A Tale of Three Valentines II

It's that time of year again! And this year, Laura is in on the action. Both Clare and Danny stayed consistent in their choices of valentines (although if they had offered Greek Hoplite or Roman army options, that would have been Danny's preference). Surprising no one, Laura chose princess cards.

For their own surprises, this year I tried to tap into individual interests. For Clare, we have gel pens and hair bows, both of which are hot items among fifth graders this year. Danny's gift is partially incomplete. In addition to the Genghis Khan book, he'll be getting a kids' version of The Odyssey (delivery delayed due to the Icepocalypse). Finally, to add to the precious princess dolls she received for Christmas, Laura is getting the princesses from Frozen, the latest Disney princess movie and the soundtrack to which has been playing in our house nonstop.

To top it all off, we've had lots of family time together, Tim and I get a date night on Sunday night, and school resumes on Monday. HAPPY Valentine's Day indeed!

Snapshots from Another Snowstorm

This one has been dubbed by the locals as either Icepocalypse or snOMG. Both work. We got walloped by a bunch of ice and snow again this week, leading to three more snow days, two of which included Tim. I'll admit I was dreading it, and I'll also admit I was wrong to do so, as we wound up enjoying (most of) it. Of course, I will also tell you that when CKS alerted us that the kids would have school on Monday, despite a previously scheduled holiday, I did a dance of joy.

Here are some images from our time off:

Taking advantage of Tim's presence to have him make waffles for breakfast. We went through a lot of butter in 36 hours.

Despite fears, we never lost power...but opted to grill nevertheless. You can take him out of Buffalo and Chicago, but...

Woke to a beautiful, snow-capped morning.

The mini snowman I made which Laura promptly stompled to pieces.

The real hero of this ice storm: electronic entertainment.