Valentine's Day 2010

Valentine's Day. What can I say? It's never been a big day for me, and today wasn't good.

Yesterday, my parents watched the kids while Grant and I met our good friends for dinner at The Olive Garden. Dinner was delicious, and it was wonderful to hang out with our friends, without kids.



After dinner, Grant and I shopped for Lexie's birthday presents. We spoiled her with many gifts that she will absolutely love! Plus, I found an adorable birthday outfit for her.

We picked up the kids, and then went back to our friend's house for a few hours.

The fun ended on the way home.

Today was most definitely the worst Valentine's Day I've ever had. The day was long and emotionally draining.

The kids enjoyed their Valentine's Day gifts. We gave Lexie a Tinkerbell lollipop and a mini Barbie, and gave Dylan a Buzz Lightyear lollipop and a Lego set.


Later in the afternoon, Dylan played a new Wii game, while Lexie and I made Valentine's Day cookies.



Lexie had a busy day, and fell asleep on the couch. Dylan got to stay up a bit later to watch a movie, because he doesn't have school tomorrow. Instead, he is going to a Kindergarten preview in the afternoon. It's going to be a big day for him!

We are gearing up for a busy week, with...more snow!!! Yes, we're supposed to get 4-6 inches tomorrow, and a few more inches over the week. I am so over the snow. I have too much to do this week to worry about it. Dylan has the kindergarten preview tomorrow, T-ball sign-ups on Wednesday, a field trip on Friday, and I have to prepare for Lexie's birthday party, which is on Saturday! I wish we weren't getting more snow!

Sweetheart Tea

My sweet, little boy invited me to a Sweetheart Tea at his school, today.

I was so excited to go! Each student in his class was allowed to invite a special someone to a tea, which was held during the last half hour of class.

Dylan came out of his classroom, and led me into a room, where I could put my coat and get my picture taken with him. Then he led me into another room, where our feast awaited. The students prepared a dessert for us. It was a slice of angel food cake topped with cherries, whipped cream, and a chocolate heart. We got to choose between iced tea or lemonade for our drink.

It was Dylan's snack day today, so each student got to eat the snack he picked out (Gogurt, Valentine's Day cookies, and chocolate milk), while we ate our desserts.

My dessert was sitting on a placemat that Dylan made for me, and had a homemade card next to it!




Seriously, how sweet is that?!?

While we were eating, Dylan's class performed three songs, and then handed out flowers and Hershey's Kisses.


It was such a sweet party!

He is my sweetheart!


As we were leaving, he realized that he forgot to say goodbye to his teachers. I followed behind as he ran back to his classroom to hug his teachers and wish them a Happy Valentine's Day. He is such a sweet, considerate, loving boy!

I finally got out of the house tonight. I went to my parent's house for a delicious dinner, and played Quiddler with my mom for a few hours. It was nice to get out!

My parents had a big goody bag for us for Valentine's Day. Plenty of candy for all of us, books for the kids, and a mug, candy dish, and socks for me. They are always thinking of their children and grandchildren!




It was a great day!!!

Love Is All Around

Today was (hopefully) our last day of being snowed in. Actually, the roads were clear this afternoon, but I stayed home to babysit my best friend's boys.

We got a bit of snow tonight (HA! Hahahahaha! I just may be going crazy.), and the roads are covered. They BETTER be clear in the morning. (Listen up, PennDot.) Because Dylan NEEDS to go to school. I NEED to get out of this house for a few hours. Plus, I would hate for his Valentine's Day party and Sweetheart Tea to be postponed until next Wednesday.

Dylan wrote out his very first Valentine's Day cards to his classmates today. Last Friday, he decided on Star Wars cards, and today, he had fun preparing them. He diligently wrote his name on each card, and helped me attach a lollipop to them. I can't believe that the time has come for him to give out Valentines!




Tonight, Lexie joined in on the fun. We made thumbprint cards for the grandparents. They had a great time dipping their thumbs in paint and stamping the cards. Lexie got a bit overzealous with the thumbprints at times!

Once again, Dylan signed the cards. This time, he impressed me by saying that he wanted to write Love, Dylan on them. I started to spell out love for him, but he stopped me with a sigh. "Mommy, I KNOW how to spell love!" What shocked me the most, was that he did! He even knew to add a coma after the word love.





Our next project is going to be Valentine's Day cookies! YUM!

Dylan's tooth is really wiggly right now. I am wondering when it's going to fall out. His 6 year molars are officially in, but this tooth has been loose for 8 months, and will not fall out! Even the dentist was surprised that it hadn't fallen out yet, and that was almost 3 months ago!

Maybe he can lose it in a Valentine's Day cookie?

So, yes, we do have cabin fever. But hopefully that will all come to an end tomorrow, when we return to normal life. It' s been a perpetual weekend here...since last Friday!!!

Love is in the air! (And we need to celebrate. Please, Mother Nature?)

Not Again!

As if 25 inches wasn't enough.

I guess it wasn't.

Round two got a late start, and hit us last night and all through today. The 5:00 news said we got an additional 8 inches. I'm not quite sure how much hit us over the past few hours. All I know is that my back door is blocked by snow for the third time today, and all those paths we made through the snow, to make it easier to walk, are gone! Not to mention, Grant had to dig out the driveway again!

