While Aaron's Away

I told Ivan and Adelia no shoes on the trampoline.

Aaron was gone on a business trip to Dayton, Ohio on Monday and Tuesday. He'll write about that later, and it will probably be a lot more interesting than this post. We were stuck at home in the blizzard. No. Fun. I wish we could say we did something amazing, but other than a quick trip to WalMart for milk, we didn't leave the house.

I finally broke down and shoveled the walks myself in case anyone needed to get to our front door.

What is it about looking out the window at the snow coming down that makes me want to curl up in a ball on the couch and not move until Spring? If I didn't have three children to entertain, I think I'd spend the entire winter reading books. I just finished Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay a few days ago. I was really disappointed in it. It was dumb. Huge let down. I didn't feel like the author had any talent with words whatsoever. The entire book felt like a word vomit. No inspiring quotes, or beautiful descriptions, not even lovable characters, or a good plot. Nothing. It was a waste of however many hours I spent reading it. Right now I'm rereading How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming by Mike Brown, and I'm much happier. Scientific memoirs aren't usually my thing, but it's a really interesting and funny book.

Recently in this pregnancy I've had a thing for Chocolate Cheerios. Yum. So one of the nights Aaron was gone, that's what we had for dinner. The second night he was gone, we got spoiled, and Aaron's mom came over and made a delicious chicken pasta dinner, and helped me bathe kids and put them to bed. It was wonderful.

That same night, I also hosted book club at my house, which was a good distraction for Aaron being gone as well. For the month of January we all read humorous children's authors and then talked about them when we got together. One of the topics that came up was children's poetry, like Shel Silverstein. I like Shel Silverstein as well, but at our last library visit the kids checked out a big book of Jack Prelutsky poems, and we've been having a blast reading them. In fact, we're working on memorizing one to recite for Valentine's Day. It's called My Mother's Chocolate Valentine, it goes like this:

I bought a box of chocolate hearts,
a present for my mother,
they looked so good I tasted one,
and then I tried another.

They both were so delicious
that I ate another four,
and then another couple,
and then half a dozen more.

I couldn't seem to stop myself,
I nibbled on and on,
before I knew what happened
all the chocolate hearts were gone.

I felt a little guilty,
I was stuffed down to my socks,
I ate my mother's valentine...
I hope she likes the box.

So far, Linc has the title and the first stanza memorized. And Ivan is funny, because he has a harder time memorizing the exact words, but he's got the main idea down, so when it's his turn to practice, he usually says something like..."I bought a box of chocolate hearts, a present for my mother, and then I ate them all." And he laughs and laughs. My little comedian.

For Christmas Lincoln got this set of Frog and Toad books by Arnold Lobel. We have been loving them! Linc likes to come sit on my bed, or next to me on the couch during quiet time and read me stories. He doesn't consider it school. :) The other day, he was so excited to read me one he thought was funny, that he came and stood next to me while I did the dishes and read to me while I worked, so I could hear him over the running water. Frog and Toad are classic and enjoyable for kids and well as adults. We've gotten all the way through three of them. I wish there were more because I'm not sure what to move onto once we're done reading these.  Any suggestions?

Yesterday I was sick, sick, sick. I stayed in bed the whole day. It's been a long time since that's happened. Aaron was home from his trip by then and thankfully was willing to stay home and take care of the kids. He even taught preschool for me, and drove the boys to clubs. He's pretty much the most amazing person I know. I don't know how I tricked him into marrying me, but I sure am glad I did! :)