St. Valentines Day

"Let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love."

Been awhile since I've written.
Took a trip back home to Iowa for my friend, Kimmy's 40th birthday. Stayed one night at our other friend, Sue's home - Had fun chatting until 3:30 am. Spent the next night out to dinner, to a comedy club, then playing darts at a sports bar/grill. Got to the hotel at 3:00am. Crazy! Would love to do it all again! Some friendships are just so special. I love that we are able to still get together for special moments in our lives. (Sue, WT_?) Ha! Ha!
Watching the Olympics! Love the snowboarding and the skating!
Four day weekend for our children. Friday was spent just hanging out at home. When Tom got home from work, we did our usual Friday Family Night. Pizza and games this week. I enjoy our Friday nights. I love that our family enjoys spending the evening together. Not that every night goes smoothly, but we did start a new "punishment" with our children so we can get better. Tom and I really dislike when our children don't treat each other nicely. Now whenever they say or do something that hurts another, they need to go upstairs to the table in our loft and write an apology, then come down and read it aloud to the person they hurt. At first, they tried to get out of writing the letters - and reading them. I think reading them outloud was the hardest part. Now, they know it has to be done, and they do it. Hopefully we have fewer and fewer letters. (And if they're disrespectful to a parent, it's more of an essay! Paragraphs!)
Saturday I got up and went to a neighbor's, my friend's, home to help clean. I have written about sweet Carter before. I brought my second oldest, Ethan, with me. So there were 4 women and 3 children cleaning. I went straight to Carter's bedroom and started there. I loved being there to help. I pray for this wonderful family every day and I have been wishing there was something I can do to help them, and here was something I could do. Plus, I finally got to meet Dad. I read his beautifully written blogs and had wanted to meet him. Tomorrow it will be 1 year since they found out Carter was sick. There is a fundraiser celebration at a local restaurant. We are planning to go for dessert. (It's also Fat Tuesday!)
Sunday was Valentines Day! Jacob's first Valentines Day! (Our 18th!) It was a good day. An easy day. We went to church - I did Children's Liturgy. Then Tom and I spent the day at home playing with our children. Later that evening, Tom's mother came over and offered to watch our children so Tom and I could go out to dinner. It was nice to go out alone for a couple of hours as a couple. We enjoy being together. We're best friends.
Unfortunately my poor hubby woke up feeling miserable today. He felt so bad that he stayed home from work - that very rarely happens. I tried to just let him rest in bed all day. He did come downstairs for dinner, but is now back in bed. I made a nice dinner for everyone, so nice that our daughter Rachel forgot daddy was sick and thought that he had made dinner. Ok, I'm not a fan of cooking, but I do do it sometimes. I also went to our church for Eucharistic Adoration. I find it so powerful to be there knowing Jesus is present. I spend most of the time crying. With my husband sick and snow falling, I almost didn't go - but so glad I did. I really love going. I want to go and need to go. I feel I need to make time for God because I am always asking Him to make time for me. Lots of prayers come from me.
One funny thing that happened last week -- I went outside to get the mail. As I was walking up the driveway, I heard the front door shut. Then I heard Sarah, my 2 year old, laughing and yelling "I locked the door! I locked the door!" She sounded so happy and proud of herself. Thankfully the little Stinkerbell knew how to unlock the door too.
Everyone is off to bed except me. I have little Jakey on my lap, satisfied and asleep. He's been fighting a nasty cold, everyone in our home has. I'm pretty tired of hearing coughing and sneezing. I think we're almost through it. Poor Tommy almost got away without getting it. Hopefully he feels better in the morning.
I am off to bed with this little peanut.