My Favorite Valentine of the Day

Just in case you can't read it, it says, "To: Lidea"  "Love: Evan"  "Have! a! Happy! Valentines! Day!!!"   And on the back it says, "A now born!!"  (As in "A Newborn")

I love it.  And no, no name has been chosen.  The boys learned that we liked that name and that both of them would have been Lydia if they were girls.  So that's what they've stuck with.  Personally, I like to think of her as Twila Fern.  A great combination of the grandmothers' names.  Of course, before we get too stuck on any feminine name we're waiting for one more ultrasound on Thursday afternoon.  I'm holding off until then.  If 2 out of 3 ultrasounds say the same thing, we'll cautiously go with it.

And judging by her activity level, I do think Twila Fern had a Happy! Valentines! Day!  Of course, if I'm judging by her activity level, it would appear that Every! Day! is a Happy! Day!  Yesterday at my appointment, the nurse practitioner couldn't get a good count on the heart rate because the kid wouldn't hold still!  Ay yi yi.  Here we go.  As Eli said, "Mom, I don't think it's a girl.  Or else it's a really hyper girl!"  Yes, yes.  Maybe we just produce crazy active children...

Snowmobile Pros

This sweet sight warmed my heart:

Right now we have two little snowmobiles from the 1970s.  (While we try to sell one.)  They don't go fast and they're small- perfect for 2 awesome boys.  Evan's too little to handle it through the trees, so Kendall gets them down to the lake and sets them loose.  They love it.

But I can go faster.

Dog-sledding

Last Saturday we decided to visit the neighbors across the lake, so we harnessed up the dogs and off we went.

Oh wait.  We don't actually have sled dogs.
 
But we did get to go for a ride!  There was a visiting team of dogs in town.  Eli's class got to go see them on Friday and we all went on a beautiful Saturday morning.  They were just down the bay from us.  We could see them out on the bay from our house as they ran their route.  So we went to where they were set up and even enjoyed hot chocolate and bannock with the friends and neighbors that were also there.

After the kids got their rides, the adults had a chance too.  This was my vantage point:

If I turned around, this was my other vantage point:

Yes, I risked my life with this inexperienced, but dependable, driver.
If you look really closely, you can see our house across the bay.  Well, maybe not, but it's there.

And the boys got to hold 2 sweet little huskies.

Snow Cave

Eli and Evan have a super duper snow cave thanks to their Dad.  It's quite deep, but there's no room to sit up.  Even brave Dad just about lost it when he was in head first with a shovel and both boys tried to crowd in with him. :) 

Eli and Evan also have super duper cat-dogs thanks to their Mom.  Both cats are still alive thanks to their Dad who built an insulated house with a light bulb inside to keep them from freezing.  I call them cat-dogs because they are cats that think they are dogs.  They run to greet us when we get home.  They follow the boys to the bus in the morning.  They lick.  They stand up and put their front paws on you.  They are very friendly.  Unfortunately, although the boys refer to the cat-dogs as their daughters, they are still banished to the outside and we don't really know their names.  We just call them "Evan's cat" and "Eli's cat."  I know that's weird.  Eli and Evan might know their names if they can remember what they were the last time they named them.

Anyway, here is the snow cave:  (notice the cat-dog licking Eli's glove)

Evan crawled back in the cave.  Here he is being attacked by "Evan's cat."

Then Evan took the camera and snapped a photo of Eli and me on the outside.  (Sorry, not going in that thing.)

Evan wants Kendall to sleep in the snow cave some night with him.  Good luck.