This is the final day of February vacation week. Last year we spent it in Florida, and this year we spent it with the stomach virus. Good times! Seriously though, it was a pretty low-key week. Mema and Grandpa Tom and Uncle Greg all came to visit. We played out in the snow, played inside, flew helicopters and flying eyeballs, and generally had fun.

The RF devices set off our smoke alarm. Lex insisted on taking it down himself by piling pillows on top of pillows. Mema supervised.

See the helicopter?

Eyeball!

One day Eve decided to do some math, just for fun. She wrote it right next to a drawing she’d done of herself with her face painted like a butterfly. She got all the way up to 4096+4096 when Alan decided to teach her some stuff. She promptly lost interest. I guess math is only fun on her terms. :)

Multifaceted Eve with her art and math.

When Alan tried to teach her math, she lost interest.

We’ve had lots of snow this week, but we’ve also had a few beautiful sunny days!

It was a beautiful day!

It was so warm the snowman melted by nightfall, but we enjoyed making it. :)

These days the kids wake up early on the weekends (well, that’s how it has always been!) and they come down stairs and play computer games. I don’t love the amount of time they get, but I do love sleeping in a bit on weekends! A little give and take. Usually they are on separate computers, but the other morning I found them like this.

This is how I found them one morning. Cuddled in my chair, sharing a cracker-snack breakfast, and playing on Highlightskids.com together. Sweetness.

We are getting more and more use out of our nearly finished basement. I’ve started exercising down there on the twice broken elliptical, the kids have some toys down there, the guests report that it makes a nice bedroom (just wait for the mattress topper we just ordered!) and Eve decided to set up an art studio. The basement is the place to be.

Eve set up an art studio in the basement and worked on her drawings while I exercised.

I think we’ve hit the beginning of the end of the pet discussion. On Friday I took the kids to the humane society to visit the animals. I told them we should make it a research project. Eve promptly grabbed her notebook and a pencil. On the way down we discussed what kinds of questions we should ask them about having pets. Eve took notes. When we got there we found three cat rooms that were open for visiting. Apparently if you want to visit the dogs you need to go through the adoption interview process first and meet the dogs one-on-one. We weren’t ready for that so we just played with cats. Eve asked questions and took notes on the answers. She even found the cat of her dreams, or so she says. I think what sold her was the tag that said, “a cuddly little grandma whose only wish is to curl up by your side!” Eve thought that sounded just perfect. The discussion continues…

She had lots of questions for the lady.

Petting Smores, a pretty kitty.

This is Cookie, the “grandmother cat” that Eve has her heart set on.

Playing with Sheldon, the somewhat skittish cat that had them both laughing.

Tonight is our final night of vacation before school starts tomorrow. Thankfully we are all feeling healthy, happy, and relaxed. We spent the day building a new Mindstorm robot, teaching animals about math and science, and going to a birthday party at the aquatic center. A nice mix of busy and calm. Happy Sunday.

We have been pretty low-key about Valentine’s Day this year. I only just got out decorations today and only because Eve said “I think it’s about time we decorate for Valentine’s Day.” Mostly it has been about getting the cards done.  I figured they deserved a little something sweet for the day though.

Happy Valentine’s Day!