My loves . . .

Dave. . .who truly has his hands full with the kids (and me!) constantly demanding his attention and general cool-dad-liness.


Marley. . .who has a wonderfully innocent and untainted awareness of her own beauty and is always willing to strike a pose. Here she is modeling her fancy Valentine's Day outfit from Grandma Nancy and B.O.B.




Casey. . .who took these incredible pictures with my camera yesterday on a hike. I love that he is becoming a more confident little guy who isn't afraid to try something new.





Keller . . .who keeps me laughing with his antics, both intentional and unintentional. Here is the note he left me when I sent a cold grilled cheese sandwich in his school snack ("I do not like it cold mom"); the green tea he made me for my birthday (note entire tea package included!); and the list we made of options for him for spring season events/classes, which he made an addition to.


Valentine's date night. . .this year rather than going out for dinner and a movie, we dropped the kids off at our gym for Parents Night Out on Saturday, got carry-out from our local vegetarian place (Lotus) and watched a movie in the quiet, calm surroundings of our own home, which too frequently is not the relaxing retreat we long for it to be.

Happy Birthday and Happy New Year!

a certain someone celebrated her birthday this weekend--hard to believe my 'baby' is now the big 0-4! she chose a 'China' party and we did it up right. . .



yummy dumplings and such

stencil paintings


chopstick marshmallow races



a Strawberry Shortcake cake--very random but we couldn't find a bakery to do a cool Year of the Rabbit cake for us




favor boxes--chocolate coins in red envelopes, chopsticks 'helpers', panda cookies, fortune cookies



best big brother--Keller played Littlest Pet Shop with Marley after the party



we followed up yesterday's party with a trip to Chinatown today for the Chinese New Year parade and festivities. . .










IN OTHER NEWS
Keller won the award for "Most Creative" at the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby last weekend. his car was painfully slow, but we set out to win style points, not speed ;)




the kids had 3 snow days, followed by a weekend, followed by 2 teacher work days. add it all up and get about 7 days of chaos.





dave and keller took advantage of a recent snowfall and played hookie for a day to hit the mountains for some snowboarding. . .




off to go watch my STEELERS kick ass and bring home #7!

Thoughts on hitting the big 3-7

37 years, done. That's roughly 13,505 days, not accounting for leap years and any strange zodiac calculations that I'm uncapable of figuring out. I am not often inclined to bouts of deep personal reflection and introspection, but tend to steer my life using abrupt mid-course directional shifts when something feels not-quite-right. So rather than elaborating on the joys and sorrows of my life thus far, I'll pose this question to you, in honor of the beginning of my 38th year. . .

As for me?

I'm planning to give more, with a goal of one family volunteer activity/month this year, as well as volunteering individually when I can:

Our whole fam volunteered on MLK Day (we made dog and cat toys for animal rescues, cards for solider and for military kids, packed snack and activity bags for homeless kids, made bracelets for kids in the hospital, and valentines for former foster youth who are away at college, without a permanent family to send them care packages)






Say yes more often, and worry about the mess later

Keller's idea for today's snow day--Water World, which included a Sink or Float? station, biggest splash contest, dam building and a boat race; followed my Marley giving all of her plastic animals a good scrubbing on the kitchen floor






Feed my body and soul with the things that make me feel strong and healthy

My new favorite cookbook, which is helping me as I transition back to being a vegetarian--2+ weeks and counting with no meat, poultry, fish, dairy, eggs, alcohol or coffee <

Dave has made me promise to read this and learn how to clear some mental clutter and rid myself of quiet-induced giggling fits for at least 8 minutes/day<

My creative and talented brother-in-law and his fiancee gave me this, with advice to read it slowly as I allow myself to indulge in thinking of myself and my writing; I have found inspiration in its pages so far


Along that vein, Write more, make less excuses for not spinning stories from the ideas in my head that have been brushed aside for too long



Accept each experience I'm given, and love it for what it gives and takes from my one wild and precious life, because in words we learned as kids of the 70s-80s, You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both, and there you have the facts of life ;) Told you I wasn't big on serious introspection!