red flag...

if you want to get your medical provider suspicious about your narcotic pain medication use, says something like this...

"i'm really not a pill person, really, i'm not...i'm mean, i don't usually take pain pills, but...phew...i just don't take pain pills..."{sigh of enormous proportion}

"...can i have something stronger, i'm mean this pain is really bad..." (as patient calmly sits in front of you showing no sign of distress)

"...the pain was sooo bad, i had to take my mom's medicine that she had from her last surgery..."

am I compassionate? yes

am I stupid? no

vintage

missing the warmth of summer...

long winters do funny things to people...

Yeah, those "hats" they are wearing? Well, the little princess is wearing her Bitty*Baby's jumper on her head. The prince is wearing a teddy bear's sweater.



Then there was the 7 inches of snow we had yesterday. The prince was very disturbed by accumulation on the driveway. Out of shear frustration, he broke out his lawnmower.


Clearly our children have been cooped up too long...

Valentine's Weekend...

he's a little star-struck...


...at the site of his sister...


...the Valentine's Day...


...DIVA...

a fever with a side of whine...

it started so innocently...a runny nose. seems innocent enough, right? not if you're sam. to him, a runny nose is about as irritating as it gets. so, about 50 times a day for 3 days straight we dutifully wiped his nose and bought a few more shares in the company that produces extra soft tissue.

next came the elusive fever...it would come and go. i'd chase it with the grape-flavored-fever reducers as directed.

then the gnarly little virus evolved into a barking cough. kind of like a barking seal--not that i've ever heard a barking seal, but if i had, it would sound like this one.

so off we went to the doctor--that cough creeped me out.

our very kind kiddie doc check him out thoroughly and then said, "has the little guy complained about his throat?"

me "nope, just the nose."

"has the little guy said anything about his ears? they are both bulging and infected."

me "nope, just the nose."

so viral badness morphed into ear gnarliosis and we are feeling better, but we still have a runny nose. and we're still complaining about it.

...sadly this has hit sissy like a ton of bricks. she normally rockets around the house bouncing off the furniture...not tonight. she crawled into my lap and passed out for a nap.

...so more grape-flavored fever reducer (good thing it was buy one get one free at the pharmacy) and we tucked her into bed. she didn't even have enough energy to ask about the profound things in life. ...no questions about heaven or about where God and Jesus are or who put the hair on our heads...

...can't wait til she feels better...

hot cocoa

We love our hot cocoa. It's the perfect vehicle for eating marshmallows. As soon as the temperature dips, the requests for hot chocolate increase.


Sam likes his marshmallows IN the cocoa. He loves to scoop them out and shovel them in. I love to see his chubby cheeks full of marshmallows...along with a good chocolate goatee.

Kate, on the other hand, like a pile of marshmallows in her drink, along with some on the side...

There's alot about winter that I don't enjoy, but seeing them around the table warming their hands and tummies is something that I really enjoy.

did it hurt?

kate often asks difficult, complex or odd questions as we are tucking her into bed at night. i think it's part of her scheme to delay the inevitable reality of going to sleep and to hang out with mom & dad.

tonight's question:

kate: "dad, who put da hair on your head?"

runner boy: "God put it there."

kate: "when God and Jesus put it dere, did it hurt?"

runner boy: "no kate...good night."