Snow Day!

There's not much to do today, except to watch it snow. We did make it to church this morning so that I could sing with the choir, but the roads were terrible. I'm glad to be stuck inside today with my wonderful and beautiful family. I'm sure we'll be making it outside later to do lots of shoveling. James thinks shoveling is so much fun, so he probably has the best attitude about this fresh snowfall.

Sledding with Cousins

A couple of weekends ago we met up with cousins Bryce and Brennen and Auntie Karla to do a little sledding. Grandma Judy was kind enough to watch Claranna so we could just focus on some fun with the big kids. We met the cousins half way between our homes at a school yard and we really enjoyed our time together. It was great to be laughing and playing outside and we were able to stay quite awhile since we didn't have the little one.

A lot of our snow melted this past week when the temperatures climbed into the 40's for the first time in a very long time. The grass in our yard is actually visible in a few spots! I didn't get to enjoy the beautiful weather because I was quite sick on a couple of the nicest days and then James caught my nasty stomach bug and kept us inside on more lovely days. James and I are recovered, but Claranna is really struggling with tummy issues that are either an extension of the stomach bug going around or are somehow related to her food allergies. We have been having a hard time getting her to eat much of anything the past couple of days. Hopefully she'll be much better tomorrow... I don't think that we've had more than a two day stretch of all three kids healthy at once in the past month. I'm ready for spring, but it is more snow that is on the way! We will probably have a day at home tomorrow as the forecast of excessive snow and ice suggests that hanging out at home might be the best way to spend our day. Enjoy the sledding pics!

Social ICE

Social ICE was part of Winter Fest again this year. We managed to make it downtown to enjoy the ice sculptures and the ice bar for a bit on Saturday in the early evening. Our friend Jenny was able to join us. It really was fun to take in all the art, people, and music on a beautiful winter day.
Claranna looks a little guilty in this picture next to the broken sculpture, but she really didn't do anything...

Celebrating the Day

In many ways, our day today was quite normal. The big kids went to school (and had Valentine parties, of course!) and Mark had a good night bowling in his Monday night league. We did manage to squeeze in some special fun with cards, gifts, a nice late dinner (Valentine Jello makes any meal special), treats and a little time together.


Ella is very crafty when it comes to cards and making gifts. Our day began with a nice Valentine's gift display that Ella so sweetly arranged.

Claranna happily read a card this morning. Thank you to all for the lovely Valentines!

I mistakenly thought this gift might be from Mark to me. It was the bag that confused me. Evidently, Ella thought the bag was just the perfect size for a nice gift she had made for James.


All the big people in the house enjoyed the special cookies that Grandma made and delivered with Grandpa this afternoon.

A sweet baby girl loved getting a new puppy to cuddle.

We had a great Valentine's Day that ended with our Valentine's Day tradition that the kids have grown quite fond of -- giant lollipops!

This is the gift of LOVE!

A Valentine's Greeting!