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No, this isn’t the trip… it’s the aftermath. It was a real dentist (although don’t suggest to Zach he’s not a “real” dentist) and Emma overcame her shyness and took a ride in the chair and even opened her mouth an inch or so so the dentist could count her teeth. If only we had had the cool blue gloves and masks before the appointment so she could practice – she and Zach re-enacted the dentist visit all afternoon (and she was much more cooperative!).

Introduction: I have just told Emma that she may NOT have any more valentine candy since she has eaten it non-stop for the past 10 minutes and dinner is nearly ready and she ought to have room in her stomach for at least one or two bites of real food. I am finishing dinner and spot her huddled over by the door (she really believes if she is hunched over and can’t see us that we can’t see her.) and this is how it went…
Me: “What are you doing?” (coming closer I can see that she has gotten some scissors and is cutting open the package of more valentine candy)
Emma: “I am opening this really sneaky so you don’t say ‘Oh my goodness! You are having another treat?!?’
And being the responsible parent I am I just walked away and let her eat it.

Nate’s big birthday was last week – when you get this old I think (well I know) the kids are more excited about it than the birthday guy. Zach was so excited to give Nate a “plasma screen television” – and Emma made him his own cake (blue playdough with candles). He let them help unwrap presents and blow out the candles (on both of his cakes) and it was almost as good as their own birthday. Oh, and this is Emma with her soda from dinner… the first time we’d let her order her own and she absolutely loved it. Thank goodness for refills… or maybe not!

I love valentine’s day! I love having something to decorate for after Christmas, I love red and pink and hearts, and I love making valentines! When I was a freshman in college a roommate and I surprised our other roommates with pink heart-shaped pancakes for the holiday, which has become a tradition in our house. We actually managed to eat heart-shaped food all day long! We spent the afternoon at a friend’s house for a little valentine party for the kids – you can see from the picture that Emma didn’t wait long to dig in to the treats!

I’ll start off by saying I give all the blame (and the credit) for this to Nate. We were sitting at dinner and negotiating with Zach over eating as many beans as he is old (something I remember vividly from my childhood!) when Nate noticed a dollar bill sitting up on a shelf in our kitchen. He told the kids he would give the dollar to whoever ate the most beans (not hard for Emma because she really likes them!) Zach on the other hand was motivated purely by the money… but somehow it was enough to get him to eat all the remaining beans to barely tie Emma for the dollar. It was hilarious to watch… he would count the beans Emma was eating, count his, look at the dollar, make a horrible face, and eat some more beans. So as you can see, in spite of my reservations (fostering competition, making food an issue, PAYING kids to eat) Zach got some green veggies and they both got a dollar richer. And, Zach actually listed green beans as a food he liked yesterday!

So it’s a little past Christmas (although you can’t really tell here since Emma still breaks out in Frosty the Snowman and Away in a Manger so often) but I couldn’t resist the chance to take the kids for a real sleigh ride. Out here in Minnesota they love to celebrate winter… so our city has a winterfest that includes crazy things like a snow-ball softball tournament (where everyone wears boots and snowpants and they play with colored balls so you can see them in the snow and you are “guaranteed two freezing cold games”… yes, they actually have enough teams for a TOURNAMENT!) and a polar bear plunge. We managed to appreciate winter enough to join the sleigh ride and called it good.

https://adamsfamily.typepad.com/the_adams_family/files/MOV00130.MPG
I have been meaning to post this forever… and finally with Nate’s help tonight (as I ignored the pile of unfolded laundry and abandoned my resolution to go exercise) I did it! (Actually Nate really did it as I am technologically challenged…) Anyways, it is from the birthday bowling and it is classic. Enjoy! (and let me know if you can’t get it to work!)

A week or two ago Nate spent Saturday morning building a snowfort with the kids (my expertise ends with Frosty!) They had such a good time… they even made a bench, and a snow-pillow (at Emma’s request). It was so fun, that Emma still said in her prayer last night (as she has most nights since then) “and I’m thankful to build a snowfort…”

After weeks of freezing days and single digit temperatures, we had one fantastic day that warmed up to 42*!!! We were so excited and spent the afternoon tromping through the snow on some snowshoe/cross-country ski trails near our house. It was so nice to get out, and reminded me that I really do like winter… when you can be out and enjoy it! (I am glad we did get out, because in the next 24 hours the temperature dropped to the teens below zero and the wind chill was 40 below!) We’ve discovered there’s nothing like REALLY COLD to make you appreciate what you thought was cold before!

One freezing morning this January Zach woke up asking for his Hawaii shirt… and somehow ended up taking us all on a little vacation for the day. In the basement with swimming suits, towels, and blanket-water he and Emma played all morning like they were really in Hawaii. They spread out “sand”, used their kicking boards, and kept going in their little tent “to get out of the sun.” I acted like a tourist too and took lots of pictures, smiling and wishing my imagination was good enough to get me to put my swimming suit on!