Upside-down "Rainbow"

The kids spotted this in the sky.
One beautiful day.
A few weeks ago.Apparently its formed by the sun
passing thru ice crystals
in a wispy cirrus cloud.

Pretty cool.
The beauty God creates.
To display His glory.

Psalm 19:1
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of His hands.

Each week Beki at therustedchain hosts Fingerprint Friday and uses a song by Steven Curtis Chapman as a springboard. Join in. It's a great way to be reminded of God's presence.

Valentine's Day

I walked into my kitchen Tuesday morning.
To see this on the counter.The most gorgeous arrangement I have ever received.

I was also told not to worry about supper.
Woohoo!
Some of my favorite words.

After school I left the kids at home.
To run an errand.
When I got back,
Brookie had put a dress out on my bed.
The dress that Ryan had bought me for our anniversary.
That I had never had an opportunity to wear yet.

The kids set a table for two in front of our fireplace.
And changed into white shirts and black pants.

Ryan brought home supper.
McDonalds for the kids.
The boys were thrilled.
Brookie, not so much.
And Mediterranean food for the two of us.
Delish!

The kids had to serve us.
Brookie dished each course up.
The boys brought the food to us.
And cleared the dishes.

Brookie stayed away from the table the whole meal.
She was embarrassed by the romance, I guess.
The little boys were so excited about it all.
And Jake started trying to sneak into the room.
To hear our mushy conversations.
It was so cute.

Ryan had also had the little boys decorate some 3x5 cards.
Then he wrote questions on them.
Like: what first caught your attention about me?
And: what still captures it now?
There were about 6 different cards.
Ezra was in charge of handing these out throughout the meal.

Our precious servers for the evening.
After supper we all sat together on the couch.
In our fancy clothes.
And watched an episode of one of our favorite shows together.

Oh, and we also gave the kids some valentines.
Just things they love.
Pickles for Brookie.
Beef jerky for Jakie.
Candy for the little boys.

And Ryan bought Brookie 3 roses.
For his baby girl.
She had gotten a stuffed animal and kitkats.
From her "boyfriend" Max.
(Ryan did not know that until he got home.)
Not sure what "boyfriend" means.
Since we don't let her go to dances.
Or drop her off at the movie theatre.
Or let her talk to him on the phone.
Or let her do anything with him really.
She sees him at school.
That's about it.

When she went to bed that night.
She said:
Dad, your valentine was better than Max's.
Best thing she could have said to her daddy.

I'm off.
To enjoy my flowers some more.Lovely.

My Guy

Good grief.
I don't know where the time goes.
How does a week go by so fast?

Last Monday was Ryan's birthday.
He finally caught up with me.
We are 29...

I stole this pic from his fb page.Looking good, right?
Retro Ryan.
He used this for his office Christmas card.
They did a Brady Bunch card.
Pretty funny.

My fridge is never always clean.
But for some reason,
Ryan complains about never having room for pop.
That's what we call it in Kansas.
Not soda.
Not soft drink.
Not coke.
Pop.
It's classy.

So the kids and I got him an amazing gift.
A little fridge.
Stocked with lots of pop.
And a little water too.Well, it was full.
I took this pic this morning.
We've drank a little of it.

Mr. Pibb is his favorite.
They don't sell it around here.
But near KC they do.
Brookie and I were recently up that way.
So I grabbed some for him.
Woohoo!

Saturday night I asked him:
Do you mind if I have a Dr. Pepper Ten from your fridge?
He said:
I have Dr. Pepper Ten in my fridge?
Me:
Yes.
Ryan:
I just saw the Pibb.

By this time,
he had drank a couple of Pibbs from there.
How he didn't see the other pop,
I have no idea.

Then, a while later that night.
Ryan goes to get a pop from his fridge.
Comes back in the family room saying:
Jake, there's cream soda in there too!
Man, he's good.

I made him tuna steak for supper.
It's one of about 3 meals that he really cares about.
And a butterscotch pie.
A bit of a pain to make.
But WAY better than fake butterscotch.
And worth it for my man.

And everybody goes:
Awww, how sweet.

Happy birthday, Ryan.
(A week late.)
I think you are pretty groovy.

Two Things

Hi.

Hanging out with the family tonight.

Watching Over the Hedge for the millionth time.

So, since I have the movie nearly memorized,

thought I'd pop on here.

To tell you two things.

1) The poinsettia is still in my living room.

I have walked by it a few thousand more times.

And still not thrown it out.

My excuse today?

It's raining.

Raining buckets.

Which we need.

But I'm fairly certain I'm made of sugar.

And would melt if I happened to step out.

So, for the sake of my family,

the poinsettia stays.

Don't ask me about the other three days this week.

I have no excuse.

But I do feel better admitting that it is still there.

Since I told you I was getting rid of it.

2) I finished Mockingjay.
You know.

The last in the Hunger Games Trilogy.

At the risk of angering some of you...

Not crazy about it.

Loved the first book.

Really liked the second until the last 25% or so.

But this last one.

Not so much.

Not quite able to put a finger on the why.

Maybe it's too violent?

Not character-driven enough?

But I can now at least say I've read them all.

My older two want to read them.

I'm leaning toward no, not yet.

Even though many of their friends have.

If it means I'm the ridiculous mom,

It means I'm the ridiculous mom.

I'm ok with that.

I'm off to pop popcorn.

And make orange julius for the family.

That will redeem myself a bit in their eyes.

Have a great weekend!