February 14 Valentine's Day

Tuesday:  Dylan and Kelly texted me this morning that Aidan is running a slight fever and will not be going to school today. They wondered if he could come over here with Erin and Cal today and just "lay low" ... well, of course! How sad for Aidan that he had to miss his Valentine's party at school, though.

Naturally the first thing Mr. Aidan wanted to accomplish with his time at grandma's house was ... another BOOK. He got right to work on it, without delay.

Erin was busy making teensy tiny hearts and coloring them in. SO CUTE.

Cal was rather pleased to play with our treehouse for awhile ...

He even got to play with it SOLO for quite awhile because the other kids were making stuff at the table.

Cal soon abandoned treehouse living for life on the tracks (once again). He plays and plays and PLAYS with trains, cars, and trucks.

Here is our author, hard at work. Seriously.

Here is the cover of his latest novel: "The Book Weard" ... which is how I read it to him after he was finished; but he totally insisted that his book was titled: "The Weard Book" ... so ... okay then. And yes, I realize the spelling is actually WEIRD but I did not correct his work.

Here is a sample page. On the left side, our artist has rendered a 10-wheeled "car" ... remember now--this is NOT a bus or a truck--NO WAY--it is a C-A-R. Aidan then showed me the squiggly way his 10-wheeler had gone on the road (notice the squiggles on the opposite page). He insisted on having a flap: "WAT LOOK" (Wait, look!) and under the flap is printed ST and then OP is underneath the ST. STOP.

Dear Erin still has a continuing cold. I asked her to give me the tiniest smile and she gave me a thumbs down instead! What?!?!?

TWO thumbs down in a row!

Then a partial thumbs up with a sweet little smirk ...

THEN a thumbs down on her NOSE. She kills me.

Look at this little dude. This kiddo plays with intensity.

I've never seen a child who loves cars and trucks more than this one. I think Brendan loved trains excessively (in a good way)--and Cal enjoys trains too--but nothing can top a few trucks and cars for this little one.

I shared the Valentine cookies Kaity and I decorated ... however, the only one who really seemed to enjoy them was Aidan. Erin kind of picked around at hers, and Cal crumbled his in a million pieces on his high-chair tray and then asked for more. However, since he hadn't even taken a bite out of the one I gave him (which he crumbled up), I distracted him from having another.

In case you can't figure out WHAT this is;
it is a UNICORN with pink feet.

Mr. Cal does enjoy a nice bowl of ice cream though.

Later in the day, we drove back to their house so that it wouldn't be empty when Brendan came home from school. Once again, I failed to get any pictures of Brendan.

Aidan (because he is a hilarious child) modeled three pair of glasses simultaneously for me ...

The entire time he had them on, he was cracking up.

And this little monkey did a bunch of climbing stunts for me -- she absolutely has no fear whatsoever.

Dylan and Kelly returned home from work with fancy heart-shaped pizzas from JETS (my favorite); so we enjoyed dinner and the kids for awhile. Kelly showed me a very funny routine she does with Cal. Kelly will sing a few bars of a song--which song I am forgetting right now--and then she'll stop and Cal will open his little mouth and BELLOW out more lyrics as he sings. He has an amazing voice ... a born entertainer, this kiddo. 

Ah ... the love and JOY of family. I am so blessed.