It’s been snowing pretty much nonstop here today. It’s like we’re living inside a snow globe. This incredibly cinematic footage is of our picnic table on our back deck.

Yesterday, Luke and I ran a few errands and he was super impressed by the “giant” snow banks we saw.

Maggie is easily our biggest winter weather lover. She is constantly asking to play outside.

The other night the deer were hanging out in our backyard. I didn’t get a picture of all of them, but we counted seven.

My mom adopted Harris after one of her students found the cat outside and in rough shape. The girl’s other pets didn’t get along with Harris (who they were calling Pancake). If they couldn’t find a home for the cat, they were going to have to take her to a shelter. The student convinced my mom that she should take Harris in. Luke immediately fell in love with Harris. He would call my mom to check in on her and always went to find Harris first, whenever we visited.

So about a year before we actually moved back to New York, my mom and Luke struck up a deal. After we were settled in our new house, Harris would come live with us and be Luke’s cat. Luke is an amazing pet owner. He never complains about cleaning up after her or having to feed her. Because of her time as a stray, if Harris gets all of her food for the day at once, she gobbles it up and gets sick. So Harris gets fed four times a day (she came with an automatic feeder that Luke can set up on days he’s in school or if we’re going to miss a feeding).

He wanted to use all of his Christmas money to buy her a new bed. She had two already, and I convinced him we could just relocate one of the ones she already had. Not to mention half of the time we find her sleeping in ridiculous not-cat-bed places. We got her a new brush instead.

In that last picture Luke told me he was trying to read Harris’s mind. I told him she was probably thinking how much she loves you. Luke said, “That’s funny, I was thinking the same thing.”

Harris really hit the jackpot with Luke.

Maggie and Luke wanted to make valentines for their classmates. They came up with fun ideas and we placed an order for supplies online. Everything was going according to plan, until our order got stuck in New Jersey, thanks to all the snow they got.

The kids’ school asked that all valentines be in by today, in order to quarantine them prior to their parties. So we couldn’t wait and the kids both had to come up with Plan Bs. They handled it like champs and decided to go with some favorites from years past – a new school means they can get away with repeating ideas.

Luke decided to go with mini foam fingers and smarties.

While Maggie opted for googly eye rings and candy.

Annie helped by taste testing the candies. She wasn’t a fan of the smarties, but everything else got a thumbs up from her.

Maggie had fun coloring all the monsters and picking out what color ring each friend would get. She has been really into homophones lately and was super excited with the “eye/I” wordplay she came up with.

Overall, Maggie and Luke were pretty happy with how their valentines turned out. Our missing package did show up and so we’re all set with their ideas for next year already too.

Luke brought this masterpiece home from school today.

He worked on it during his past couple of art classes.

I think he did a fantastic job and it’s one of the cutest art projects I’ve seen. I sort of want him to make me a whole little family of snowpeople.

Maggie’s class works with a different poem each month. The class spends time looking at the words and being “Phonics Detectives.” They recite the poem each day, with the end goal of the students memorizing it by the end of the month. Maggie, my natural born performer, loves it. One of the first things she said this morning was, “It’s February! That means we get to learn a new poem today!”

Here’s January’s selection, for your enjoyment.

One of Dave’s favorite games is hiding Annie’s bunnies. She has a couple of stuffed rabbits that she sleeps with and carries all over the house. Normally it’s her favorite pink bunny that gets this special treatment, but yesterday Honey Bunny ended up in costume and on top of our grandfather clock.

Luke is pretty proud of this “empty” wordplay.

Annie wanted to be a ballerina today, but could only find one ballet shoe. So she took a nap instead.

Yesterday she pointed to some pictures in a magazine and asked me what was happening. I told her they were showing how a caterpillar turns into a butterfly. She was adamant that it didn’t happen that way and caterpillars did NOT turn into butterflies. It was so funny. When we insisted that yes, that’s how it goes – she covered her ears and wouldn’t look at us. We were able to get her to agree after showing her three YouTube videos (if it’s on YouTube it has to be true, right?).

She cracks me up.

Last November I made the boys hooded bath towels. They had outgrown their old ones (a couple of years ago if I’m being honest). So I suggested making new ones and let them each pick their own animal. Luke asked for an otter and Adam wanted a baby duck (thankfully they picked easy ones).

I mentioned that I’d seen people make hooded blankets and the boys jumped on that as well. Luke didn’t want an animal this time – just something blue and cozy. Adam requested another baby duck (sixth grade boys are strange).

So there you go, proof that I do sew for the boys too.

Friday was a remote learning day for the boys and after lunch Adam, Luke, Annie, and I went over to my mom’s house. Adam and Luke finished up their schoolwork and Annie even joined in.

An added benefit of being at my mom’s meant that she helped Adam with his English homework. That’s a big win for all of us – even if Adam didn’t feel like smiling for the camera.