XOXO

Lately

It's been a while since I've taken the time to tell you about (and record for myself) what we've been up to lately.  This is primarily a Sara post, of course.

First, a funny story: for the first time in years, Steve sent me flowers for my birthday, and they were to be delivered to my work.  If you've followed my posts (or any news whatsoever) for the last week and a half, you know that the snow and ice kept us home from work for four days during my birthday week and one more day this past week.  FTD attempted to deliver my poor flowers on February 2, 3, and 4th to an empty building.  Steve was left feeling totally defeated in his attempt to do something out of the ordinary for me.  Fortunately, the flowers were successfully delivered on Monday, February 7th ... still beautiful and fragrant.  Unfortunately, I don't think Steve will be trying his luck with any more floral deliveries in the near (or distant) future.

I used the snow day this past week to work on saving all of our photos onto an external hard drive.  Since Sara's birth, we've been using Picasa to store photos, but I'd used up my free space.  Since I had the time the other day, I worked on getting rid of some of those online files and transferring them to our own device.  Now I just wish I were better at printing photos, changing out frames, etc.  I guess that's one downfall of digital ... I take tons and tons of pictures, and then do little else with them besides store them.  But there are only so many hours in a day.

Sara enjoyed her days off from school, but was ready to get back this past Monday morning.  When I went in to wake her up, I said, "Sara, are you ready to go back to school today?"  She hopped right up!  Recently when we drop her off and pick her up, she is so excited to show us the projects she's completed.  On Thursday the kids made some Valentine's Day decorations, and one of hers was already on the wall.  When I opened the door to her room, she ran right over to the project and said, "Sara made that!  Sara made that!" 

Sara also speaks almost exclusively in third person (as seen above).  Here are a few more examples:

Mom or Dad: "Who went on the potty?" Sara: "Sara did!"

Mom or Dad: "Who broke this book?" Sara: "Sara broke."

Mom or Dad: "Who wants to push the buttons in the garage?"  Sara: "Sara do it!"

Another variation:

Sara: "Mommy hold you." "Put blankets on you." "Daddy carry you." 

When I taught English, we spent a lot of time trying to understand the implied you, which can be a hard concept to grasp (i.e. In the sentence Go to the store., where's the subject?  A 7th grader might tell you there is no subject, but the subject actually is the implied you).  In Sara's language, the you is the implied Sara.

Recently Sara's favorite movies to watch are Toys ("Toy Story 3") and Princess ("Beauty and the Beast").  Her preferred position for movie viewing is curled up with blankets in our laps.  After she asks to watch one of these movies, her next command is that either mommy or daddy "hold you."  For those of you who don't enjoy the movie play-by-play, I wouldn't recommend Sara as a viewing partner.  She likes to show off her memorization skills by telling you what will happen a few seconds before it actually does.  I love the evenings when, after the rush of the day, dinner, and whatever else needs to be done, we curl up with blankets to watch part of a movie.  Sara is so independent and on-the-go, but when the only place she wants to be is tucked into blankets in my arms, I'm sure there is no sweeter reward in all of parenthood.  She is growing up so quickly, and I dread the day when she no longer squeezes into my lap with her head on my shoulder, giving away every detail of what's to come in the movie.

In the past weeks I've read a couple of good books that I'll post about in the near future.  Today the sun is shining and the remaining snow and ice are melting.  It's nice enough for a walk to the park.  Next weekend Steve and I are going to celebrate our 30th year with a night in Forth Worth.  We will stay in the Sundance Square area and do whatever we feel like doing.  I'm so excited!  Between now and then, we have a fun family Valentine's dinner planned for Monday night.  Sara will be bringing Toys Valentine's cards to her friends at school, and she's very excited about the prospect of a candy exchange.  Simple joys...

Hope life has been treating you well lately.  Enjoy your weekend!

What to do on a cold & icy day?

Hang out in your cozies.

 Line up your trains so they can watch cartoons with you.

 Make The Pioneer Woman's Chocolate Valentine Cookies.

And enjoy, even though they look (and likely taste) nothing like hers.

Pretend to shop at Target.

Say "cheese"!

Frozen Friday Fun

 

#4

Today is the fourth day this week out of school, so what started as a snow day on Tuesday has essentially become a snow week.  Truly unbelievable.  The weather experts are still saying that it should warm up this weekend.  I hope that's true because, on top of all the ice that hadn't had a chance to even begin melting, we woke up this morning to a thick blanket of fresh white snow.  Steve's drive into work today was, in his words, "Terrible."  I hope he'll leave early this afternoon to beat the rush (though I'm sure everyone else will have the same plan). 

Yesterday was a big day: I put on jeans (instead of sweats), a touch of blush, and a few strokes of mascara, piled Sara in the car and headed for Target.  We needed an outing, and I needed to buy ingredients for the crock pot full of soup that I was supposed to take to school today for our Souper Bowl party (needless to say, we'll be eating soup around here for the next few days ...).  It felt good to get out of the house for a bit, but upon realizing that very little progress had been made in terms of improved road conditions and that the Target parking lot still resembled an ice rink, we shopped only long enough to get the items we needed, and then got back home as quickly as we could.

