So, after the Snowpocalypse, we had Valentine's day! Last year I made Valentine's buckets for Rori and Liam's Sunday School teachers and for our small group friends. They were a lot of work, so I said I wasn't going to do them again. But then my friend April mentioned them. And I thought to myself, "eh, it wasn't that much work and I would really like to do it for Rori's teachers at school. So, I decided to do them again. This year, I saw ladybug cookies on my favorite food site and Rori was really excited about them. I didn't think they looked hard or even that time consuming, and Bill was going to watch all three kids so I figured it would go fast without any "helpers". I am a terrible judge of what is time consuming.

I set up an assembly line for the cookies. They were adorable. While I waited for each part to dry, I worked on the rest of the treats for the buckets. I rolled the truffles, cut out the marshmallows, and dipped all of them in chocolate. The entire process took from about 11:30 am until 9:00 pm. I am an idiot. My back killed me from bending over, frosting the cookies, my kitchen was trashed, and I was exhausted. Poor Bill was tired too--I had banished him and the kids to the living room to eat their lunch and dinner. Of course I didn't get pictures of the final bucket because, well, I was stumbling to my bed that night. I won't be doing them again next year, except I probably will. My sweet Rori Rose gave me a picture frame and half of her sugar donut for all my hard work. She also made a point of telling people that I worked on them from lunch to bedtime--I didn't even have to tell her to do that. I love that girl!

For my mom, dad, and Anna

I haven't posted in five weeks! And I have been gently reminded by my mom and Anna, and my mom said even my dad said something. I really don't have an excuse except I have been busy--but who's not?! I am actually reading real books these days--maybe I'll write about them and what I'm learning at some point :) But, going back a few weeks we had the great Snowpocalypse.

The weather reports were all warning us, so I suggested that Bill borrow his parents snow blower since his dad was in Arizona at the time and his mom would be using it. He said he would, but it was in his tone of voice that I know he is blowing me off. So the night the storm started, I went out and started to shovel. We already had several inches and it was supposed to continue through the night. I wasn't a happy camper. When Bill came out to help, I'd been out an hour already. I strongly suggested he get the snow blower. He whined something about having to take seats out of the van to get it in. I even more strongly suggested he get it. So he did. He only had to fold down one seat. The next morning we woke up to this.

He was supremely grateful to have the snowblower. While looking at this, all I wanted to say was, "The pass is open, the pass is open!" I'll give you a quarter if you know what movie that's from!