Bella, Gabe and Josiah

Pat was out of town for Valentine’s Day this year, so it was just me and the boys. I decided to surprise the boys with valentines in their lunch boxes. Pat was jealous. Then I took Josy out for coffee on our way to school. M: Josy, I’ll buy you a special coffee drink because it’s Valentine’s Day and you’re my Valentine. J: I’m not your vawentine. I’m just a boy. Thanks kid. Josy, putting valentines into his friends bags… And I’ll just end this right here….

Sunday night tea and Bible time For some reason, he really likes having his coat on backwards… Gabe decided that he wanted to start sleeping on a pile of stuffed animals in Josy’s bedroom. We had dinner with Gram and Gramps and the boys ended up in the bathtub. Getting Josy used to ski boots Lucy, eyeing Josy’s breakfast The boys finally got haircuts! Josy was bummed because he wanted his hair short like Daddy’s “with hokey-pokeys on the top.” Friday night dinner and a movie night: Honey, I Shrunk the Kids! Puppy Josy, snuggled up with all of his puppies Nothing like story time with Gram and Gramps Gabe and Gram made hot chocolate bombs. They looked (and tasted!) much better than the ones I tried to make last year… Gabe went to Nerf Gun Night. There were only three kids, so I got to play too, which was fun.  Josy was convinced he needed his astronaut costume at school and I was not about to say no when he’s just that cute. I walked downstairs yesterday and they were all three reading.

Josy had his first ski lessons! Gabe actually started lessons too, but he’s at least done a few of these already. Josy, on the other hand, was on skis for the first time ever. He wasn’t super excited when his lessons started, but that was mostly because he didn’t want to wear the vest. Once we left, he had a wonderful time. While the boys were at lessons, Pat and I got to ski together for the first time since we were dating, I think. Then we picked up the boys. I really wanted a picture of Josy on his skis, but he told me no. We had some lunch at the lodge and then we each took a boy up the hill. We thought Josy was done, but he really wanted to go to the chairlift, so he was willing to give it a try. He made it down the hill three times and then we decided to quit while we were ahead. We were all exhausted by the time we got home, but all-in-all, it was a good day.

This weekend was a little crazy. Dad and I painted the kitchen, living room and dining room. It was a lot of work. Dad spent the last week doing some prep work during the week, filling holes and taking down curtain rods. Friday night I cleaned out all of the toys and anything extra that could be moved. Then Saturday morning we started taping at 9. And noon we started painting and I finished cleaning brushes at 10pm. It was a long day. I don’t think either of us could move by the time we were done. Gabe was super excited to help. He did a really good job…for awhile. Then he got too crazy and I couldn’t trust him to not get paint everywhere, so we made him stop. He was not happy about that. Then Sunday Pat and I pulled the tape off and put the house back together. I also insisted on doing crazy things like moping before we put the furniture back. I don’t know when our house has ever been this clean!! (Minus the paint stuff that needs put away once I do a few more touch ups…) It looks so

Before we left for our trip at Christmas, I was packing up all of our Christmas presents. Gabe’s big present was pretty large and Pat was trying to convince me that we should just give him a picture or something, rather than taking it with us. I was adamant that we had to bring it, as we have very limited Christmases left with the super crazy excitement of Christmas morning and I didn’t want to miss one of them. So I made a box and we checked it on the plane. And that was the last time we ever saw it. It did not show up in Salt Lake City. I changed the address to Phoenix, assuming it would show up in a couple of days. Nothing. Gabe opened a present that said “sorry the airlines lost your Christmas present”, which he later admitted was the worst present he’s ever gotten. I called the airlines many times. I filled paperwork. I even offered to go search their warehouse myself on our layover. But no. Last week, they finished their 6 week search and determined that they couldn’t find it. So