True Snow Day

We had a "true snow day" a few weeks ago and it was great! I mean true snow day because we actually had snow on this snow day! We have had five other snow days since coming back to school in January, but we didn't really have snow with those. They were snow days because of the threat of snow and ice coming that day. 

We knew of the snow forecase but didn't really know if it would amount to anything or not, but it did! We ended up getting about 3-4" of snow and it was heavy, wet snow! It was perfect for making a snowman - all you had to do was make a snowball, roll it through the yard, and you had perfect parts of a snowman! 

Molly was excited to play in the snow and by play in the snow I mean eat the snow! I had to kind of make Lucy come out to play, but once she got out she had a fun time working on a snowman. We made a giant snowman but it didn't last very long! As the day went on the weather warmed up and the sun came out, making out snowman collapose around 4pm that day! I didn't mind, though, it was fun making it and having real snow this time around! 

Cinnamon Roll Perfection

 I made cinnamon rolls last month to have some for us and to give to some neighbors. I have to say, these were perfection! I have been using this same recipe from the Pioneer Woman for the last 12 years or so and I think I have finally worked out all the issues I've had in the past. I've learned that they need to sit longer than the recipe says and I need to make sure the place they are sitting to rise is very warm. I've started setting up a space heater in front of the rolls and also heating up my oven and opening the door to make it extra warm in the kitchen. These turned out so good and I was excited to share them with our neighbors because I think they like them as much as I do! 

Puzzle Table

I got a puzzle table for Christmas from my parents and I love it! I've enjoyed doing 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzles here and there the last few years and thought this would be a great thing to have. I've always done puzzles on our dining room table and that works well, but the lighting in there isn't that great. With this table I can move it around to where the lighting it good and it had trays on each side that pull out for storing pizzle pieces. 

When I got it I set it up in the basement behind the couch to work on puzzles, but Lucy moved it in front of the couch so you can sit there comfortably and work on a puzzle. I love this! This is one of the things that I greatly looked forward to when talking about finishing our basement - doing a puzzle down there in a nice, comfy space and being able to watch tv, too. I love it! 

Valentine's Day

We had a nice, low-key Valentines Day 2024! We never really do much for Valentine's Day, but try to do something to make it special. This year I used Steve, the teddy bear Ross gave me on our first Valentine's Day together when dating, as the way to give Ross his presents from me. Usually he puts my presents on Steve, but this year I beat him to it! 

We gave the girls some candy and Molly got a Starbucks giftcard and Lucy got some jammies. Ross gave me a dozen roses and we went to dinner at Chili's that night, one of our family favorites. I like that we don't make the day a big deal with lots of presents, but do like that we acknolwedge it. 

Super Bowl and Buttercream!

We certainly enjoyed the Super Bowl this year with another Chiefs win! Our church does a big event on Super Bowl weekend and had a photo opp set up, complete with Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift. :) For the Super Bowl we had our traditional "Qdoba chicken" that Ross makes...it's a copy cat recipe for the Qdoba chicken marinade...we all ate in the family room instead of at the table and Lucy ended up watching the entire game with us! Molly watched it off and on and went to bed about an hour before the game ended. Lucy isn't so much into football, but I think she enjoyed watching the game with us! 

That afternoon, Ross made his several-months-long dream of making buttercream icing come true! He had been talking about making some buttercream icing for quite a while and finally had the time to do it. He made some really good icing and put it over a red velvet cake he had made the day before. He made a very nice Chiefs Super Bowl cake! Overall it was a really fun day!