Happy Valentine's Day!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Ball, Party of Four

February means party time! First we celebrated my birthday at Carrabba's restaurant on Feb. 1.

Then we had our own little Super Bowl party (which I got to attend because bad weather nixed church plans that night). Although we would rather have seen a Colts victory, we still enjoyed watching the game and eating goodies together!

TACKLE!!!


Riley and Donovan both had Valentine parties this week at school. I couldn't believe how much candy Riley came home with! (I wish I'd taken a picture!) I think we're all glad to have reasons to celebrate while we wait out this crazy-cold winter!

Snow on Snow

We got another 10 inches or so of snow on January 29-30. It was very powdery, so we couldn't build a snowman, but it was great for making piles to slide into!

As always, the boys had "warm chocolate" after playing in the snow.

The next day, we found many rabbit and bird tracks in the yard.

Riley decided to add some tire tracks!

The top 2 inches of the snow had frozen into a solid layer. Donovan pretended the pieces were pizza and tried to eat them!

Riley preferred to load them into his dump truck.

By the following night, the top layer had frozen so hard that Riley could walk on it without sinking!

We got ANOTHER 3 inches of snow on February 5. Can you guess what this is?

It's a neon orange Nerf football covered in snow!

My poor camellia... Will I ever see it bloom?

And guess what?

36 days until Spring...

Road Trip!

On Monday, Riley had a day off from school. Joe decided to take the day off too, and we rode down to Concord Mills mall for a little afternoon adventure.

The boys l♥ved the Lego Store. We spent almost an hour there, and they still didn't want to leave! Riley and I made a little turkey together, then Riley made some Lego people while Donovan made what looked like floor plans and Joe made his name out of Legos. The store was so neat! Riley was particularly impressed by the wall of Legos, and Joe and I were intrigued by a device where you could hold a box up in front of a TV screen and it would show you a 3-D model of what the set would look like put together. When you turned the box, the model turned, too - we really want to know how that thing works! You can see Joe and Riley checking out a (very intricate) train set in the bottom left corner picture.

Later we went to the NASCAR Experience. Unfortunately, Riley was not tall enough for the indoor go-carts and the outdoor ones are closed on weekdays in the winter. We still had some fun playing skee-ball (the boys' favorite) and some other games.

Joe felt right at home having dinner at Macado's (having spent quite a lot of time at the one in Roanoke), especially when JT met us there! Then we got caramel-and-candy-coated apples from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for dessert. YUM!

Ch-ch-changes...

I think most of you know I have a part-time job now, as Youth Minister of a church in Mount Airy. It is about 50 minutes northwest of our house. The drive is actually easy and pleasant... the hardest part will always be leaving home on time! Anyway, this past Sunday was my first day. Riley made it perfectly clear that he did not want to leave the church we've been attending for most of the last three years (although he thought it was AMAZING that we could see all the way to the Virginia Blue Ridge as we drove up!), and Joe literally dragged him, crying, into Sunday School. Thankfully, at the end of the hour I heard another child tell his mom, "Riley got better!" All the children were so kind to him, and he even sat at a "kids only" table with a pair of them at lunch after worship. (There's no Moe's in Mount Airy, but they do have a good Mexican restaurant!) The miserably cold temps and the last few days of Christmas vacation made attendance low, so I didn't get to meet many of the youth, but it was a pleasure to assist in worship and to meet the brave and bundled folks who left there nice warm homes to be there!

This is the front of the sanctuary. (I didn't know Joe was about to take a picture already.)

This is the back of the sanctuary. It is a beautiful place to worship!

Mount Airy is famous for being Andy Griffith's hometown and the basis of his TV show. (We drive by Pilot Mountain, a.k.a. Mount Pilot, on our way.) Come visit sometime!

Christmas, Part 3: Grandma & Grandpa's House

The last leg of our Christmas journey took us to Georgia. We had so much fun!


Riley was just a little happy that we all got a Wii.



Even Donovan played Wii. He was better at Frisbee than Daddy!

Riley got a strike in Wii bowling!


We all love going to Uncle Paul and Aunt Cheryl's house. Riley and Donovan especially love having another boy to play with!

Thank you, EVERYBODY! We miss you already!

Christmas, Part 2: Grandmommy's House

Here are highlights from our Christmas with Grandmommy, Steve, and Uncle Alan! Thanks for everything! ♥

making cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve

Riley's reaction upon realizing that Santa brought him his long-wanted talking trains: "WHAT?! You've got to be kidding me!"

Donovan went straight for the chocolate (seen here on his face), then checked out the toys. Just as expected.

"Have a look at this, Dr. Watson."


On Christmas night, while Grandmommy and Steve were out visiting, Riley and Donovan begged to stay up late and watch "Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas" and "Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas." I said this would only be allowed if they got in their jammies and sat nicely upon the couch in a restful manner. THEY DID IT! Joe and I were both shocked! They were completely mesmerized by the movies and sat just like little angels with a blanket over their laps for a good two and a half hours! It was a Christmas miracle! :)