Valentine's Day

We had a great Valentine's Day. It actually started Sunday morning because I made our Valentine breakfast on Sunday since we have more time. I made cinnamon rolls and they were yummy!

Yesterday Kimball asked me all day to set up the Christmas tree so we could decorate for Valentine's Day. I had to explain multiple times that we don't set up the big tree for Valentine's day.

Not our greated family picture, but we were lucky to remember to take it. As it was Cita's pants were already off for the night when we remembered.


We all wore red and had a nice dinner and cheesecake for dessert. Our family home evening lesson went perfectly with the day. We follow the Primary Sharing Time outline for our lessons so Kimball can hear the lesson twice. We talked about the family being central to Heavenly Father's plan. We ended the lesson by telling why we love each member of our family and then gave that person a gift.

Rebecah's gift was a purple chair. Kimball has a blue one just like it and we have had Cita's chair in our closet for months waiting for her to be big enough for it.

We could tell Rebecah felt so big to have her own chair because she was all smiles.


Kimball got Toy Story slippers and a little Hotwheel motorcycle.
Kimball asked all day to open his present. He actually rattled a list of what he wanted for Valentine's Day to me last week with 4-5 things on it. I tried to tell him that Valentine's Day isn't like Christmas where you get a lot of presents.


I love Kimball's expression here. He was so excited to get his motorcycle. He slept in his slippers last night and he said they were nice and squishy.


Joseph has a HUGE interest in the National Parks of the United States so he got a new atlas and a book on National parks. I got some new baking pans that I really wanted.

It was a great day and we were glad to celebrate the love of our family.

Joseph and I were supposed to go on a date Friday evening and the young women at church were going to babysit free for parents in our ward, but the babysitting was canceled because of our big snow last week so we didn't get our date. I was disappointed.

Hugs

Rebecah gives the best hugs. She is a HUGE Mama's girl and if I'm in the same room with her and don't pick her up within 10 seconds I hear about it. I can't even pause to talk to Kimball or Joseph if I'm just passing through the room or I hear about it.

Anyway, Rebecah is a good hugger. I'll say: "Cita, give Mama hugs." and she'll just wrap her arms around my neck and squeeze. It's really sweet. She actually fell asleep at church over the weekend giving me a hug and playing with my hair.

snow, Snow, SNOW!

Yesterday we woke up and it was snowing. It snowed all day until about 3:00 and we ended up with about 8 inches of snow. We were so excited. Joseph had gone in to work but was home an hour later because the clinic closed because of the weather.

Joseph relived his childhood and had a lot of fun in the snow. He found two old tennis rackets and tried to make snow shoes. The homemade shoes worked fairly well and it was a fun experiment for Joseph.


When Kimball went out the first time, he wanted snow shoes too so we put a pair of big yellow shoes on him.


Joseph's next adventure was to make a mound of snow and make a snow cave. He let his mound sit for about an hour to solidfy and then he started to dig it out. He didn't get very far before it was too dark and he had to stop for the night. He really wanted another snow day off from work so he could keep working on his cave.

No work for Joseph again today. Our city must not have a plow system because none of the roads were plowed. I guess the snow usually doesn't last long enough to merit plowing them, I don't know. Personally, I think a plowed road would get the kids back in school faster. Anyway, Joseph was able to finish his snow cave with Kimball's help.
Disclaimer: In the following pictures Kimball is wearing Cita's pink mittens. The mittens are over Kimball's two pairs of gloves because we don't have snow gloves for him. It was only 14 degress and we figured it was better to have on pink mittens and have warmer hands.



Kimball didn't like crawling into such an enclosed area so Joseph adapted the cave into a snow tunnel and they crawled through the tunnel. The tunnel eventually became a small slide so Kimball could go "sledding" and finally the snow mound ended up as a snowman.




The temperature is supposed to be above freezing the next few days so our beautiful snow will soon be gone. Joseph has decided when we move again to move someplace with snow and mountains. We'll see how that ends up...no plans to move in the near future though.

Where's Kimball?

Where's Kimball?


Peek-a-boo!!



Kimball found a box that housed Christmas presents a few months ago. He decided to pull it out and play with it. He put all of his guys (what we call all of his stuffed animals that he needs to sleep with every night) and a blanket in this box. Then he decided that he wanted to sleep in the box for resting time. Joseph carried the box into Kimball's room and sure enough a little while later we heard quiet snores coming from the box!

Tickling the Ivories and Helping Daddy

Cita loves to play the piano. If she hears anyone start to play she crawls over as fast as she can. She loves hearing herself make sound as she pushes the different keys and buttons.





Cita was helping Joseph work on a project today which involved tools. It reminded me of a similar picture when Kimball was about the same age. Kimball is actually almost 14 months in his picture and Rebecah is 13 months. You can see how much bigger he was than she is.

Cita on the tools.


Kimball on the tools.

Snow Hike

Yesterday we got about 2 inches of snow so we decided to go on a snow hike at the state park today. We got all bundled up for about 20 minutes of walking. Kimball enjoyed seeing the snow but got cold quickly. At one point Kimball fell down and got snow on him. He stood up and announced "I'm a snow angel!" It was quite funny.

Snow is in the forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday. I'm really hoping we get a good snowfall with at least 6 inches of snow, but that is probably wishful thinking.

Finally!

For 6 weeks in November into December I had a cold. I would start to feel better and then I would have a relapse. My cold got so bad that I was awake coughing at night more than I was actually sleeping and I had to sleep on the futon so I wouldn't keep Joseph up all night. I could only say a few words before I was attacked with coughs. I got on antibiotics and a steroid and finally felt much better.

One of my last coughing fits left me doubled over gasping for breath to the point I almost had to vomit. It was awful. After that attack I remember my ribs hurting so bad I couldn't breath, play with Cita on the floor because I couldn't stand even her 17 lbs on my chest and I couldn't sleep on my back or my right side without terrible pain. I happen to know a good Orthopaedic PA and I consulted with him. Joseph said that I could have broken a rib or two. He also said that I could go in to get an xray but broken ribs are hard to diagnois and I wouldn't do anything differently than I was already doing to help my ribs.

After 6 weeks of sleeping on my left side--I'm a right side sleeper, always--my ribs are feeling much better. I can breath deeply, snuggle with my children and sleep in any position I want. I just hate to think that my ribs are brittle enough to get broken from coughing.