Thursday, February 19, 2015

Late Winter Happiness

Here's a catch-up of some of the things we've been doing.  I'm linking up with Leila and Rosie's collection, pretty/happy/funny/real.

Pretty: I showed the children my Pinterest board of simple valentines, and they politely turned away and made their own with no assistance. They did accept my offer of stopping at AC Moore and each picking out a sheet of stickers (of course we used a coupon).

 They each have about 25 kids in their class, and I fretted that they would lose steam after making a few cards and not have anything to take to school the morning of the card exchange.  

Well, as you can see, they made very charming valentines for each kid in their class, and I insisted on taking photos because I wanted to remember their diligence and sweetness.


Ben stuck one of those heart candy stickers on my wool sweater and I went around for several days before I noticed enough to take it off.  Yes, I wear the same sweaters for days in a row, even when I'm not pregnant.
Happy: We observed International Ice Cream for Breakfast Day.  The children were happy for obvious reasons.  I think Ben actually put syrup on top of this pile-up after I took the photo.  We didn't have sweets the rest of the day.




Funny: We've had lots of snow and cold for weeks now.  The children routinely wear their snow boots and snowball each other on the way to school.  They routinely sled on the ice and snow in our back yard and the park (it's the city kid version of ice skating when the sun melts the top layer of snow but the serious cold keeps it icy).  

Once, the snow was even wet enough to pack together a snowman; generally, it's been so cold that the snow is just powder (the high temperature today is supposed to be 12 F).  And the highlight of their day was when I gave them each a carrot for the noses and let them eat it.  Boy, I am stingy about snacks.





Real:  This is 29 weeks of pregnancy, dear reader.  Suddenly, my baby belly is big and can only be housed in maternity clothes.  I was wearing the same blue shirt in the blog announcement photos - how far can it stretch?  

I'm still feeling pretty good and after a bit of drastic anemia, I'm taking Floradix in addition to everything else and recovering some energy that I thought had evaporated due to the third trimester.

photo credit to my husband one morning as I mixed up daily bread after a shower

photo credit to A, in her lovely farmhouse one afternoon


I hope you have some late winter happiness, too!  I'm afraid most people are really tired of this deep freeze and the cycle between cold, wind, and snow that we've had.  I'm still enjoying the hibernating, though.

11 comments:

katie said...

That is a really excellent snowman! We've had the same problem with powder snow here in WV too. Luckily that sort of snow is good for other purposes.

I wear many of my clothes for many days at a time as well. Nice to hear we are a community.

MDiskin said...

All my kids' pics of me seem to take after your bread-mixing one. But you look happy and cute! :D

My 1st grader wrote poems to all 27 of her classmates -- but went into school a bit late and by that time everyone had distributed their valentines. She was too shy to ask to give hers out, which makes me so sad -- all that shaky first-grade handwriting and poems, languishing!

Lana said...

We had 60 mph wind on Valentine's Day which blew over two trees into the power lines on our property. So, we went to bed after calling it in since it was 9:30 and dark and cold. Woke up at 2 AM to flashing in the bedroom window and thought it was the power truck. No, it was the power line on fire! 911 and firetrucks in the yard for 6 hours. I hope that was a once in a lifetime experience sine the power was not back on until Tuesday.

Isn't it amazing how quickly the belly grows with number 3? You are looking good!

Mystie said...

You look great in that bright blue shirt - a great way to infuse some brightness into the cold gray days. :) My kids have been wishing for snow, but we didn't get any this year. --I don't miss it, though!

Laura {a spoonful of joy} said...

You look great! Congrats!

Ice Cream for Breakfast Day sounds wonderful! We might have to observe that next year!

Sarah said...

I was not aware of Ice Cream for breakfast day, but that definitely sounds like a tradition worth embracing!

Polly said...

You look great!!!

Man, I am cold. Our high today was 13. Right now we're at 9!

I'm glad that I'm not the only one who wears clothes repeatedly. I'm on my second day of warm knit dress-cardigan-thick scarf-thick leggings around the house, and feel very happy with the ensemble. But I always feel guilty, like I *should* wear something a little different. If I'm inside all the time, wearing an apron, and am clean, my clothes just don't get that dirty very quickly! (Things are not the same in summer...)

The kids' Valentines are so charming!! Thrifty homemade V'tines are the best.

AmyK said...

I'm still excited about hibernating too. And you and your baby bump/belly looks fantastic!

jenny_o said...

You look wonderful! Sorry to hear you had anemia; I hope all is well from here onward. Time is going so fast!

I wear the same clothes several days in a row because I'm in my office clothes the other half of each day, and it doesn't add up to that many hours. (I wear my office clothes several times, too. Why wash them if they smell clean? It wears them out sooner!) Practical people, unite!

Margo said...

jenny_o, I think the common (American) expectation is that people wear different outfits every day, and I have finally come to the conclusion that I don't agree with that and I'm not going to do it. And YES to not washing clothes unless they are visibly dirty or smelly!!! Who wants extra laundry and worn-out clothes!?

jenny_o said...

Yes, and I think that expectation is a relatively new one. When I was growing up (60s and 70s) we changed into "old" clothes when we got home after school, folded up our school clothes and wore them again - maybe not the next day but certainly before the week was over, because we had fewer clothes, too. And our mothers did laundry once a week - in a wringer washer in the 60s, in a washer-spindryer in the 70s, and even after we got an automatic washer and dryer. I think this was pretty standard across the US and Canada at the time. It seems there may be a swing back to being sensible now; quite a few decluttering and "green" websites advocate the sniff test for washing clothes, and have suggestions for airing and hanging already worn clothing so that they are kept separate from freshly laundered clothing, and rotated until they need washed (example, hang on a hook on the back of the closet door, keep at the front of the clothes rail). We are not alone!