Meadow had her first day of school on Wednesday. Of course it also happens to be below zero.   Along with Meadow going back to school and needing masks, I also made her some headbands and attached buttons to hold the straps.  Perfect so her little ears don't get hurt. The kids requested Chocolate Rye Pancakes for this Valentine's breakfast. So sweet. In two ways. I guess Brooke got Meadow a Valentine's shirt. Nope, I got her the fleece lined leggings with hearts on the knees. She already had the shirt. Mmmm...the kids' favorite. You know it's cold outside when you can't see out the window.  Meadow was up to her crafty self and made Theo a batman mask. She made a wrong cut and patched it up otherwise it looks awesome. I made Brooke some peanut butter-peanut butter cup-chocolate ice cream for Valentine's day. It was delicious. When you live in a small place your bedroom becomes your sewing room. I also prefer sewing standing up.  I'm not sure if she's

Yesterday I was reorganizing our spices when I noticed we had a lot of cinnamon. With the negative temps these days cinnamon rolls sounded like a good treat for breakfast. Theo, Meadow and I will not say no to some homemade goodness. Yum, yum. That's the stuff. Our only plan for the day was to build a giant train track using all our tracks. It started out with logic and ended by using the many leftover curving parts. Apparently we need more straight pieces.  Meadow added a Lincoln Logs depot and blocks zoo, Brooke built a block city and Theo and I added vacation land and an enchanted forest. Then Theo insisted on a piggy back ride around the house. That's about it on these Covid days at home. 

And we're back to the cottage.  While Brooke gets fancy on her birthday weekend, I stick to the cottage. Winter visits are some of my favorite times to be in the Northwoods. My parents were already up when we arrived. They were just here last weekend and left the heat on so the house was already warmed up. Dad taught Meadow how to play kings corner. She caught on quick and beat him 3 times.

  I thought my breakfast was impressive and decided to photograph it. I'm on a poached egg kick lately. Meanwhile the rest of us have been on a sleeping in kick. And way too much Nintendo Switch. I was trying to relax myself before the big Packers NFC Championship game. Instead it made me more nervous. Also our living room is slowly being taken over as a playroom. Theo and Baby Yoda were ready to watch the GOAT Aaron Rodgers.  I guess I'm the only one without a Packers shirt. What gives? Meadow is returning to in person schooling in a couple weeks and needed more masks. I always think we have enough masks and then something comes up where we need more. Before kickoff Theo played some Mario Odyssey. Baby Yoda was good luck in the divisional round, so he got a good spot to watch the game. It was smart to get these swings as the kids like to use them year round. Our favorite time of year. The playoffs for Scott and snack dinner for us. Unfortunately this would be another disappoin

  We were missing Victor's 1959 and decided to order it for breakfast.  So good. We were supposed to get a big snowstorm but the temperature was too mild that it made everything slushy.  Kind of a crunchy layer of freezing rain by the time we got outside. We still ventured to the lake anyway. The sidewalks were pretty icy. We finally got to put our ice tracks to good use. The kids wanted to play at Free Forest School aka the trees Meadow's teachers take the kids to every week. Well, at least when they were in-person.