Weeks 7 and 8: A tale of two climates

The week before Valentine's Day was pretty regular. I was getting ready for my trip to Las Vegas and the boys were making Valentines and boxes (notice R2-D2 drawing a heart on Gabe's). Frank took Zach to see the Spongebob movie. It was cold. That is about all I remember.

They received Ninja Turtle mask Valentines.

Then I flew to Las Vegas. I knew it was going to be warmer, but I forgot how good 75 degrees feels. We walked around in jeans and t-shirts. We stayed at the Mirage and lounged in the pool. Mom, Shaun, Lisa, and I joined Kevin for the weekend to celebrate his 30th birthday. The food was wonderful, the gambling was fun and I think I broke even, the Penn & Teller show was funny, and the Neon Museum was interesting. And then I was flying back home to the cold.

Due to the snow and the cold temps and wind chill, school was cancelled all week. The kids only left the house once in 8 days. We did pretty well, considering. We introduced Charlotte to watercolors, and to drinking out of a cup, which she totally rocks. And then it snowed again, but at 35 degrees it was like a heat wave and the boys had some fun playing outside.

Week 6: Finally February

Thanks for all the birthday wishes. Last week seemed long but relatively happy. Most of us are still battling colds, either the same one or new ones, I can't tell. My office is coming along. The desks are set up (with Charlotte's help), but I have shelves to put up and a bulletin board to move, etc. And the floor lamps look kinda funny...the lighting is actually really good but I need to find desk lamps.

The other excitement last week was Zach's first Pinewood Derby. He loves his car, but we didn't have any idea if it would race well. Turns out it was good enough for 3rd place in his Tiger den and he got a trophy. He was absolutely thrilled.

Zach's snaggletooth, which he lost later that day.

Week 5: The firsts this week

When I looked through the photos I realized that each of the kids did something for the first time last week.

Zach's cub scout den visited the newspaper, and they had their photo in the paper the next day (Frank too!). Here they are being shown the comics layout.

Gabe lost his first tooth; unfortunately it was swallowed. He wrote the tooth fairy a note.

I put Charlotte's hair up for the first time, mainly to keep it out of her face while she ate yogurt. She tolerated it only while she was distracted by food.