Flight to Ukraine

I know I change my blog header all the time... But I couldn't leave up the Valentine one, now could I? As usual, these things happen in the wee hours of the morning.

We have figured out what flight we are taking to Ukraine! Since Scott works for an airline, we have several options. We are choosing the flight that is most open (most seats available!), which is from here to Chicago, then on to London (leaving on the 8th of March, arriving in London the morning of the 9th). The only snag is that our flight arrives just AFTER the flight to Kiev, which means we will have the whole day and night in London. Did I describe that as a snag? That's not the right word at all - it's acually a brilliant plan! I am excited about a whole day in London -it's one of my very favorite cities. We will then leave for Kiev the morning of the 10th, arriving in the early afternoon. Yeay!

We leave in 22 days!

Happy Love Day!

What a day! Holidays with kids in school are just a whole different ballgame. I woke up early, had my breakfast of Godiva chocolate (than you, Honey!!!), loaded up the cupcakes for Garrett's party and headed to preschool. After that, I squeezed in a quick trip to the store, then off to my ladies lifegroup. From there, it was back home to pick up the cupcakes for Grant's party and up to school to set up for the party, and then basically run it as I am the room mom. Whew! Now I have a few minutes before I need to clean up the kitchen from the 40 cupcakes I made last night, and start on dinner! :)
Last year we had fondue for our family valentine's dinner. The boys loved it and requested to make it a family tradition! So, we're having cheese fondue with all kinds of things to dip in it - bread, asparagus, apples, broccoli. We're also having steak, followed by chocolate fondue, with strawberries, cookies, bananas, and marshmellows. Yummy!
No matter how crazy the day is, I am reminded of all the love I have in my life. The Lord has blessed me greatly. I am in love with my husband and my children, and I am loved by my Heavenly Father. How great to set aside a whole day every year to celebrate the ones we love!

Valentine Projects

We had fun this afternoon making all kinds of goodies! Grant made his Valentine mailbox for his class party and Garrett helped me make these chocolate-covered peanuts (thanks for the yummy recipe, Traci!) for teachers and friends. They are cooking in the croc-pot, and the house smells like a big chocolate valentine! :)


We did homemade valentines for Grant's class this year (I know, I don't know what came over me). They weren't the quickest, but so cute and fun to make! We melted broken pieces of crayon into little heart shapes, then attached them to our card. We also attached a piece of Laffy Taffy, and wrote "You color me happpy!" Get it? hehe! I love word-play on Valentine's Day!

Traci's Chocolate-Covered Peanuts
1 16-oz pkg. white chocolate (almond bark from baking aisle)
1 bag chocolate chips
1 6-oz bar of Bakers "German" chocolate
1 lb jar dry roasted peanuts
1 lb jar unsalted dry roasted peanuts (I could only find Lighty Salted, and they worked great!)
Dump all the chocolate in your croc-pot, then dump in the peanuts. Set it on low and cook for 2 hours. Drop in little piles onto wax paper to cool (we're dropping ours in mini-muffin papers). Eat and share - yumm!

Blog Injury

Last night I was reading Kelly's blog - she and her husband are in Ukraine adopting 2 little boys, and it's such a great story. Anyway, I guess I was sitting with my legs under me. When I stood up to go to bed, the whole bottom of my left leg was asleep. I started to walk, and my leg just gave out and I fell! This morning I woke up with a sore ankle and a carpet burn on my knee. So I've had my first blog injury. Can anyone relate? :)

Our Family Book

I have been a busy bee working on the family book we will take to Ukraine with us. This is how we will introduce our daughter to our world - a world that will be so foreign and strange to her. We have heard that these photo books give the adopted child an idea of what to expect, as well as give them people and places to recongize when they get home. There are still a few pages missing (out of town relatives we need to send us pictures...hint hint). Other than that, I think this is pretty much it! We plan to order the book in a 5x7 size from Snapfish. We can't wait to share it with our daughter!

Vote!

You Texans, and those who haven't had primaries yet, make the effort and VOTE! Yes, I know that is so preachy of me, but it IS MY blog you know. :) You just never know what can happen. There's a great site where you can read a list of issues, check the ones you agree with, and then it tells you which candidate you agree with the most. Of course I can't remember the name of the sight...anyone know? It's great! The site also has places to click and find out more about each specific issue (if you're like me and usually more up-to-date on the kids in the neighborhood than world issues). In case you are wondering, I matched the closest with Romney, followed by Huckabee. Which one am I voting for? Still researching, but most likely, the one that has the best chance of beating McCain for the nomination. Yes, I can say that. It's my blog! :)
Texans, our primary is March 4!

Fun Family Night

We took the boys to a Hibachi grill tonight (you know, the Japanese restraurants where the chef cooks at your table, juggles knives, sets fires, etc.). They LOVED it! It was their first time (except when they were babies, and obviously don't remember). Grant was his usual chatty self - talking with the chef, the other people at our table, cracking jokes, etc. Garrett just took it all in, with a huge grin on his face the whole time. Garrett is my "laugh in the face of danger" kind of kid, so this was right up his ally. I could just see the wheels turning in his head...Garrett, please do NOT try any of this at home! On the way out of the restaurant, a girl stopped me to say hello. It turns out she was one of my students from North Oaks Middle School! I taught her in 6th and again in 7th grade English. Well, now she is 21 years old and is getting married. OH MY GOODNESS - HOW OLD AM I??? Nothing makes you feel older than running into previous students that are now GROWN-UPS!
Anyway, after dinner it was off to Best Buy - a true guy's paradise. Being as I am the only girl in the family (for now!) I find myself in stores like this quite often. We needed another controller for the Wii. Boy, you gotta hand it to the folks at Nintendo. They really get ya on those things! The evening ended with me dragging the boys (Scott is included in this) off of the in-store video games, saying, "Don't we have this game at home?" Anyone want to guess the response? "Yes, but not on a Playstation" Ha!
Now my 3 boys, with their now 3 controllers, are happily playing Cowboys vs. Patriots on Madden '08 and all is right with the world! :)

By the way, at dinner we discussed the family activities we want to plan before we leave for Ukraine. Grant suggested everyone pick one for all of us to do. Grant chose the Incredible Pizza Universe. Garrett chose rollerskating at Statetown. I chose a "pretend camp-out" at home. In true Scott fashion, he chose sky-diving. "Get serious" as Grant told him!