Love notes

Most  of you may have seen these, but I thought I would post about them.  I saw these on a blog a few weeks ago and thought they were super cute.  I was thrilled to run across them in the $1 section at Target yesterday.  I personalized each mail box for each of my children.  Last night and tonight I made a Valentine for each of them and told them one unique thing that I love about them.  They were excited to see the mailboxes in the morning and get the note, but they had way more fun making notes for each other and exchanging love letters/pictures/crafts.  I am going to try to put something in there each night so they have a little surprise in the morning.  Last night I wrote:

Brayden:  "I love your belly laugh."
Danielle:  "I love your helpful ways."
Ellie:  "I love your giving spirit."

Not sure how much they understood, but I tried to explain it to them.  I think they will catch on.  :)  I am excited about this, Valentine's day has never been real significant to me.  It's my brother's B-day, so the day was about him (as it should be!), and Kent and I  have never really done anything big for it.  I think it's a good time to stop and appreciate/recognize who you have in your life and why you love them so much.  Give your loved ones an extra squeeze tonight!

SNOW (finally)

Since moving to Spokane 11 and a half years ago, I have come to expect snow every winter.  Usually by November we have had at least a few inches, if not more.  I am thinking this is the first winter that we didn't have a significant amount by Christmas.  We (the kids and me) were thrilled to finally see snow this last week.  I think we got over 10 inches in two days.  This was enough to actually have a 2 hour late start.  I couldn't believe it!  Most people who live here don't even check the news for snow days, they are pretty much unheard of.  (It took me a few years to figure this out, when I started my first job and it snowed, I sat up the whole night waiting for them to cancel school.  I couldn't believe I had to drive to school with 2 inches on the road!)  Spokane clears the roads alot more efficiently than the 'couve though. 

Anyway, on the 2 hour late start day, I was snow blowing the sidewalk so the kids could eventually walk to the bus stop. While I was out there, I had to tell a few kids to go back home because it was late start. I swear they didn't believe me because they stood there for 5 more minutes before I finally screamed at them, "Go home!" My kids took full advantage of the late start and hit our hill in the backyard.

The kids set up a jump at the bottom of the hill, it looks super fun and I really want to try it!  They fly and catch air, I have it on video, hopefully no one gets hurt.  We always did worse as kids though, right?  Happy sledding everyone, enjoy the snow!