Fish All Year

On Saturday, February 19 I was feeling a little restless and decided the girls and I should go do something. Lydia was with her dad for the weekend so Violet, Adelle and I just headed out. We ended up going to the Living Planet Aquarium. We decided to get annual passes.

Violet was quite taken with the fish. She got pretty excited and kept signing fish and frog. Adelle really liked everything as well.

We saw every exhibit and Adelle even ran into a friend of hers. We had lunch at the little cafe, but before too long Violet was very tired and so we headed home so she could have a nap. I am glad we got the annual passes because it doesn't matter if we are only there for an hour or two because every time we go now it will be for free!

Growing Things

We are planning on planting a garden again this year, despite many plants that did not make it last year. We decided to start early by planting some seedlings inside. We all had fun doing it together. We planted tomatoes, bell peppers, dill, spinach, sprouts and onions.

So far we have had a pretty good crop of sprouts, the spinach is starting to get pretty big, and I have seen little baby tomato, pepper and dill plants. It is fun to have little green things, even if it is on my kitchen table :)

My Sweetheart and the Ballet

Usually around Valentine's Day Wes and I will go to a bed and breakfast for a night. Since Violet is still pretty young we decided instead to go on a special date. Wes splurged and got us tickets to go see Sleeping Beauty by Ballet West at the Capitol Theatre.

We both got dressed up which was particularly fun. Not everyone does that for the Ballet anymore. We ended up going to a matinee. It was Wes' first time going to the ballet. The story was absolutely wonderful and the dancers were amazing. I really liked the girl who played Sleeping Beauty. She was a beautifully talented dancer, and she was also very expressive. Our seats were wonderful and could see everything that was going on clearly. There is just something about ballet that can transport you to an entirely different world.

After the ballet we went out to dinner at PF Chang's. We enjoyed chatting, and laughing with each other. I feel so lucky to have such a wonderful husband. It is great when we can get out together and just have alone time.

Love is in the Air

I was inspired by Nie Nie's blog. If you haven't checked her blog out yet you should! She is in my blog roll. She decorated her house with homemade hearts for Valentine's Day. I decided to do the same. The first thing I made for Wes and the girls were heart pockets. I decided they would be a special place to put love letters for my family members. I was hoping to do several letters. I think my family members each got two, which is something I guess. I had so much fun writing to them. The girls felt so special to get their letters from me. Violet I'm sure didn't notice, but they went into her special memory box. Wes seemed quite touched as well :) I used home made paper from Papel Especially for You http://papelespeciallyforyou.blogspot.com/.

I placed these hearts on my pantry door and several in the living room.

Lydia and Adelle loved coming home from school to find the living room all decorated. They both were inspired to make hearts to put up in the kitchen.

The hearts came down a few weeks later, but I ended up missing a couple so I still see them on my walls. I really haven't been in a hurry to take the last ones down. They add a little something fun to the house. Perhaps we will have to decorate for more holidays.

One Year Since I Lost You

**re-posted from my My Father's Legacy blog**

January 15 was the one year anniversary of my father's death. I think I will always remember the the day. I have a Charlie Brown daily calendar sitting on my desk. It was a Christmas present to my father back in 2009. It was a gift he was actually using which is amazing. It was always hard to find a useful gift for him, unless you got him socks, but then he ended up with too many socks. The calender has almost all of it's pages. January 14 fell off the base because the girls were always flipping through the comic so much. That was the last day my dad was in the office. Now January 15 is the last day that stares back at me, the day he passed away.

The Friday night before the anniversary I dreamt about death. It permeated every nook and cranny of my dreams until I woke up very disturbed. I decided I didn't want to sit home depressed. I thought of the graveyard, but then I thought of something else. I decided I wanted to give a gift to those my father loved. I narrowed it down to those that were closest to him and lived nearby. I couldn't go everywhere.

I wanted to give them something alive. I really wanted to give each person a baby tree that could be planted when spring came, but nobody carries little trees this time of year, unless you count baby Christmas trees that are wilting and leftover from the season. I instead decided on paper whites.

The woman at the nursery told me that they won't last forever, perhaps just a few weeks, and that they can't even be planted in our climate, but there was just something so very beautiful about the delicate, white blooms. They have a strong scent that permeates the house. I also picked up a small bear to go with each bunch of paper whites.

I first stopped at my sisters and visited with her for a little while. I dropped some off to my grandmother. I have to admit that I left them on her doorstep with a note and rang the doorbell and ran. We have sometimes not been on the best of terms. It was fun to leave them in this fashion as well, as a sort of surprise. I then made my final stop to my step-mother. I even bought some for myself.

The note was not elaborate. It just expressed that I was thinking of them that day. I was remembering my father, and by remembering him, remembering everyone he loves.

I drove home feeling uplifted, as if I had been on his errand. I am sure it is just my delusions of grandeur to even say that. It made me feel better in some small way. I wish I could say I went home and felt wonderful the rest of the day, but I did still feel sad.

It has been nice though to continue to see the flowers grow, and I am absolutely amazed how quickly they grow. They are beautiful and they remind me of him.

Move Over Momma. I'm Walking!

My little Violet has been showing more and more interest in walking. In January she wanted us to talk her little hands so she could walk anywhere and everywhere. Then she learned to stand up without holding onto anything. She could be in the center of the room and still stand right up. Then she began talking a few steps on her own. She is doing that more and more. She hasn't entirely given up crawling, but before long I know she will be unstoppable in her little walk. Perhaps she'll even be running!

To Be a Lady

Lydia is in 6th grade this year and growing way too fast. This year at school they are doing all sorts of activities involving the middle ages. Everything will culminate into a great medieval feast at the end of the year. Wes is even making a dress for Lydia.

There are certain tasks Lydia must complete to become "A Lady". One of the things she needed to do was create something that was entirely handmade. Lydia decided to make her very own monogrammed handkerchief. We have a lot of extra fabric on hand and a lot of cross stitching thread. One January evening she spent bent over her fabric, stiching around the edges in blue and then monogrammed her initials. She did a wonderful job in her little project!