Loving Gestures

This week was pretty mundane for the most part, which is fine by us. It has still been quite cold with the occasional snow showers mixed in. In the seven winters we have been here this has been the yuckiest, and we hope it stays that way. Despite the cold, we have simple gestures of love to keep us warm.

Brrr.

Just, brrr.

All the snow and ice do bring the occasional amusements along the way to school, though: 

Dribbling and passing chunks of ice, for example. 

Monday, February 10 – Today was Landon’s 100th day of school. We only realized because he brought home a fun little wooden bookmark with a 100 on it. How time flies!

"When I am 100 years old, I will like to exercise." Diggin' the white hair and the mustache-goatee combo!

Here is some art from the last little while: 

Eliza broke out her new LEGO set. 

After school, we attempted to make a sliding hill from all the snow in the backyard. Got a big pile, but not a very fast hill. 

Tuesday, February 11 – Eliza had her annual checkup. The doctor had no complaints, and she was a trooper when it came to getting the flu shot. She did not even cry. So very proud!

Of course, anything's easier with chocolate coins sent by Grandma and Grandpa.

Wednesday, February 12 – We had another cold day today, but Mike and Landon still chose to brave the elements on their walk to school. The unique combination of wet cold air caused ice crystals to form on everything. 

. . . even on Mike's goatee . . . . Brr.

Hallie attended the branch temple session. She’s not impressed with the first of the new films. Before she left, she printed off some bookmarks for the kids’ school valentines. Landon wrote names, and Mike laminated and cut them. Done!

Thursday, February 13 – The kids went off to school, and Hallie went to babysit at the Grosse Pointe Moms Club monthly meeting, a quick way to earn $40. Hallie then lost track of the time and quickly had to run an errand and get kids to speech and occupational therapy. They all arrived right on time.

Friday, February 14 – Hallie had her 2nd surgical consultation with Dr. Carlin. By the end of it she received her surgery date of March 10. Hallie is so excited for the prospect of good health being right around the corner! In order for everything to work out, Eliza spent a bit of time with a time with a boy from class while Mike attended to recess duty and lunch time enrichment. 

In the afternoon Landon had his Valentine’s Day celebrations at school, and we all attended and had a lot of fun.

Saturday, February 15 – Landon went to gymnastics this morning. He’s doing very well. Hallie tried to get some discounted treats at Target, but the store had not marked prices down yet. Bummer! Mike has felt under the weather for the last few days, so he stayed home with the kids while Hallie attended the baptism for Sue, a new convert.

The kids decided to start blending what they thought were chemicals in the upstairs bathroom medicine cabinet. Unsupervised. Fortunately, Mike checked in on them before they could do any damage. 

"We're just hanging out, Dad. Honest!"

He took their curiosity as a chance to have both a safety lesson and a fun chemistry experiment. Landon wanted to make an explosion, and while we didn’t have those kinds of materials, we did have some baking soda, vinegar, and balloons.

Science Rocks!!!

Sunday, February 16 – The greeted us with yet more new snow. We also got some sun later on, so it could have been worse. Plus, Hallie made cupcakes, so we had a yummy treat.