ALKI, VALENTINE'S AND A CIRCLE OF PROMISES:

The girls and us parents had a BIG falling out. See.....Pat and I have noticed that our girls have gotten very sluggish and inappropriate when we ask them to clean up their toys. Sara gets a instant leg ache and turns on the tears and Sydney grumbles and complains the whole time she moves like a sloth and puts her toys one handed into the wrong place. Finally (and a bit long overdue I am sure) I blew my stack and said "Now I will clean up your room....my way" . Pat and I got Rubbermaid bins and put everything away under the house. The response was as dramatic as you could imagine. Their reaction told me that we should have done this ages ago.

The girls and I had a long conversation the next day about how to get a long in this family and we created a Circle of Promises. It lists all the things we want to do in this family. I was so impressed with the list they came up with...

We will:

Be loving

Be patient

Share

Give Second chances

Not yell

Not be sassy

Do as we are told

....there is more but I can't think of it right now. Anyway, the girls decorated our circle and it hangs now in our kitchen. BTW - clean up is going really great everyday.

Sydney had her first Valentine's celebration at school. She is only a half day student so she had to open her cards at home. She was so sweet and let Sara open up half of them and shared everybit of candy she got. Even down to sharing a sucker. Honestly, I was never this giving when I was little. I was glad that Sara got to have some fun too.

We took Ruby out for a walk on Alki beach. We wanted her to get used to more people and sniff a couple of dogs.

Ruby did great and the girls had fun running all around. Sara said she would love to come back....in the summertime. Ahhhh!....her and Mommy are so alike.

Then it was time for Ruby to get her second bath. You can tell that she just isn't all that sure about the whole thing.

Here is a picture of Sara in her favorite spot...on the heater vent. Her and I have the same cold blood I think. If there was enough room I would be on the heater vent with her and Ruby.

SISTER FUN AND A DANCE:

Last Friday I got to spend the day with Andrea on the slopes. We had great fun and think we have a new sister annual tradition.

Andrea asked me to wear a helmet this year. You know how I believe that all things happen for a reason so I suddenly feared the fall the was going to require the helmet. Ha Ha! No such wipeout occurred but I am glad I had the helmet on.

We snapped a couple of pictures at the end of our day. It was great conditions and our legs were tired but don't we look happy?:Afterwards we headed to Janna's house where Andrea.....no I mean Janna made us some homemade pizza's. They were so sweet to accommodate my picky palette with Pepperoni and pepper. I also bought a huge tub of butter toffee peanuts that I absolutely had to have. Lets just say I won't be eating another one of those in a long long time. Did you find the leftovers Janna?

Janna's little Winnie as so sweet to me. This little dog is so sweet. She was rescued from a puppy mill and when she wants to be held she uses her past to convince you of her need to be in your arms. So cute!!When I got home I got to spend the whole day and night with just Pat. Mom and B had the girls. We discovered Ruth's Chris Steakhouse happy hour. OMG!! The meals were cheaper the MacDonald's and were REALLY good. I highly recommend it.

When the girls got home on Sunday I was treated to a Dragon Dance in celebration of the Chinese New Year. Very cute and well done.