jack Frost

We've had a fairly mild winter this year, especially when compared to last year. It snowed Saturday night, and yesterday we woke up to a couple inches of fresh snow on the ground. Along with the fresh snow was the return of the beautiful frost patterns that appear on the storm windows in our bedrooms.

We were quite impressed the first time we saw the frost on the windows, and love looking at it. It only seems fitting since Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow today meaning 6 more weeks of winter. These guys didn't even want to come out of their holes.

They were delicious!!

And, I made a little groundhog for singing time yesterday. If the kids sang well he came out of his hole. Sorry no picture of him. Our computer has issues.