happy Valentine's Day!

The children made valentine's cards with candy for their classmates, and decorated shoeboxes to collect their loot. We had waffles - heart-shaped! for breakfast - along with bacon and berries - quite the spread for a weekday. Liesl made us each cute little valentine's cards - mine said "the queen!", Steve's said "the funny face!", and Seb's said "the cool guy".

And then we all went off to busy days at school and work, with cold rain throughout the day. But we had a lovely dinner together, truffles from L.A. Burdick, and some mini-cupcakes from Saint Cupcake, and our wedding photo album arrived in the mail. I know, I know, it's been a few years since the event and most people manage to make a wedding photo album in a relatively short amount of time. But I didn't, and then I finally did, and it arrived with perfect timing on Valentine's Day. It's sweet to see all of us in our youth, unlined faces and all. :)

breakfast in bed

For an early Valentine's Day present, Steve and Liesl made me breakfast in bed, delivered with a sweet handmade card. It was such a luxury to stay cozy under the covers, read a book, and have this delicious feast delivered. Such a good husband. :)

Sebastian had an enormous amount of homework this weekend for a new social studies project about colonial America. Every student in the class is assigned a character -- a real person who was onboard the Mayflower -- and they must learn about their person and write diary entries in the voice of their character. Sebastian is John Billington; he wrote two diary entries this week about deciding to travel to the new world and packing. And then there was an extra project this weekend, which was to select seven items that would make the voyage and then draw and color them. This took Sebastian hours, and a lot of internet how-to videos, but he was justly proud of his drawings and the result.

more snow play

The weather forecast on Thursday was for a Portland version of snowmageddon... two weeks of snow in the forecast, two or three separate storm events, 8-10 inches of snow. All of our weekend games, practices, parties, and tryouts were cancelled. On Friday after work, like all Portlanders, I went to the grocery store and stocked up. (It was a madhouse; lines everywhere, parking lots full, shelves emptied of bread and kale.) And then we woke up to a disappointing mere inch of icy snow on Saturday morning.

Of course, any amount of snow is better than nothing, so we duly spent a few hours playing in it -- sledding, building a tiny snowman, throwing snowballs, tromping through the lovely woods. It was a good day.

Jasper finds sledding very distressing and generally tries to save the person on the sled from their dangerous and confusing choices. Usually this consists of just running next to and occasionally in front of the sled, but on today's sledding hill, which ended by crossing a residential road, Jasper was particularly concerned. He actually grabbed both kids' jacket sleeves and gloves with his teeth and tried to physically prevent them from going across the road. It was sweet and very responsible and also kind of scary (for us).

In non-snow news, I came home after school on Thursday to find Sebastian and his friend Sam happily ensconced in our living room, playing chess. Seb has made some wonderful new friends this year that have really allowed him to expand his interests -- to enjoy more of his interests with his friends -- like board games!

They headed over to the field after a few games to play baseball, with Jasper as happy outfielder.

Steve was away all week for a business trip -- left Monday and returned late Thursday night -- he brought back these super cool M&Ms for the kids.

snow day

We had the merest dusting of snow overnight, but it was enough for school to be cancelled for the day. The children were ecstatic -- and I was happy to be home, playing with them in the snow, walking the trails with Jasper, baking some treats, and staying cozy.

We were out the door and over to the school by 7:30 am, ready to sled in whatever snow could be found. We had a couple of good runs, which was a good thing, because it was all melted away by mid-afternoon.

After our initial foray, we warmed up a bit, and then Liesl, Jasper and I went for a walk down to the pond, around it, and then back up the trail. And then there were various friends at the school for the kids to play with - and other dogs for Jasper to romp with - before we came home for lunch and a long afternoon of reading and baking.

basketball season begins

Both kids are playing rec basketball again this winter through the local YMCA. Sebastian's team practices on Tuesdays and plays games on Fridays; Liesl's team has a combined practice/scrimmage on Saturdays. Both of them are with classmates and friends, with great volunteer (dad) coaches. The season is off to a great start, with some wins and losses, some baskets and assists, and a lot of running. So much running! I love seeing their sweaty, red faces after basketball.

(These photos are terrible... my camera is on the fritz, and an iPhone can't handle rapid movements in a dark space. Hopefully better ones to come!)

GS at Scrap

Today's Girl Scout adventure was a creative reuse art project at ScrapPDX, a local place that accepts donations of every sort of paper, scrap, button, fabric, frame, plastic... and then encourages people to reuse it in interesting ways. We have been there before to buy craft supplies, but never had a chance to take a class. Liesl really enjoyed it and we promptly hung her cute banner above the door to her bedroom.