Valentine's Day & My Birthday

This Valentine's Day I went a little pillow crazy. If you know me, then you may know that I have a bit of a pillow fetish. I love pillows. You can never have too many pillows in my book. My kids are almost at the age where the pillows might actually stay on the sofa, but I have my fingers crossed on whether my kids' sticky fingers don't get a big gooey stain all over them. So, I love pillows and my sticky fingered good natured kids. But what is love? The best answers are always found in God's word, the bible.

1 Corinthians 13:4-13 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.






Good morning Valentine's! The boys had new books, and I put out two games that the boys haven't played with from Christmas. Of course Brantley remembered getting the games for Christmas. Maybe we can actually open them up and play them now.


Mr. Brantley is missing his two front teeth. Brantley lost his front tooth the night before. What a big event in Brantley's life. He thinks it is awesome to loose his teeth and have the tooth fairy visit. I don't remember being that excited about loosing teeth, but Brantley couldn't wait to tell all his friends at school. I can barely keep track of all the teeth he has lost, but it feels like he is loosing a tooth a week. This makes tooth number five. Tooth number four he lost playing around with his brother. Brady came out of the tractor room with his shirt sleeve torn and blood on his shirt. Apparently, Brantley's tooth got caught on Brady's shirt and it pulled it out. We never found that tooth, so I guess Brantley swallowed it, or it is buried in the carpet or a pile of toys. Tooth number three he lost at school while eating pizza at lunch. Stephen pulled the first and second tooth. Stephen would have pulled the third tooth, but he was out of town. I'm not into pulling teeth. The first tooth Stephen pulled in Barcelona after being on the Disney cruise. Well, that sums up Brantley's tooth history.



Brantley's class listening to Miss Susan read a story after they finished making their Valentine's hats.


Brantley enjoyed the party food. He went back for thirds.


Brantley's table in Mrs. Field's class.



The boys with new pajamas and books. They loved their new Batman pj's with capes.



What a memorable Valentine's for my two boys. I love seeing them smile. I'm so proud of them. Brantley really enjoyed his party, and Brady was excited to attend too. It was fun seeing Brantley interact with his friends. I was impressed at how well the children got along and played games together. It was a great example for Brady. Brady is working hard to listen and follow instructions. He has done very well on his rewards chart and will be rewarded by having a play date tomorrow.


37 and Holding.....

My birthday, February 19th, feel on a Sunday this year. The boys actually had Friday off of school. I really wanted to go away for a weekend birthday get away, but it didn’t happen. We ended up hanging around in Aberdeen.

The kids literally hung around Kippie Lodge that Friday. We celebrated my not so thrilling 37th year by going to the annual AWA Mardi Gras party. This year’s party was something to remember and definitely gave me a big time thriller of a laugh! It was a cold and snowy night when our taxi drove down a dark long spooky driveway to pick up someone who needed a ride to the Mardi Gras party. A lady had asked Sara if she could share a taxi with us. I knew of this lady from the AWA meetings, but I had never talked to her. We weren’t even sure if we were at the right place, but someone emerged from the snowy night with a black cloak covering their head. They came towards the taxi, opened the door and unveiled a devilish face with a drawn sword. Well, it didn’t take me but a second to start screaming. I was scared out of my mind. Who on earth does that?! I didn’t know people dressed up like the devil to attend a Mardi Gras party. I really thought this person was about to decapitate us with a sword. I screamed for what seemed like days, grabbed onto Sara’s leg, and finally managed to ask what the hell was going on? Sara was laughing uncontrollably because this lady had mentioned to her that she was going to dress up. I just thought she was a crazy devil lady, but she turned out to be a normal massage therapist who likes to dress up like the Star Wars devil character. Lovely, the black on her devil teeth was real impressive too.

Well, I laughed hard the entire night thinking about that scare! I was finally able to shake off the scary devil encounter and ended up having a fun night at the party. I knew getting old was scary, but this was a little too much for me.

I had a fun snow day for my actual 37th bithday.

We went to Wagamama’s for my birthday dinner. I love their chicken dumplings there. I’m wearing the Heathergems necklace the boys gave me for my birthday. Brantley woke me up bright and early to give me my present. The stone in the necklace is made from natural Scottish heather stems.