I placed an order for some popcorn kernels, some spicy microgreens and a micro green growing kit from our friends at Finding Eminence Farm, and I enjoyed some beautiful poached egg avocado toast with micro greens this morning for breakfast.  So yummy and pretty!

Sylvia is hanging with her cousins this week, and they are having lots of fun. Sometimes the girls will send us videos and pictures. 

Last weekend, Mom and I checked out the chickens. They are kind of like teenager chicks now. The roosters are starting to try to crow.

The Gordman's in Columbia City is having closing sales, so Erin, Tessa, Annah, Sylvia, and I went over one afternoon last week.  Caeden wanted to go, but there wasn't enough room in the car. So, Sylvia and I shopped for him.  He was pretty stoked about the things we picked out for him, including this denim jacket and Kodak shirt. Uncle Travis explained to him what 24 exp. meant.  

I walked the track with Dawn while the sun set like this around us tonight. Wow!

I came home to these 3 with scripts in hand, acting out the entire show of Guys and Dolls. They even recorded 48 minutes of it. 

There was also some Wii boxing and N64 wrestling.  

Optimism

Sylvia and the kids going for a morning walk...

Our wonderful friend Dawn sent this great cup to Sylvia. It is hard to keep optimism going sometimes, but they are both people who work hard at it and help others to as well.

The girls were both babysitting yesterday, and it was just me and Caeden at home.  We had some fun playing with a new SnapChat filter while he practiced drums and guitar.

Annah and Nola baked rainbow alien cookies with Oreos yesterday.

And today, they baked a lemon cake with cream cheese frosting and gold sprinkles!

Here at our house, Annah has been doing all the babysitting this week that she and Sylvia usually split.  She love hanging out with Nola too, and thinks she's really funny!  Today, Annah showed Nola a little bit about the violin.

Caeden mowed our yard today.

I'm working on an entrelac bag in cotton for my mom.

Sidewalk Chalk Art

Sylvia and Nola made sidewalk chalk art today!

A visit from Nola

We had the privilege of having Nola come to our house after school today! It worked out nicely, since Sylvia rode the bus home; they just came home together!

Nola was super excited to see the girls' room!  Then she and Sylvia had a snack and did homework.

Meanwhile, I was running back and forth--outside in the mud, from bathroom to bathroom to flush toilets while 2 plumbers were trying to clear our septic line that has been clogged for 4 days!  They were hollering loudly as they worked.  It took them 2 full hours and $490, but now we can go to the bathroom at home again.  Ugh...every winter it happens!

Sylvia had Nola spell all her spelling words for her, and she read us her reading story too!  She is great reader!

The girls decided to play a little Wii once all their homework was finished.  First they had to make a Nola Mii!

They chose Wii Music, and they got pretty good at the handbells!

17th Anniversary

I'm not sure how it happened this quickly, but today we are blessed to be celebrating 17 years of marriage!  I am the most fortunate wife!

While I was teaching this morning, Jeremy took all the kids to town.  As I was finishing my last lesson, they all came into the living room and presented me with this beautiful bouquet of roses that are as close to the ones we had in our wedding as they could find.  How awesome is that?!

Then the kids demanded that we go out for lunch. So, we decided to go to Gibson City and had a fantastic lunch at Burgers and Beer.  Jeremy had a burger with a ring of fresh pineapple on it, and mine had caramelized onions, bleu cheese, and portobello mushrooms.  They were some good gourmet burgers!!  (We skipped the beer and just had water.)

There's not a lot to do in GC, but we stopped in at Big R to walk around.  We laughed at ourselves and took a selfie with the sign as we went in.  When we went through the checkout and bought only about 8 pounds of candies, the checkout lady said, "Sweet tooth?" and we just kept giggling.  I guess there wasn't much we needed at Big R.

We drove through and got mini Blizzards at Dairy Queen on our way home, then relaxed and put our feet up for a while.  Jeremy even got an actual nap in!

This evening, Sylvia went to babysit Nola and Gracie, and Miles came to our house to hang out with Caeden.  He brought a full arsenal of Nerf guns and ammo.

They had a Nerf gun Lightsaber combo battle out behind the garage.

It was one of those perfectly gorgeous weather days, and I noticed our pink and purple irises are blooming and beautiful.

Most lilacs bloomed about a month ago, but ours are just now trying.  They had a really good trim down last year, so I'm not sure they're going to bloom fully at all.  They smell good though!

While the kids played, Jeremy and I watched The Theory of Everything tonight.  It was much better than I expected, though a very sad story.

It was so nice to spend the day with my favorite man in the world.  I'm so grateful that even after all these years he is still my favorite, and I know I am loved by him too.

Panther Invitational

Caeden and his wrestling team competed in a big tournament at LeRoy today.  There were 19 teams there, so it was a long day.  I taught lessons this morning, so Grandma Sandi and another wrestling mom took pictures and kept me updated via Facebook until I could get there.  (Jeremy was there, but he was coaching and unable to text or take pics.)

I missed it, but Caeden won his first match of the day 6-0!

Caeden had a match very soon after Sylvia and I got to the tournament. Jeremy was mat-side as his coach for this one, and it was a tough one. I think it is just extra tough when Dad is your coach.

Caeden lost by tech fall.

Jessie in her big brother Nathan's headgear, with her twin brother Sam peeking below her elbow...these two bring a lot of joy and welcome distraction during a day-long wrestling tournament! Such cuties!

Caeden lost a tough wrestleback match to end his day before Sylvia and I had to leave the tournament.

Sylvia got to babysit for my friend Megan's two boys--Caleb and Connor--for a while this evening so Megan and Fred could have a Valentine's date.  She had lots of fun with them, playing outside on this crazy 65 degree February day, watching them play Legos and talk about Star Wars, and playing with their dog. She sure loves kiddos, and I think they like her pretty well too!

Meanwhile, back at the tournament, Ridgeview JH took THIRD place out of 19 teams!!! This team is going places!!! 

Safe Sitters

I dropped the girls off at the library in Gibson City this morning at 9am and didn't pick them up until 4:30 this afternoon.  They spent the afternoon with Tanya and several other kids learning to become Safe Sitters. 

Caeden and I attended the closing ceremony at 4:30, and we learned a bit about how Safe Sitter, Inc. was started and what the kids learned in the training today.

They received certificates showing that they completed and passed the class and are certified Safe Sitters.

I thought the girls were already great with kids, but the class has really equipped them to make good judgements and know how to handle emergency situations as well.