Valentines Day, A Special Gift.

Papa brought me yellow roses on Valentines day. He surprised me with them after he was suppose to be at work. He banged through the door, handed me the flowers and a heart shaped box of chocolates, kissed me several times and proceeded to tell me what else he'd brought home. A little chopper for baby food and a new mixer as mine has mostly given up. Then he kissed me again, yelled that he'd be home late and headed off to work! What a sweetheart he is. He normally gives me red roses but this morning I told him if he was going to give me flowers please could I have daffodils. I'm really wishing for spring these last few days and I thought the bright yellow colored flowers would help with the February winter YUCK.

 As Papa headed out the door I noticed E was standing beside me with something I'd asked her to bring to me. Her 4 year old eyes were large with excitement and twinkled. Did you know little girls were born to be romanced? I didn't,  not until today. OHHHH The OOOHHHS and AHHS the 'they are GORGEOUS mommy. Just GORGEOUS' R says to me. I want to keep them forever and ever because they are SO GORGEOUS!!' They had to smell them, touch them, watch me as I cut the stems and placed them in water then OHHH and AHHH over them again when I put them on the table. Several times R said. OH Thank YOU Papa!! And E would say 'Papa's at work, we'll have to tell him Thank you for the beautiful flowers when he gets home!' Oh Oh OH!!! At one point after I'd cut them and was putting them on the table I saw the two of them grin at each other and spontaneously HUG!!! E lifting R off the floor!! What little girls they are. I had no idea, and I'm sure Papa didn't either, how much our two little girls would enjoy those bright yellow roses!!

The boys were outside doing firewood as all this was going on. But when they did come in for a quick moment they had to see the flowers and smell them. J stuck his nose in a flower till his nose was just about gone and inhaled deeply then sighed. They really do smell nice! L's eyes lite up and his cheerful little grin lit up the room.

They went Ga Ga over the chocolates too. I cut all the chocolates in half so that everyone could try a few not just one or two. What a great idea that was. We will be doing that again. Half a chocolate is quite enough for a good taste. We don't have favorites because we get chocolates so rarely so this way we can try a few and see what we like!

It's been several days now and we are still enjoying our spot of spring on the table. Amazing how handful of bright yellow flowers can make the snow seem not so deep and the sunshine a little brighter and grins pop out on faces a little more often. What a wonderful gift! Thank you Papa!

The Snow Castle.

R peeking through a window in the top 'keep' area. 

Papa building while J, L and R look on. He made this huge pile with the bobcat taking all the snow that fell off the carport side of the roof and several other places. So a LOT of the snow is in great big chunks. Frozen solid. You can see one tunnel right under J. 

The boys and Papa working on the castle.

The 4 on or in the castle. R is peeking out the window. No J is not on top of her, he's farther back. The top where they are at is probably 10 feet at least wide.

It's fun to sled off the end. Chip loves it sit up there and watch them. Even the kittens have gone down this hill on the sled!! When L told me he'd taken them down I asked if they'd liked it. His answer...'Humm.. I really don't know!" I suspect not. 

We got more snow the night after Papa started it. So it got a bit bigger. Here you can see the path on the left. There is a path all around the back and several tunnels and a slide back there that either go to the 'keep' or slide out of it. 

More tunnels. 

The path around the back.

A long tunnel. 

I have no idea what this picture is... maybe a start of a tunnel?? :) 

L in some tunnels. 

J and L in the 'keep' which actually is taller then this now. Papa built the sides up with snow blocks sort of like an igloo. 

Inside the keep. It measures about 12 feet long and 5, at the widest point, wide. 

Papa digging what turned into the slide. 

Here you can see where he's working. He's standing but bent over. 

This has nothing to do with the castle but I thought it was kinda neat. See that little tiny snow hill at the far side by the trees?? It's not really by the trees. It's close to where the trampoline is. These sled tracks go all the way from that little snow hill down to where I took the picture. The boys had an awesome time sledding on our new orange sled with Papa. Papa stayed behind the hill and when they were ready he gave a big PUSH and WOW did they ever go!!