And it's windy, so all the snow is blowing around.

School was canceled for the third day in a row. It's canceled tomorrow, too. The roads are terrible. When school is canceled, PennDot doesn't take care of the roads. Who cares about the people who have to go to work?!? Obviously, PennDot doesn't!

As I said before, I thought the first blizzard was awesome, but that was ENOUGH!

Being snowed in AGAIN? I'm sick of it.

Anybody want to go for an adventurous drive? The roads are WORSE now! I snapped this picture after they were plowed this morning. Oh yeah, and that sea of white at the bottom of the picture? My driveway.




And check out those killer icicles! They're going to touch the ground soon. Time to clear off the playset again, so the roof doesn't collapse!




Okay, snow. I'm done.

Tuesday Tidbits

Tuesday Tidbits is my day to record all the cute and funny things my kids say and do.

Most of my Tuesday Tidbits have been about Lexie. She is just in such a funny stage right now!

She loves to mimic me. When I put in my contacts, she puts in her contacts. This involves licking her finger, and then putting her finger in her eye. Not very sanitary!

She calls granola bars "Noli Bars." Dylan used to call them that at her age, and now she does it!

I witnessed Lexie's first eye roll this week. We were in the car, and Grant was talking to her. I happened to catch her reaction in the rearview mirror. Yes, a very distinct eye roll. The first of many, I'm sure!

Lately, when Lexie wakes up, she's ready to get out of bed immediately. She woke up before dawn this morning, and thought it was time to get up. She kept calling me, and I ignored her. This usually works, and she goes back to bed. But this morning, she was mad. She tried a new tactic: "Mommy, Dyl hit me!!!" Riiight. He woke up, walked to her room, hit her, and promptly feel back asleep. Gotta hand it to her for trying!

Lexie has been super sweet lately. She loves to give me a smooch, and say, "Mommy, I am your best girl," as she leans her cheek against mine. This makes my heart melt! She is my best girl!

And one for Dylan, my healthy eater:

I asked him on Friday what his snack was at school. He told me that he had cookies. I asked him what kind, to which he replied, "Black ones."
"Oh, you mean Oreos?" I asked.
"I don't know. They were black with white stuff in the middle!"
My little man doesn't even know what Oreos are! He hardly ever eats cookies, or any baked good for that matter!

Escape Plan

As of 5:00 this afternoon, I had been snowed in for three days. Three days of not leaving my yard.

I was starting to get cabin fever. Yes, we continued to have fun in the snow. We spent a lot of time playing in it on Sunday. School was canceled today, but the snow started to lose it's appeal. The snow is packed down from all the playing in it, and doesn't look impressive anymore.

I had to escape. I didn't care where to.

As much as I enjoyed it, I couldn't play in the snow anymore.

We did have quite an amazing experience in the snow, and we're going to have some great memories of the past few days.

Here's a few more snow pictures from yesterday and today:






























Tonight, Dylan and I escaped. We braved the partially snow covered roads (it was an adventure, complete with almost hitting two deer that ran in front of our car), and returned to reality.

It didn't matter that we escaped to a birthday party at Krispy Kreme for his classmate, Ryan.

We got out.

He had a great time (I forgot the camera!) and I enjoyed being away from home for a while!

I'm thrilled we got out for a while. Why? Well, there is ANOTHER snow storm on the way. It's supposed to hit at 10 AM, so all the schools in the area are canceled again. We're supposed to get another 6-10 inches. S-weet. NOT.

I loved this blizzard. We don't need anymore snow, though! I've had my fill, and it's looking like Dylan won't return to school until Friday (I hope)!

Here's to several more days of getting buried in the snow. CHEERS!

Not Me Monday

It's Monday! A day to air out our dirty laundry. A day to confess. It's refreshing and therapeutic!
Head on over to MckMama's blog to read more posts just like this one!

It is not me who has been staying up entirely too late, and not getting enough sleep. I do not need to change that.

I did speed down the road, parallel to a train last week, just so we could make it to the crossing in time to watch it go by.

I did not leave the house early to get Dylan from school, because he complained to his teacher that he's never first to go home. I did not get there 15 minutes early and was not horribly disappointed to be second in line after all that work. I do not blame the dad who didn't know what time pickup was, and showed up too early!

Dylan was not a beast in Target on Friday. I was not shocked that he fell asleep on the way home. That most definitely would explain his behavior...you know, if it really happened.

The blizzard did not hit earlier than expected on Friday evening. I did not almost wreck my car several times on my way home from the grocery store, thanks to the slippery, snow covered roads. I was not shaky, tense, and nauseous by the time I pulled into my driveway. Nor did I let out the biggest sigh of relief ever!

We did not get 25 inches of snow! It was not a foot and a half more than the highest amount they predicted. This was not the most snow our area has seen since 1993. I am not absolutely loving it!

I did not snag my sleeping babies from their beds, and take them to bed with me on Saturday night. It was not the best night's sleep I've had in ages. It was not completely wonderful to have a warm, snuggly kid on each side of me!

I did not already buy Christmas presents for 3 people!

My living room and bedroom are not cluttered with random crap because my hubby is turning our big coat closet into a mini-office. I am not wondering where on Earth I'm going to put the stuff that was in the closet. Need. Bigger. House. STAT.