Pink Pony Tails

Valentine's Day is usually the lone redeeming quality of February. This month's 28 days manage to seem much longer than June's 30, even with the days being shorter!

Heeding Cyndi Lauper's advice to wear the brightest colors on the darkest days, I geared up for this month by wearing pink pony tail holders and feeling the second trimester energy increase. I feel like myself again. (I didn't take pictures of all of us with the flu, but) I got pictures of the fun surprises that have made this month an exception to the usual drudgery and winter depression of January and February.

We have had ice and snow and frigid temperatures a few times that did not disappoint school children or heating repair companies. And even sunny days in between! Of course our heater went out on the -9 degree night. We cozied up with space heaters, and then with my grandpa's help over the phone my dad "kick started" it the next morning. The following day, we got it fixed.

Walking is not just a hobby now for Kyle. It is now his primary means of transportation. He is so enthusiastic and seems to have even more fun now.

Josie and Simon are old enough to comfortably use scissors, markers, paint, etc. We made valentines and mailed them to far-away friends. We peeled, grated, and melted down my brittle 8th grade art crayons and made hearts to remind ourselves of a couple things our family is working on: 1. Increase the love in our home, 2. Build family unity through what we do together. This was very fun for me. "There is beauty all around when there's love at home."

Other things we've done to make these months pretty awesome include but are not limited to the following:
Eat sausage for breakfast, figure out how to make crepes (then eat them), eat hot apple pie after 9 p.m., learn lots more letters and get annoying Starfall songs stuck in our heads, make snow angels, make sleds and snowboards, make pizza, learn that we should have fixed the windshield nick so as to prevent a two foot crack in our windshield when the ice rapidly melted, watch Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and go to bed early.