It snowed 8 inches here in mid-SC on Friday!  It was the deepest snow we have had here in 10 years and the 5th deepest day on record!  Those of you who live up north may not understand the excitement  but us southerners look at snowfall as a gift.

Perhaps though that’s only because it lasts a day or so then everything is right back to normal.  We may not feel so happy about it if we had to put up with snow for 4-5 months at a time!

Regardless, we were all dancing in the streets and building snowmen galore.

On an even happier note, Jack-Evan (who will be two in May!  can you believe it? ) has his very first Valentine’s social tomorrow morning with a group of kids from our local Mommy’s Play Group.  I have some very yummy sugar cookies ready to go (the kids are decorating cookies with icing & sprinkles) and a package of valentines with suckers.  I felt a little bad at first that they’re not homemade cutesy wootsy kind (I’m really NOT into paper crafts), but I got over that feeling really fast.  The ones we did get are adorable little boy sport ones with removable Tatoos.  Quite good enough in my books.  :)   My husband got quite a kick outta watching me boohoo over the baking pan whiles I was spatula’ing out the sugar cookies.  I’m such a sentimental old sap…. my baby is growing up far too fast.  Did I not just give birth to him?

Happy (late) Valentine’s Day!

P.S.  I still haven’t figured out how to get my comment approval working again….haven’t had much time to dig into Wordpress’ backend.  I’m still getting your comments though and they’re all sitting there waiting on me to figure it out.  So please don’t feel bad if you submit a kind word and don’t see it appear for a while!  I’m still reading them and smiling when I do!

For the most part, Jack-Evan has always been a Momma’s boy.  But here recently, he’s been seeing his daddy in a whole new light!  So much so that he now cries for DaDa when he leaves for work in the morning!  It makes Kevin so proud that his son is *finally* showing strong attatchment to him.

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You know the point where

“I must get the rest of the cleaning done” meets

“I must stare at my sweet baby for just a little longer before he grows up”?

I’m there.

or… “Jack(-Evan) in a Box”

So there you have it. 

Forget all those new fangled gadgets in Walmart!

Just give them a box and they’re content.

This is my first year of (halfway) successful gardening.  For the past 26 summers of my life (give or take 3-4 considering I was a baby during some of them), I have wished I could grow things.  Any thing.  But alas, I’ve always had a black thumb, successfully killing everything from an impossible to kill spider plant to a silk petunia.

So why have I been able to successfully grow tomatoes, chives, pumpkins, and beans from tiny seeds this year?

I was wondering that too.  Perhaps someone had been helping me behind my back??

Well, today, I found the answer.  

It took a lot of stealthy snooping, but I finally caught him….red green handed.

He can run, but he can’t hide anymore!

Here are a few photos I snapped last night of my little container flowers.  

It’s my first year ever of gardening.  I’m happy that I’ve managed to kill only one plant so far!

They make me feel so domestic. :0)

This little guy was building a web between the hanging plant and porch banister when I snapped this.
The circle behind him is the full moon!  I wanted to sit out in my new arbor all night, swinging, and staring at the moon.

(Voiced by 13 month old Jack-Evan, typed by Mommy)

Once upon a time, I found some beans.

 I stuck them in some dirt so the birds wouldn’t eat them.  

Plus, I had heard some great stories about what happens when you plant magical beans!

I cried when I couldn’t find my beanstalk the next morning.  

Mommy mentioned I should probably water them or they will die like hers do.

Finally, on day 5…. my magic beanstalk appeared!

It wasn’t quite what I expected though.

Perhaps tomorrow, it will be tall enough to climb on?

THE END.

We snapped these photos last month at our favorite restaurant the Sunday before Jack’s 1st birthday.  

Since we go there every week, all of the waitresses know us and are completely in love with Jack-Evan.  Thankfully, they didn’t mind us letting Jack dig into the special dessert they brought him when they all sung Happy Birthday.

(Don’t worry….Kevin and I were good patrons in the end, and cleaned up after him in hopes that we would still be warmly welcomed there the next weekend!)

(Voiced by 13 month old Jack-Evan, typed by Mommy)

After I helped Daddy finish painting the house…

I put him to work building something very special for Mommy.

You see, she’s always wanted a swing.

But unfortunately, our porch is far too small for one.

We built her a large 8×8x10′ arbor instead.  It’s almost finished now!
The only thing we have left is adding the remaining banisters, and planting the grape vines.  
Then we can show it to Mommy. 

Hey…wait a minute…has anyone SEEN my mommy lately???

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ZZZZzzzzzzzzzz…….