On Tuesday and Wednesday, 2/19 and 2/20, we were excited to be paid another visit from our good friend from Louisville, Becky, and her three beautiful children, Isaac, Gracelyn, and Owen.  (You might remember them from the last time they visited... I posted pictures in November.)  As always, our kids ran, played, laughed, and giggled for hours during their extended playdate.  I enjoyed getting to catch up with Becky and just having another mom to talk to.  Ella and I made gingerbread cookies the day before they came (thanks, Uncle Troy, for the supplies!) and they all enjoyed decorating and then eating their creations.  On Wednesday morning, we took all 5 kids (and that's saying a lot!) to the play area at the mall.  Our time there flew by and before we knew it, it was time to say good-bye.  We hope to make another trip to Louisville soon to see them and our other friends there.

 

Other bits of news this week...

 

Jeff has had 5 snow days (ice days) in the past 2 weeks, plus was off for President's Day!  We have had so many planned events cancelled over the past two weeks!  It has been incredibly nice to have the unexpected family time with Jeff home and no big plans or things to rush off to.  We have really cherished that time together.

 

Lucy got 2 more teeth!  Finally!  She got her first 2 (on bottom) shortly before she turned 8 months and just now finally got her top 2 at 15 1/2 months!  It has caused her some pain, but she's handling it well.  Having no top top teeth for so long and being such a late walker, I feel like Lucy has remained a "baby" longer than Ella did.  That has been nice.  She's toddling all over now, though, and getting into everything she shouldn't.  And when her top teeth finish coming down she will have a completely different look to her face.  Sigh.  We've lost another sweet baby to mischievous toddlerhood.  And the terrible 2's aren't far away!  Seriously, though, we are so thankful for her progress and that she is right on track for where God has designed her to be.  She is such a cuddly, loving, wonderful blessing.

 

 

Though we probably spent less money than ever before, we had a truly wonderful Valentine's Day/Weekend this year.  We don't always share our gifts to each other with the public world like this, but Jeff has given me permission to share my gift to him with you.  I took it upon myself to figure out how to use the director/producer software that came with our digital video camera and I made Jeff a slideshow of pictures of just the two of us from the past 12 1/2 years we have known each other.  When Ella watched it, she said, "I didn't know this was going to be all about Mommy and Daddy."  I have to say, it did seem weird to not have them in it, but as I told Ella, this gift was not for her or about her.  I did notice, however, there were a ton of pictures of us during the year we were engaged, and then after we had kids, just a few each year!  I guess that it is to be expected!  After many secret hours of scanning old pictures and getting to know the help index really well, I felt very happy with the end result.  The text comes from my card to him.  I'm not a poet.  Just a warning if you to choose to watch it...it is about 8 minutes long.  The pictures are in chronological order, broken into sections: friends, dating, engaged, married.  Click here to watch.

 

On Friday night, Jeff's concert choir put on a Valentine's Dinner Concert in the school cafeteria.  The whole thing was Jeff's brainchild and it came off beautifully.  This is saying a lot when you know that there was no school on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday due to snow days!  We loved having the unexpected family time, but it did create a lot of stress as far as the dinner was concerned.  It was a catered lasagna dinner, with entertainment provided by soloists, ensembles, and the entire choir, all singing selections about love.  I was so proud of Jeff for coming up with this idea and bringing it to completion (and so well!), all during his first year at the school.  Everyone seemed to be really impressed with it and several asked if it could be an annual event.  What a guy.

 

Jeff's parents and sister stayed the night here Friday, and on Saturday, we celebrated Valerie's birthday.  It was fun to have them all here.

Jeff and I enjoyed a kid-free, elegant, delicious Valentine banquet at our church on Saturday night.  It really was very nice, but unfortunately, I forgot my camera.

 

On Sunday, we all wore our Valentine red to church.  The girls' dresses were a hit everywhere they went.  I especially liked their tights.  After church on Sunday, the children's department had a luau, complete with pigs in a blanket for lunch and a swimming party at a nearby indoor pool.  I have to say, it was pretty strange walking into the pool area with a winter coat and gloves.  The kids had lots of fun, though.

 

Monday night, the snow started falling and turned into sleet and ice overnight, creating a very slick, dangerous sheet over everything.  Because of this, Jeff had his first snow day of the year!  We all enjoyed having him home.  It wasn't a good "snowman" sort of snow, but we had fun in it, nonetheless.  Jeff already heard this afternoon that school has been cancelled for tomorrow as well!  We are so thankful for all this unexpected family time God has given us in the middle of a hectic couple of weeks.  He gives us what we need, even when we don't think to ask.

This week, God has really helped me to notice some of the "sweet moments" in life that we so often take for granted.  Things that just make you smile from the inside out and forget about anything that could possibly be wrong with your life for a few minutes.  Moments like seeing Lucy's face light up and hearing an excited "Mommy!" when I pick her up from the nursery... or like hearing Ella creatively making up words to a familiar tune when nobody is watching and then laughing at her own jokes...or like watching Jeff lying in the floor with Ella "on our bellies," telling her bedtime stories and praying with her.  I thank God for these and many, many more sweet moments I have been blessed to experience.  I've posted just a few of the sweet moments that have happened this week.