Well, I am happy to report that the great region of Northwest Arkansas is finally thawing out. Thursday afternoon when I was finally able to spot the dead grass in our yard, I'm fairly certain my heart fluttered. Suddenly, what was once considered a cold 38 degrees, seemed like a balmy day at the beach (not really. That's a lie. 38 degrees is still rather cold. But we were all so excited to go above freezing and thaw out a little, that I don't think anyone in my family, for once, minded weather in the 30s.).
Friday was, of course, the holiday of love. I'm not Valentines biggest fan. To me, it's so unromantic and thought up by everyone else BUT your love. I'd much rather Drew do something in the middle of the week when I'm having a crappy day (like bringing me a Sonic drink or a single red rose-- nothing super fancy. I'm easy to please here), than bringing me home red roses that someone else paid money to market him to purchase. Because love is all about chocolate and roses. Anyways. This is all entirely besides the point. My point is, even though I am not a huge fan of Valentines day, it doesn't mean that I didn't want to take the opportunity to not have to cook or clean. So I asked Drew if we could just go out to eat. Done and done. Everyone was happy, the evening was actually pleasant, and we all ate for $30. Also, please note Tyler's smile. It's safe to say that my pregnancies spent craving Mexican food have not gone wasted. All 3 of my boys think that the word restaurant is synonymous with chips and salsa.
With the welcome weather change came some spring time yard prep, as Drew prepares to bring the farm to our backyard. Or at least the produce. That's right, folks. We're buildin' us a garden. It's been 2 years since we last had our very own little crop producing plot. I'm going to be honest: the task is a little daunting to me. In case you haven't noticed, we have 3 boys under the age of 5 living in our home. And if they even smell the presence of dirt, hands go digging. Sometimes this is all in the name of being "helpful," however, I just have terrorizing visions of the fruits of Drews hard labor (ie: tomatoes, zuchinni, squash, etc), being picked by willing laborers, but not in the season in which they need to be picked. So here we go on this little adventure and experiment to see if our world can once again collide with the pioneer days. We'll see....
In the meantime, the boys had fun at least helping dad with some of the manual labor. Drew rigged up a nifty contraption out of a dolly and Brayden's bicycle.
We also did our fair share of swinging this weekend ... Tyler squeals whenever he's swinging and it's just about the cutest thing ever...
Then in the afternoon Brayden and I tried our hand at making homemade Gak. Momma messed up and put too much Borax in the mix, which meant that it wasn't quite as slimy as it should be. But the boys had fun, and that's all that mattered.
The rest of our weekend went downhill pretty quickly, as Tyler woke up Saturday night with a horrid stomach bug. I was hoping he'd be the only casualty, but Monday proved otherwise, and Connor and I are both down for the count. We're praying Drew and Brayden don't get it, but everyone I've talked to says that their whole family ended up with it, so I'm not holding my breath. Here's to health for this week, and warmer weather that will hopefully ward off all of these awful viruses that are spreading this winter. (PS-- I am still working through my thoughts on the IF:Gathering. I have two posts in draft that I am hoping to finish up soon).
