We were so ready for our winter break to begin, and it never really did. Less than 24 hours after returning from a quick trip to Family Land our Bleu was hit with a high fever. The whole thing came out of nowhere on Tuesday and lasted the week. The fever shot up to 107.2 at one point.
We called the pediatrician, alternated Tylenol and Motrin, ran room-temperature baths, bribed liquids, and offered electrolyte Popsicles. Bleu quickly lost her appetite and gained a cough. Grandma DJ arrived on Wednesday, as planned. We all stayed in.
Friday the doctor took a nasal swab, a urine sample and a chest x-ray. Those tests came back negative, so we figured the five-day fever was just Bleu's way of fighting off sickness. Whatever the cause it seemed contained to Bleu, and we prayed it would stay that way. Saturday morning her fever broke for good. She spent the weekend resting and tried to resume activity this morning. Now I'm thinking it was too soon.
Tonight it appears we are in for Round 2. Ollie suddenly has all the symptoms of his very first cold. He's pretty uncomfortable, and all I can do is keep his nose clear and continue to cuddle him snug in my arms. Around the clock.
I am so done with winter his year. How about you?
Oh my. Where did the week go? We've been so busy I don't think I opened the laptop once. Now we're on route to Family Land for a weekend of two baptisms and a birthday. My Sweets turns 36 on Sunday.
I have some time in the car now, so I'll re-post my random Valentine-y photos from the week. I know February 14 is a silly made-up holiday, but still, we kind of LOVE it here. Especially the Bubster. And as with any other real or fake holiday, we make a point to decorate, craft, note-write and bake to the theme.
This year we officially celebrated Valentine's Day a few days in advance. My Sweets caught the early train home one night {to my surprise} and met us at our favorite restaurant right here in the village. There were twinkle lights, soft dinner conversations, desserts, and decaff caps. It felt quite romantic, even with three babes in tow.
Monday morning Buby and Bleu ran downstairs to some fun eye openers, including a whole lot of balloons. Buby exchanged cards at school and received a red helium balloon from his tennis instructor. Helium balloons totally rock his world. Bleu had her play date with Ella. My Sweets caught the early train home... again. I picked up Thai after tennis and then made the kids a "super awesome" {their words} breakfast for dinner consisting of heart-shaped raspberry buckwheat pancakes and blueberry-banana-strawberry smoothies. 
This felt "I Love You" sign came via mail from our cousin Debbie {Godmother to all three kiddos} last year, and it hangs in our kitchen.
Monday's lunch menu was simple and tied to the theme. I had to be smart about it, because I only had about 1/2 hour to prep for company after dropping Buby at school. I made heart-shaped sandwiches on whole wheat flat bread {a mix of cream cheese and jelly, just raspberry jelly and pb & j}, heart-shaped watermelon slices, fresh salsa, red pepper strips, red grapes, and grape tomatoes.
For us moms I made fresh bruschetta on wheat ciabetta bread, Santa Cruz pink lemonade, and a mixed greens salad with strawberries and almonds. Mostly organic, as usual.
I love to give and receive mini carnations. {Monochromatic. Tightly bunched. Leaves removed. No filler.} As long as you keep the stems trimmed and the water fresh, they can last weeks. There's something so charming about the itty bitty blossoms.
My friend Alana recently said how long-stemmed red roses were wasted on her. I totally agree. I've never fancied them. My all-time fave blooms are lavender lilacs still on the branch and blue hydrangeas.
Little friend Ella made Buby and Bleu two large tissue-paper hearts to hang in our kitchen windows. Year after year. We absolutely adore.
I'm no gourmet, but how can you go wrong with heart-shaped sandwiches?
My Sweets and I made these Valentine treasure chests for Bleu's best girlies Ava and Ella. Buby and Bleu have had theirs, but I made Ollie a matching box this year as well. It's my {genius?} solution to all the love notes, three-dimensional Valentines, and full-size greeting cards that come our way the month of Feb.
I pick up unpainted wooden boxes at Michael's, My Sweets uses a drummel to cut slits in the top, and I paint and glue on the hearts and initials. Easy as pie, and they don't wear or tear like a typical Valentine mailbox.
I'll admit I'm a sucker for tiny clothes pins from the craft store. Only $1.99 a pack.
For Buby's notes to his three teachers we used the scraps from his classmates' cards.
Buby was so happy to wear an old pink polo to school {and a love bug necklace, too!}, Bleu found a love bird tee she liked at Old Navy a few weeks back, and Ollie Bear sported a lion onesie made by an area artist and gifted by my friend Christine. 
This year he reads and writes and spells with some guidance. Pretty groovy.
Homemade heart crayon from Buby's teacher. He's been using it nonstop.
Everyone in our house likes balloons. Except Jazzy.
Buby said he purposely made each of his classmates' Valentines different. He wanted each one to be "an original."
It turns out I like the basic Crayola molding clay so much more than Play-doh or even Soy-Yer Dough, the wheat- and gluten-free alternative we started using a couple of years ago. It's non-toxic and non-hardening, less messy and unscented. The non-hardening is a big deal here, since Buby and Bleu like to leave their creations overnight for My Sweets to see. Then they start again the next day.
I almost forgot we had a box of it in the craft closet until yesterday when my friend mentioned the air-dry version. Today we came home right after school and started molding. Buby made a rainbow, of course. He is very into rainbows. Probably once a day I get a rainbow from him in some form. Love that.
I baked a dozen organic chocolate chip cookies this week and cut them into hearts while they were still hot. The kids and I had fun pulling away the edges. Truth be told I ate most of the batch myself. Every time I ran downstairs I snuck another.
My Sweets hopped the early train one night to take us all out. Oh yes... to our favorite date place in the village. Bringing three hungry babes into a fine-dining establishment near bedtime is risky, but we did it anyway. And it was seriously awesome. That is, until Oliver had a {post nursing} blow-out on my lap.
Tomorrow is Saturday, which means Buby will be getting a trim from Danielle and then {hopefully} finishing up a ginormous stack of valentines for his classmates. I will clean and play, grocery shop, launder, and maybe hit a big science museum in a neighboring state before the weekend is out.
Looking forward to Monday. Bleu and I will host a lil' shindig for her girlies while Buby is in school. Shhh. He insists we do nothing interesting without him.
Have a LOVE-ly weekend.
When you are watching the pins and everyone is watching you.
Someday we will go back to more fancy schmancy valentines. This year we do simple.
I picked up white paper hearts at Michael's, trimmed pink and red construction-paper hearts for Bleu {Buby can do this on his own}, cut pink streamers leftover from a birthday party, and pulled out my inventory of felt heart stickers. The kids grabbed the bottle of clear washable Elmer's and went to town.
Definitely a good little project for a two year old.
Before beginning their study of the rain forest one of Buby's teachers asked all of the children in the class to draw what they imagine a rain forest to be. At pickup the teacher expressed to me how delighted she was with Buby's detailed description.
