Germy Week

Well, we've had a very germy week with both boys down with croup and colds. It's been nothing but crankiness, noses running out-of-control, lots of hacking, and several sleepless nights. It will all pass soon, I'm sure.

I'm very happy to say that in spite of the germs, Morgan is 100% potty trained as of this week! He told me a few nights ago that big boys don't wear pull-ups to bed, so we're in our undies all the time now. We're super proud of him and he's also proud to be a member of the big boy club now. (:

We took the boys skiing last Sunday, taking advantage of less traffic because of the Super Bowl, and had a mostly good time. The logistics of lugging gear and kids in ski boots is just crazy, so we're continuing to brainstorm on how to best do this so that we're not all completely worn out before we even get on a chair lift. Jacoby is skiing beside Justin with the help of a ski pole. We're slowly seeing signs of a snow plow. Morgan skis between my skis and does pretty well for how young he is (as long as he's not cold, hungry, or getting sick as was the case this last time).

Justin is busy trying to get the draft of his proposal done. His students are keeping him busy--he spends a lot of time with them outside of class whenever they manage to find him on campus. One of his students has a family similar to ours and is applying to doctoral programs (Justin has written recommendations for him) and would like to get us all together. It will be nice to meet them but I'm not sure they'll want to hear an "uncensored" version of what graduate school is like with a family. (:

I had a challenging week at work. Morale is probably the lowest I've seen in the 7 years I've been there. Four (5 for some) years of no salary increases is definitely taking a toll, and our sense of being a team and working together is on hiatus. Small, inconsequential issues get blown up way out of proportion very quickly. But my mantra right now is just to keep my big girl pants on and try to stick to the higher road. I'm grateful to be able to leave the unpleasantness every afternoon and come home to a family who loves me.

I've been busy this weekend working on Valentine's projects for the boys. Jacoby wasn't able to help me as much as we had planned since he's sick, but he did sign his name for me so I could scan and attach it to all his cards (Morgan is giving play doh to his classmates). I also made cinnamon popcorn for their parties.

Here are a few pics from the week:

Playing with Insta Snow -- very fun stuff!

Jacoby's Valentine cards for preschool -- the only thing I can take credit for is finding them online. (:

Jacoby's autograph

All snuggled up