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Necessary Fun Times

I think the end of winter may be in sight.  I know we'll have a some more snow storms, and there will definitely be more chilly days, but, it seems that perhaps, we have passed the point of a deep freeze.  I just checked the weather, and it looks like we will be up into the 50s next weekend.  The 50s!!  In February!  In Minnesota!  Say what you will, but I'm pretty sure climate change is a real thing.

In any case, we have gotten over the post-holiday slump, and have been taking advantage of the nicer days (and appreciating the longer hours of sunshine) to get outside and focus on fun.  Last weekend, Ava worked on her decorating her Valentine's box and also writing out her class Valentine's (it's just easier to do them right away, rather than waiting until the last minute and feeling rushed and stressed out.) Since it was such a nice day, some of her little neighborhood friends came over to see if she could play outside with them.  When she was done writing her love notes to her friends, she headed out with them, and I decided that I, too, needed to get out for a bit.  I took a long walk around the neighborhood, and enjoyed the bright sun and the crisp air on my face.  In the meantime, Ava and friends were busy...they decided to make a huge fort in our backyard with cardboard boxes and wood from our woodpile.  Totally fine with us, especially since we mandated that the fort-makers were also the cleaner-uppers! 

It's fun seeing politics at work, even in children, since they decided that the next time they play together, one girl will be the assistant to the assistant to the assistant.  And she received that title because she didn't want to help clean up so she left.  I say, good for the kids for enforcing consequences to those who don't play by the rules!

Picking just the right cards for her friends...


These red berries were beautiful in the bright sunshine


Ava and Scott surprised me by bringing home an early Valentine's flower bouquet...love seeing fresh flowers in the house!


On Friday night, we had a fantastic movie night and watched the movie Trolls.  We all loved it (well, Scott slept through a big part of it,) but the kids and I thought it was fantastic!  Great music and a wonderful story...we will definitely be adding this one to our permanent movie collection.

I had signed Ava up for an emoji cookie baking/decorating class through Community Ed.  So, yesterday morning, I brought her to one of the middle schools in the area and let her do her thing for 1.5 hours.  She appears to have had a lot of fun, plus we are now the proud owners of several new cookie cutters and a really easy sugar cookie recipe.  And...once again, it's proven to be a small world.  As I was walking out of the class after dropping her off, I was chatting with another mom who had a son in the emoji cookie class with Ava.  Turns out that Ava and I had been paired with that mom and her son at the candy making class we took a few years ago!  We agreed that the emoji cookie class was a much better option than trying to teach our then 5 and 6 year old children how to boil sugar, and deal with the hot temps of candy making! I'm sensing a baking play date in the future...!

She didn't have time to decorate, but that's ok...we can do it at home!


I ran the kids up to Grandma Deb and Grandpa Whitey's yesterday afternoon so they could spend some time with them, and so Scott and I could have a date night.  We had a great night out...we enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Porter Creek, and then because we were stuffed full of food, we walked around Burnsville Center for a bit.  Scott showed high levels of patience when we were in Macy's and I was waiting to purchase some mascara...the exaggerated delay in what should have been a 3-min purchase almost put me over the edge, as well, but we both held it together.  And, we managed to pick up some new shoes for G!

We ended the night at a local bar, and played a really fun game called VINGO (Video Bingo.)  The whole bar totally got into it and was signing along with the songs.  Scott noted that the clientele that night was older than us, and he was surprised there were still so many people out...I figured that's what happens when the kids are older or out of the house.  It was a great night out with Scott, and a very happy early Valentine's Day celebration.


We were toying with the idea of going to the dino exhibit in Minneapolis today, but then we checked the prices.  While it's a really cool event, we need to balance if we're going to get our money's worth for a few hours of fun.  With Ava, it's not an issue, but G has a limited attention span.  I will never forget paying a ton of money to go to the aquarium at the MOA.  We walked through it and were done in 10 minutes, and our 4-year-old Ava had no interest in going back in to walk through slowly or see more fish. So...instead we're going to a morning movie as a family!  We've got tickets to the see the Lego Batman movie in a few hours. I know both G and Ava will enjoy that since they giggle any time the previews come on TV.

Time to get ready to enjoy the day...Happy Sunday!

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