I had considered going out and about a bit today, too, but the snow and our not-even-close-to-plowed has changed my plans.  So it's another day at the house.  Like I said, it is supposed to warm up above freezing tomorrow, and if it does, we are getting outta here for a bit (along with probably everyone else in and around the metro area).  The Super Bowl festivities I mentioned a couple posts ago are still taking place, but I feel bad for the local businesses who were relying on this week to boost business.  While fans are still eating out, bar hopping, taking in the cities, etc., it sounds like patronage at many establishments hasn't been what business owners had been hoping for and expecting.  Last year the Super Bowl was in Miami ... a far cry from what we are unfortunately offering this year in cold, icy, snowy DFW.  Chances are, once the teams play and then pack up and leave, we won't see weather like this again for years and years.  In fact, it's colder here this week than it has been since the late '80s or early '90s. 

Anyway, I guess I can't say much more about the weather and/or the Super Bowl without boring you to death.  Our indoor days have had us spending lots of time in the kitchen, though, which has been fun.  We've made pake (obviously - see post below if you haven't already), French Onion soup, taco soup, big breakfasts (which sure beat our usual cold-cereal-in-the-car routine), hot lunches, muffins.  We don't always have (or take?) the time to enjoy such luxuries during a regular week. 

I know that many of us are feeling the cold blast accompanied by other winter weather.  I hope that wherever you are, you are staying warm and safe.  Does anyone have big Super Bowl plans?  I know that those of you up north who can swallow the idea of cheering for the Packers in lieu of your teams who didn't make it to the game will be doing so.  Last year during the big game I was in bed fighting flu symptoms, so I'll just be glad to take part this year as a television spectator!

Pink Pake!

In yesterday's post, I mentioned that Sara and I spent part of our cold snow day making the pink pake mix (for those of you who aren't two years old, that translates into strawberry cake) that she'd been eye-balling in the pantry for some time.  After she woke up from her nap, we iced, decorated, and ate the pake! I know you are anxiously awaiting the results of our combined culinary skills ...

Here's our pink pake, ready for decorating.

We made our own frosting out of powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk.

The decorating begins ...

Sara hasn't yet adopted the philosophy that less is more.  Truth be told, when it comes to sprinkles, maybe more is more anyway.

The Decorator was so proud of her finished product (and, of course, ready to eat after all of her hard work).

The Taste Test:

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.  Good Pake!

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Update: By 5:00 this evening, school had already been canceled for tomorrow.  My district rarely makes the decision to cancel school (remember our big snow fall in early January? - we went to school), and never before 4:00 or so in the morning.  I don't think I've ever had two snow days in a row (not sure we even had two total growing up in MN).   I know many of you in other states are experiencing this same phenomenon.  Truly crazy weather!  As far as making up the days, it's no skin off my back since I have to work through June anyway ... so I'll just stay home, bundle up, and enjoy another lazy day with my girl!

Today Sara and I are home enjoying our first - and likely only - snow day of the school year.  I think the better term for it is cold day.  Last night around 9:00 it started raining to the west of us.  That spread, the temps dropped, and the rain became sleet and then snow.  Of course the roads have taken a beating.  But we've had snow here before, as you know, so the precipitation is not the crazy part.  Right now it's about 20 degrees outside, and getting colder.  The low over the next couple of days is hovering around zero, and with 40+ mph winds, the wind chill is negative.  We're not supposed to be above freezing until maybe Friday.  We are used to snow that disappears within twenty-four hours of falling because the temps hover in the high 30s or low 40s ... a week of what we have today may just put some North Texans over the edge.  Let me put this in perspective by reminding you that it was 65 on Saturday.  We went to the park in t-shirts.  That's crazy.  As Sara keeps telling me, "It's yucky outside." 

In addition to the weather, the other big news around town is the fact that athletes, fans, reporters, celebrities, and others are arriving by the thousands for Sunday's Big Game, which is taking place at The House that Jerry Built.  Of course Packer and Steeler fans won't have problems dealing with this week's weather, though I'm sure they were hoping for slightly nicer temps during this break from their much colder homelands.  It is supposed to warm up for the game on Sunday, but I heard on the news that there are roughly 220 different Super Bowl related parties happening between now and then, and these conditions could potentially hinder party-goers.  Not that any of that matters to us.  Steve did throw out the idea of paying our way into a party in Addison being hosted by The Situation, but after weighing the value of our time, we decided we might rather just stay at home.

This morning after sleeping in (!), Sara and I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast of raisin toast and clementines.  We watched Cat in the Hat on public television, started some laundry, and then I weighed whether I should use this day off to do some cleaning.  I'm still undecided on the cleaning, though I have found better things to put on the list ahead of it ... so we'll see if I actually get to a point today when nothing better remains to be done than to pull out the vacuum cleaner.  There has been a box of pink (strawberry) cake mix hanging around for a couple of months that Sara begs me to make nearly every time I open the pantry door. We made it this morning in a heart-shaped pan my mom gave me a while back.  I don't have any frosting on hand, so we'll make some from scratch (which always tastes better anyway) and then decorate drown the top of the cake with sprinkles after nap time.  In a little while, I plan to put together a pot of French Onion Soup for us to enjoy tonight after Steve makes what is sure to be a very slow trek home from work.  Other than that, Sara and I are hanging out in sweats, listening to the wind whip and ice pellets make *tinking* noises the windows. 

It goes without saying that today we're staying inside 'cause, baby, it's cold outside! Brrrrrrrr........