"My stuff"

The boys were messing around this evening and somehow made their way into the laundry room and shut the door.

Levi came walking out and said, "Mommy, Ben is in there putting on your white thing that covers up your stuff!"

I had no clue what he was talking about until Ben came walking out with my bra hanging from his neck and wrapped around his arm.

i would have a picture except he quickly took it off when he saw me grab the camera. Very smart move, Ben.

A Romantic Valentine's Day

I just love Valentine's Day.

I know it's a holiday created by Hallmark, but I'm happy to report that I only received one Hallmark card this year. The rest of mine looked something like this...
Aren't they the best?! There's nothing better than a homemade card. Michael and I committed to spending absolutely no money on Valentine's Day this year. He broke that commitment and purchased me a card, but I won't hold it against him.

We planned a fun little getaway with the boys and since we didn't have school on Monday, we headed to The Great Wolf Lodge for a night. I know...It's not a very romantic way to spend Valentine's Day, but we had so much fun and the boys loved it!
Levi and Ben surprised us by going right in and immediately wanting to go down the huge slides. They had absolutely no fear. Ben was hardly tall enough, but with his confidence they didn't hesitate allowing him on.
While they preferred to go down with dad, they did allow me to get in on the fun.
Where is Graham? Well, I hate to admit that I hardly have any pictures of him. That's probably because I was always in the water with him. He had a ton of fun the first day, and he especially loved going around the lazy river in a tube with me. I have very sore arms to prove it. He occasionally let Michael go with him, but then he cried everytime he saw me. It's good to be loved, right? At least that's what I keep telling myself.
The second day Graham was over the whole water thing. He had fun swimming for a little while but then was ready to go home. And he wasn't afraid to tell me. He was content in my arms but not so content out of them...
Oh, and the arcade was a bit hit too. A big hit on the wallet. What do you do when you have 3 boys and dad gets 1 stuffed animal the first time he tries from the silly little grab machine? Of course, you try about 100 more times until you get 2 more.

And we are really hurting for more stuffed animals around here so I'm very thankful that we came home with 3 more.

Hope your Valentine's Day was full of LOVE, the romantic kind or the not-so-romantic kind.

The Winter Blues

So I guess I haven't done a very good job of keeping up with the blog so far this year. My "to do" list includes several posts that never got written. Oh well. We did succeed, however, at embracing the month of January. Although it was freezing cold outside with lots of snow and very little school, we really had a lot of fun. We spent a lot of time in the snow (once it reached about 15 degrees)...

And we spent A LOT of time bundled up in the house just enjoying each other's company.
And being very silly.
We had to get pretty creative to pass the days.
It warmed up a bit and we finally had to enter the real world. Back to school, Bible study, MOPS, playdates, doctor appointments, errands, projects, etc. I do not consider myself a homebody. In fact, there was a time not so long ago that I hated to be home all day. I don't know what's changed - maybe it's just that my boys are older and can hold a conversation - but I love being at HOME with my family. Or maybe it's the daily reminder of the suffering in Haiti that makes me want to hunker down and love my family. While I can't get on a plane to Haiti and help those who are suffering, I know I can love the ones God has put in my own home.

That's a good place to start, don't you think?! It's also a pretty good cure for the winter blues.