You know mama is sick when....

...you hear "Daddy, Can we watch another video?" and it's not even 8 am.

It's how I know he loves me.

The day after Valentine's Day is "Chocolate Day" at Dave's office.

It has been for years.

Which, by itself, isn't too odd, but if you look at the larger picture you see:

they like to celebrate with food.

A LOT.

For example:

St.Patrick's Day - Soda bread anyone?

Fat Tuesday - You bet there will be doughnuts.

Easter - There's more than chocolate bunnies.

Fourth of July - Home of the Free!

Cinco de Mayo - Pass the salsa con queso, please.

Halloween - Grab some of your kids stash to share!

Thanksgiving - Don't we already eat enough now?

Christmas - Cookie overload, folks!

Oh yeah - anyone having a birthday - bring your own treat to share.

Getting married? Having a baby?

There will be a celebration with cake (please note: Dave prefers if it's from Costco).

I am sure I am missing something, but I want to avoid exaggerating to make my point.

No, he doesn't work in food services. He is in corporate offices. Does this happen everywhere? Back in the day I was a teacher.

Now I know those elementary teachers can rock out the snack with all those kid birthdays - but at the secondary level it was less common.

But is this what all those business persons are doing all day? If so, go desk-work!

So, back to Chocolate Day.

I want to represent my Hubbs well.

No stopping at the grocery store to buy snack here. Homemade, baby.

So this year I made my husband Chocolate Whoopie Pies to share with the class, oh, I mean, his co-workers. They were tasty.

And how do I know my husband loves me?

This year, on Chocolate Day, he smuggled a Tupperware container to work, filled it with chocolate treats, and brought it home for his wifey.

Who says romance is just for Valentine's Day?

This boy knows the way to my heart.

He understands how I work.

He's picking up what I'm laying down.

After 10 years, this guy knows my love language: FREE.

Let it Snow!

Our first installment of snow:

The kids were outside even before the breakfast dishes were cleared.

The snow was perfect-o for building, so I joined them.

Lydia is our weakest link when it comes to playing outside in the cold. She's always the first to come back inside. She was none to happy as we were rolling snowballs for our snowmen. She kept crying that it wasn't getting bigger, but all of them were - just slowly. Caleb didn't buy it either and stomped on his. Now it really wasn't going to get any bigger.

What's a mama to do? I kept rolling mine until I was done, then I helped them. Lydia was still not enjoying herself, as we piled our snowballs to make our snowmen.

Then we put on the face and the girl was in love.

The crying stopped and she was hugging and kissing this pile of snow in our front yard.

Notice Lydia's leg and her smile - she was all about this guy!

Liam and Clara were happy that their snowman was taller than the other one.

They particularly loved using their own hats and scarves.

Liam was bummed that we weren't building a fort. He remembers the big snows from last year and has been a little disappointed with these piddly snowfall amounts.

The second installment of snow which came that evening dropped an additional 11" and we woke up the next morning to see that our snowmen had been buried. Not good for the snowmen, but there might be hope for Liam's fort after all.

On another note:

How do you get kids inside cheerfully when they are tired from playing in the snow and overdue for naps?

Give them empty bowls to fill with snow, add sprinkles, and hand out spoons.

My Little Over Achiever.

This girl is just the sweetest thing these days.

She is snuggly and loves her mama.

She chats it up and we can hardly understand her jabberwocky.

She loves her pigtails and cries when she thinks their quality has been compromised.

She is a potty-training champ. The other night (at 3 am) I heard something, and when I got out of bed I found this little over-achiever had taken off her footies (and the 2 pair of pj's underneath) and her diaper to tinkle on the potty.

She dresses and redresses herself ALL day long.

She can even get herself dressed and bundled in snow attire all by herself.

She loves her baby doll, skirts and tights and all things girly.

Speaking of over-achieving:

Mama made what was supposed to be snowman pancakes. Above are the girls, with pigtails, please don't confuse them as snow dogs.

And here are the 'boy' ones, complete with french berets.

Our only regret is that we used syrup instead of powdered sugar, because, hello! it's like snow! The kids are already asking for them again.

Go Team Mom.

It's POTTY time!

Because I didn't have anything to do...

or maybe because one little girl was SO ready....

I took the plunge last Monday and decided to toilet train the twins.

Lydia was very ready and I decided to include Caleb since it wouldn't hurt him.

A friend reminded me that toilet training is after all an essential life skill.

The end result?

Arguments over who gets to flush.

A lot more skin being regularly exposed.

Stopping into Wal-Mart last night for a date night and NOT having to pick up any diapers.

(We live a wild life.)

The first night in over SIX years where someone did not wet a diaper at night.

Terribly DIRTY toilets.

Lots of potty words - in and out of songs.

Lots of little undies around the house.

And so begins a new chapter in my life. I hope I know what to do with myself.

The hills are alive with the sound of... hot dogs?

Clara: Mom, what's a wiener?

Me: A hot dog?

Clara, No, mom, what's a wiener?

Me: Who said that?

Clara: Me. (now singing) "So long, farewell, all wiener's say goodnight".

(Not so) Easy as Pie

Just in case you lose your pie server (and it has been lost for a couple of months), and you are finally ready to buy a new one, you must remember to look behind the radiator... behind the couch... in the living room. You will find it happily residing with a wooden spoon, a polly pocket, an army man, and a clear plastic magnetic frame. However, trying to retrieve said items may result in you just wanting to buy a new pie server.