A Quiet Sunday Afternoon

The kids love Sunday afternoon, where we don't have to go anywhere. They get into a groove playing and just enjoy our time. Ben is playing happily and quietly (with humming) with all those lovely little Legos! This kiddo is so amazingly creative! I think he was making a dentist office that day - a nice change from the battle scenes that he typically creates! This can last hours if we don't interrupt him.

I went shopping with a friend to a store called The Flower Factory. She wanted to get some things to make her daughter a mobile. That is one of the things that hasn't survived from our other kids, so I bought some butterflies to make Mitchell one. I just used white sewing thread to tie it to an embroidery hoop. He loves it and gets great big eyes when I put him in the crib (as opposed to his bassinet). Annie told me I needed to make him a 'boy' one because butterflies are for girls. Tough Luck - this boy will like butterflies! Besides, they start as caterpillars and those are VERY boyish!

Andy went out to shovel - Emily wanted to go with him.

Valentine's was the next day, and I wanted to make a special treat for my Valentine: Strawberry Shortcake, his favorite! I found a (supposedly) fabulous recipe that needs to be made 2 days prior to serving it. Friday night I made the shortcake (with 3 sticks of butter!!!) and wrapped it for storage in the fridge. Sunday afternoon Annie helped me cut up 2 pounds of strawberries to sprinkle with sugar. Then we started to make the whipping cream. It wasn't working. Did I add too much sugar or not enough??? I added a dash of vanilla because I like that. Andy thought maybe that was why it wasn't whipping. I checked Google and vanilla is completely allowed and shouldn't make a difference. I gave up. Andy took over and tried whipping it in the blender. After almost an hour - we realized I bought light cream - NOT light whipping cream. Oops! After 5 calls to friends, no one had whipping cream, so we delayed our strawberry shortcake until the Monday (when Andy gets home after 10pm).

Emily thinks Mitchell is her personal buddy and he needed to be rocked. Not much seems to phase him anymore. :)

Lesson learned: do not play on treadmill (after Mom has said 'NO" at least 6 million times), especially not when Annie is already on it. The treadmill will throw you off and rip off the top layer of your skin...

Monday - our friends came over. This is little Gwen, whom we all love to squeeze - almost as much as our little Mitchell. They have become buddies too - just like their mommies!