What's up at our house?

Since I last posted, we celebrated Valentine's Day and got pummeled by a snow storm.  Here's a peek at our last week.

I spent much of a work day wrapping books for our Blind Date with a Book event.  The students and teachers check out a book from the library that is completely wrapped.  They have no idea what they are getting.  They just need to return the book and their Rate Your Date Sheet (super cute) by the due date to potentially win a prize.  Of course we stole borrowed this idea from other librarians across the nation.  Who gets to have this much fun at work?  The students and staff are loving it!

Julia celebrated her last Valentine's day of elementary school, and we have spent the last couple of weeks wrestling over a school decision for her.  She starts middle school next year, and we can no longer afford to keep her at the school where she has been since she was two.

I want her to stay for all the wrong reasons. She has incredible friendships there and is truly grafted in to a great community.  She loves her school.  Next year was to be the first year in a long time that everyone would be going to school and coming from school at the same time and in the same place, so I was ready for that breather. I can't imagine that middle school can be done better than our school does it. We expect her to return, so it seems wrong to disrupt the flow for a year or two.  I want her to be a lifer there and be honored as such at her graduation.

Our other options include a home school co-op that Julia really likes, but I am not so sold on it.  She has also been accepted into a great public school. They have a talented and amazing cheerleading team.  Julia landed her back tuck solo this week and will definitely need it for this team.  It is a draw to have her get some experience with such a great program.  

I am ready to maybe afford a family trip again.  Maybe we could even replace our sad couches or paint our trim.  We may not be able to do any of that even if Julia goes to a cheaper school, but we may be able to knock out some debt without my breath being knocked out every time I pay the bills.  I would like to be able to let the kids participate in sports again or clinics for their sports.  

Julia celebrated her last balloon day until high school.  The seniors do this as a fund raiser every year, but the middle school does not get to participate.  Savannah will not be able to send balloons to Wyatt and Julia next year when she is a senior.

Julia won third place in her class for her Valentine's box.  She covered and decorated a cereal box with (you guessed it) duck tape.  The cereal box was required for the project. The kids had total freedom with creativity other than that.  Julia made hers look like a mailbox complete with a flag.  Did she get any help from anyone else in this family?  No.  She's truly that creative.

We had a mishap with our annual cupcake decorating for Valentine's day.  Because Julia was headed out of town with a friend, we celebrated early. I baked the cupcakes while everyone was out of the house on Wednesday night.  I used a boxed mix.  Savannah had popped popcorn earlier using my favorite mixing bowl which also happens to be our favorite popcorn bowl.  We always use an air popper because our microwave shoots sparks whenever we try the microwave kind, and air popped popcorn is better anyway.  Anyway the bowls were sitting side by side on the counter, and I poured powdered batter into the popcorn.  I sifted it out.  Chocolate cake batter on popcorn isn't so bad, by the way.  Even so, we did find an occasional kernel in the cupcakes.  No, I do not belong in the kitchen.  This is just one of numerous examples.  The cupcakes were okay, but once you've had Savannah's homemade chocolate cake, boxed chocolate cupcakes just don't cut it.

Zach received his Valentine's at school.  He clearly needed that pick me up.  He thanked us again and again, and posted this picture on social media.  Zach is struggling to get as many hours as he needs at work while at school.  He returned resigned to stay until spring break.  I know he would like to come home more, but we can't keep filling his gas tank and paying his phone bill for him.  I had set aside a small amount of money to visit him and have some fun in a nearby city for our spring break, but Zach was unable to pay his Inter-term fees.  Therefore, I depleted that money to pay his fees, so our spring break family plans have been cancelled. We will still visit colleges with Savannah.  Zach will also visit colleges on his spring break as he will be transferring in the fall to someplace cheaper and closer to home. He will also be in a bigger community with more employment options, so that should help.

Our Valentine's Day

We planned to celebrate Valentine's Day on Friday evening.  At about 3:00 Friday morning, I was awakened by a sore throat- yep, it hurt bad enough to wake this sound sleeper.  Thinking it was a cold, I fought through my workday Friday with cold medicine.  That evening we met a group for dinner and then attended a marriage program at our church.  On Saturday I could not get out of bed.  My neck and back hurt so bad, and I was drained with what I now suspect is the flu.  I was out of bed by Sunday afternoon, but it is Tuesday now, and I am still sniffling and sneezing and depending on cold medicine.  UGH! We also got pummeled with a snowstorm on Sunday - eight inches, but in our neck of the woods, that's enough to shut down a city. We are still homebound with the snow.  As much as I hate giving up days of summer for being trapped inside by snow, I probably should have taken these days to recover anyway. Obviously, I have not been out in it. Neither have the kids.  Julia went out long enough to clear her trampoline of snow and came in hurting.  

Rumors are flying that we may be in for the week as the snow won't clear before the temperature drops to record lows.  We keep our house on 63 degrees because we cannot afford the higher bills when we try more reasonable temperatures.  I am grateful that I have gotten used to the temperature in our house, but I think that going outside will leave me chilled to the bone and bundled up for hours when I return.

Highs:  Andy brought me tulips and Sea Salt Caramel Turtles (oh my goodness! -best. candy. ever!!!)

Wyatt bought me a small heart-shaped box of chocolates - such a sweetheart.

I caught up on my TLC (aka train wreck channel -according to Andy) watching.  Have you seen Ben's proposal to Jessa on 19 Kids and Counting? Epic!  I am a practical girl, not a huge romantic, but I fell in love with that chapel. The scavenger hunt was sweet, but what really sold me was the simplicity of the proposal taking place in that chapel. If he had only done that, it would have been Epic in my opinion.  I told my girls that one of them has to get married there or someplace like it.  So beautiful!

Stay warm.  Spring will be here soon enough.