WARNING:  THIS POST INCLUDES SAPPINESS RELATED TO VALENTINES DAY.

This Valentines Day, I was spending time with the Lord in our room when I heard Kinsley come out of her room.  Ed had gotten up early to go to the gym and I had heard him come back in the house.  He met Kinsley outside her room and in they both walked, her carrying a single red rose saying “Happy Vow-an-tines Day” (so sweet!).  He then said that there were 11 other real roses scattered throughout the house as well as a fake one for Kinsley and breakfast.  Kinsley and I hunted the house over and found all the roses, which were strategically placed in places where he was thanking me for things I did (ex. one in the pantry to say thanks for keeping us feed and the pantry stocked, one on the washer to say thanks for doing the laundry, one on the toy storage bin to say thanks for keeping the toys cleaned up, etc.).  He then had Bojangles BoBerry biscuits that were shaped like a heart on a plate ready for us to eat.  Needless to say, he did good.

Some other fun highlights for this week:

—A friend had recently shared that they took their daughter on a date to get hot chocolate at Starbucks because they had kid-sized hot chocolates that they ice down so they aren’t too hot for them.  Because I have made it my goal to do some new fun memory/activity with Kinsley each month and because I had printed a coupon to use at Starbucks on Buy One Get One hot chocolates, I decided to take her there!  Ed’s mom was in town so she helped me load up the girls and we drank our hot chocolates in Starbucks (thanks to their kid section with toys this wasn’t a nightmare!) – Ed even got to join us there when he came back from campus.  She loved being in an adult place and getting to drink “coffee”.

—It snowed!!  Yes, you read that right.  I told Ed the Lord is wanting me to like NC more and more.  First, he helps me find a Japanese restaurant that I really like.  Then, it snows.  Yes, God cares about even the little things :).  Because it was on a Saturday, we got to sit around and be lazy watching the snow as a family, and then go play in it!!  Kinsley loved making a snowman (we won’t judge the fact that she insisted he have 4 balls instead of the normal 3).  These pictures tell the story way better than I can (including the one that shows just how cold she was on her face).

—I attempted the Crockpot Orange Chicken last night.  On a scale of 1 to 5 (with 1 being inedible and 5 being I could eat this every night), I give it a 3.  I usually love crock pot meals because they are so easy.  This was easy once you got in the crock pot, but first you have to cut the chicken into small pieces, coat in flour, cook it, mix the sauce, etc.  Needless to say, it was way more work that I am used to with crock pot meals.  We ate it over rice with some green beans and while it was good and filling, I don’t think I will ever make this again (actually, Ed said he didn’t want to eat it again – no it wasn’t THAT bad, but I have better recipes – he probably would have rated it a 2).  I tried something new, it feed our family, and we ate something different.  What more can you ask for?