Day 48 - Tuesday, February 17, 2009 -

Day 48 - Tuesday, February 17, 2009 -
Jordyn is all teenager these days. We NEVER see her anymore. If she's not at a friend's house, she's up in her room or in the playroom or basement. Tonight, after we had finished the delicious home cooked meal that Kevin had prepared, she immediately asked to be excused. For some reason, tonight, I said no. Just sit and hang and visit with the family. We started to give her a hard time (in jest, of course) about why she never wants to spend time with the family (especially on the heels of her choosing to go to a friend's birthday party on Valentine's Day instead of coming to the hotel with the family). Kevin told her she needed to go up to her room and write two paragraphs with her reasons for not liking us anymore. This is Jordyn reading her paragraphs to us, and below that is her letter. Aww.

Day 47 - Monday, February 16, 2009 -

Day 47 - Monday, February 16, 2009 -
Kevin and I took the boys to Outback Steakhouse for dinner to use up the rest of our holiday gift cards. Liam, out of the blue, decided he wanted to practice his cursive on the kids menu, even though they aren't learning that yet in 2nd grade. I think he did pretty well on his two signatures, especially for a first try in the world of handwriting.

Day 46 - Sunday, February 15, 2009

Day 46 - Sunday, February 15, 2009 -

Kevin and I counted down the minutes from 10:30 am until noon when we could go to Papa Joe's to enjoy a bit of this action (in Michigan, you can't buy alcohol before noon on Sundays - if I could have gone at 10:30 am, I would have). In case you've never been to one of these joints before, you can taste all of these wines at a self-serve station. Each wine bottle is connected to a little spigot thing and each wine costs a different amount per taste...depending on how expensive the bottle is and what size taste you select (small, medium, large/full glass). You simply grab a glass from the shelf, insert your prepaid wine card, and push a button to select the wine/size taste....and enjoy. My kind of afternoon.

Day 45 - Saturday, February 14, 2009

Day 45 - Saturday, February 14, 2009 -
Me and my two little lover boys (wearing festive Buccaneer red), celebrating Valentine's day with Kevin at the Crowne Plaza in Auburn Hills. This is at dinner at the hotel restaurant, O'Malley's. Earlier in the day we had lunch at Max & Erma's, went to see the movie Coraline, and went swimming, hot tubbing, and sauna-ing at the hotel. Our family lovefest.

Day 44 - Friday, February 13, 2009

Day 44 - Friday, February 13, 2009 -
Me, Lori & Lainee, Erika & Chunkie (ok, his name is Tye), and Aimee share a candlelit dinner, drinks, laughs, sweets, stories, and general good times. Loving these girls and these babies! And this is how I looked when Liam came home from school and asked me, "MOM! Where are you going tonight?!? Because YOU look TIGHT!" Oh, that kid.

Day 43 - Thursday, February 12, 2009

Day 43 - Thursday, February 12, 2009 -
Liam, Owen, & Jordyn opening a Valentine's Day care package that Grandma Carol sent in the mail from Grand Rapids. She spoils us on every single holiday and the kids loooooove it. Thanks Gramma Rapids! (That's what Owen calls her.)

Day 42 - Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Day 42 - Wednesday, February 11, 2009 -
This is the door in our kitchen that leads to the deck. During holidays, I like to decorate it with the kids' arts and crafts projects from years past. For some reason, I only had one Valentine's related project to hang on the door this year. And it was making me a little sad that either the kids didn't create projects in years past, or that I wasn't organized enough to save them with the rest of the Valentine's Day decorations. Well, today, Owen came home from preschool with this arts and crafts gem. I look forward to hanging it up on that door for many Valentine's to come.