blessed beyond measure

Yes, the blizzard came. It stretched over three days, and when all was said and done, we had close to eleven inches. When we first went out to play in it Valentine's Day morning, we had between eight and nine inches. Poor, poor Aden. If I didn't walk around with him and tug on his elbow, all he could do was kind of sink down to his knees and then just topple over. Every once in a while he'd growl and say, "This snow! It's DIFFICULT!" That is, until he and Trey would land in a single spot and create some super-cool snow game. Like practically flying off their sliding board. Or shoveling mittenfuls of snow into their mouths. Or the ever-popular snow-basketball. So thankful for the impeccably-timed days stuck at home together, and for fun memories made in some difficult snow.

The beauty of making your own jelly is that, after juicing the fruit, you can freeze any extra juice to make more jelly later. This is what Brandon's mom and I did last summer - made four batches and then froze juice for five more. Ahh, wintertime grape jelly. The pop of a sealed mason jar lid is an intoxicating sound. My Trey made the paper. Yes he did. And willingly posed in a photo with - gasp! - other kids. Why was he in the paper? For winning the spelling bee, of course. So proud of this guy. Aden's in a little funk, having some sort of fever, stomach pain, occasional vomit, stuffy nose, lethargic sickness for the last few days. Praying our little bulldozer feels better soon, all the while incredibly thankful for the relative health we have all been enjoying so far this year. The weather dudes are at it again. Here you go: See the purple? We're sort of in the middle of it. Yeah. Everybody around these parts is all in a tizzy, rushing to the groc...

On a balmy fifty-degree February day, we met Giga and Poppop for some much-needed time outside. Then on a Friday night, we began to wind down a wintertime tradition, attending one of the last of Brandon's team's home basketball games for this season. Typically a whole-family event where we cheer louder than anyone else in the gym, Trey uses his dry erase playboard to keep up with stats, and the grandfathers stuff the boys full of sugary snacks. Ah, memories. Blessed beyond measure indeed.