It is pouring down rain at 28 degrees! I was out on the roads this morning, and they weren't too slick, but I wouldn't want to be out this afternoon. I saw the ice forming on the bird feeder out side the kitchen window. We have had a lot of variety this winter...lots of zero degree temperatures, freezing rain, beautiful frost once or twice, snow storms with soft fluffy snow, and blowing and drifting blizzards...to mention some of winters displays.

       I took Jennika and Eric into the doctors this morning to check if we for sure were dealing with strep throat. I was convinced that is what Ciara had last week, but knew if we wanted antibiotics for our family, I'd have to take some one in to the doctor. Eric had a fever and all the signs of strep and scarlet fever. Jennika had only a sore throat, but none of the other signs. When the doctor checked her throat he thought it looked almost as bad as Eric's. When I was checking throats I thought they all looked the same, and decided that I didn't know what I was looking for. The two youngest are running a fever too since yesterday.

I have been gargling salt water every day; wish the rest of the family would do the same. Jason and Ciara were very sick last week with a fever that really knocked them out for part of the week.

       Maybe I should try to keep the house clean and in order since it looks like we should stay here for awhile. Actually, I should focus on sanitizing surfaces, although as I mentioned, keeping the throat free of germs is in my opinion an even better safe guard.

       We had a wonderful Valentine's weekend. I had a very busy week leading up to it though. We had a full week of school that we worked at hard the first three days so we wouldn't have much at the end of the week. Each day I cleaned and prepared food for a couple's supper on Friday evening. We took the children to the baby sitters after nap time and didn't pick them up again till Sat. afternoon! There was four other couples that joined us  for what we called a "marriage enrichment evening".

It was so fulfilling to spend time with other married couples and still have plenty of time to ourselves. The next morning instead of putting all the china away, we set the table again, deciding to bless the children with a fancy valentine's meal, and inviting friends to help eat up the left overs. We invited Nathan and Juanakee and their children to come, telling them not to feel obligated, because the weather was so bad.

We headed to Canton for some shopping and a midwife appointment. It sure was a blustery winter day with blowing and drifting snow. Nathan's did come over and the children had a great evening together.

         Venesa turned three at the end of January. It was snowy, so we had a It's 'snow' much fun to be three! party. The cake was a simple three cake snowman (or girl)

with a scarf of pink bubble gum. We hauled snow into one bath tub so the children could build snowmen.

Bradyn turned two, and by then maybe we had our fill of snow and ice...the theme for his party was rain forest and monkeys! Ahh... warm and steamy jungle with greenery every where, and plenty of fresh fruit to eat.

        A few weeks ago Roy Weaver died. Jason has memories of time spent in their home, especially over harvest time, but other times as well. It is hard when some one knows they are leaving this earth, but have a desire to stay, if only for their families sake. His desire would've been to be here for his grandchildren to see them grow and get married. Roy and Doris celebrated 50 years last year. We had stopped by their place with a bouquet of carnations that day. Less than a year later one of them is no longer here. Looking back we are so glad that Roy was one of those that Jason wrote to last year, feeling an urge to let him know how much he appreciates his Godly example and thanking him for what he invested into his (Jason's) life over the years. It was sweet to hear Doris say at the veiwing how much he treasured that letter!

          The same week as the funeral we heard that our friends were on their way to Akron Children's with their 10 month old little boy. He had rsv and took a turn for the worse after being there a few days.  They must of had an anxious night or two till he started improving. Jason and I were able to visit Jake and Michaelle and Jonathon at the hospital on a Sunday afternoon. He lay there with so many tubes and wires that they couldn't pick him up. We kept getting good reports by text, and heard two days ago that they were on their way home with him. They were so excited to be going home. Praise God!

           We are coming to the end of some or most of our school books, showing that Spring is coming soon, although the weather doesn't yet. Tomorrow we plan to have a 'real' day of school. That means we have to be dressed and combed, eat breakfast and pack lunches before the school bus comes at 8:20. Maybe I should ask Phyllis and Joyce what time we need to be up!? Is seven early enough if I didn't pack lunches this evening? I think I know the answer, but we should be in bed earlier.

I told them that we will have a certain amount of class time, and if they can't get their work done in that time they can plan to put it in their back pack to take 'home' as

home work. If they do get done and there is still time before recess they can choose a book from the 'library' to read. I rarely got to do that in school; I was the child that always had home work. This will be different for them, but they are so excited. It was their idea in the first place. We had planned to try it today, but post poned it because of the trip to the doctors.

          A day later; Ryan woke feeling sick with a sore throat and a fever, so we are treating him now too. So he wasn't able to 'go to school' today. The day was fun though. We had it timed right. The girls had their coats on and back packs and were waiting by the front door when the school bus came by our house. I had them sit in the chairs in the living room for 15 min. (the bus ride to school) while I got the school room rearranged a bit.  Eric slept kind of late. We decided that since he is in Kinder garden, his bus comes later in the morning. It was very nice to have lunch ready to eat at noon. All we had to do was grab our lunch sacks!

Class room time was more peaceful than normal. We even had time for about half an hour of story time, something I wish I could manage every day.  I got even less house work down than I usually do...which is very little anyway, while they are doing school. It was a little harder to end the day in a realistic way. They seemed tired by then, and grouchy. We dismissed at three. I had them clean up the room a bit and put on their coats and boots. We sang, "our day of school is over and we are going home!"

 Then they went out the front door and came around into the garage. I was in the kitchen to greet them and asked about their day. They had a cookie and milk for a snack, and then I helped them do their home work! That wasn't much, but the girls had brought two of Ryan's subjects home for him, so we worked at that some too. 

Hope you enjoyed hearing about the fun we are trying to create for ourselves. A few more weeks of winter yet, and more than a few weeks of school before summer vacation!