Feeling a little Ashy

Last night was the Ash Wednesday service at church. It was the first Ash Wednesday service Spencer has ever attended. It seems like he is sick every year this time and normally misses it.
Anyway...we were given a small piece of paper to write down one of our sins. Then we could surrender the paper at the foot of the cross, receive the ash cross on our forehead--all symbolic of acknowledgement and forgiveness of sin. I'm not deeply religious--more spiritual, but I thought this would be a good learning experience for Spencer. And besides, who am I kidding? My soul could use a spiritual enema about right now, don't ya think?
I thought the "sin" part might be too deep or troubling for Spencer. But instead of writing one sin on the paper, my poor kid filled up the entire sheet and was flipping it over and starting on the back! Sin #1 was that he kicked Bowser! What??? My kid isn't cruel to animals!!! I was itching for the service to end so that I could talk to him about his list!
At the end of the service, Spencer told me that he felt much better and he liked Ash Wednesday. He said that he is going to be a better kid now that he is forgiven and gets a new start. (okay--so he "gets" it much better than most adults I know, including myself!) I asked him about kicking Bowser and he said that one day Bowser had gotten into the trash and he was trying to hold him back while he tied the bag and accidentally kicked him. Whew! It was an accident--and he KNEW it was wrong--so I feel better now.
Then, the little smart-aleck asked me which sin I wrote down. Before I could even answer him he said, "I bet it was cussing. Especially when you are driving. You probably should work on that."
Ooops.

Berry Good

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Spencer and I made chocolate covered strawberries for everyone for Valentine's Day. As we headed to the door Spencer said, "Mom. Can I keep the money?"
It took me a second but I then realized that the poor kid thought we were going to sell the chocolate covered strawberries. I explained to him that they were GIFTS, but still--- he cracks me up.

I finally treated myself to the ice wine Patti sent. It's so good. Too good. But as you see in the picture, there is less than 1/2 a glass in the ENTIRE bottle. That makes it expensive as hell-- but oh.my.goodness........If I hit the lotto, I am buying it by the case.

Spencer and I made up a new game this weekend. It's called "What will Bowser NOT eat?" The dog is a spazz and eats everything-- shoes, pillows, food, buttons, cat turds, bread wrappers, chewing gum....anything. So we thought-- well, geez, let's see if there is anything (actually considered food) that the dog will not eat. We started off with things we thought for sure he would pass on-- lettuce, tomato, onion, etc. Nope-- he ate them. He exhausted the entire kitchen. The list of things he would NOT eat: dried apricots and black walnuts. So think about it-- this dog will eat ANYTHING except those two things. It makes you kind of wonder if we should eat them!

You know it!

There are just so many captions I want to write for this picture. I actually paused the TV and hit rewind *just* to get this photo. Coach K is screaming his head off, his goons are ignoring him.....you can almost hear me giggle.
Go Tar Heels!

Can you dig it?

The weather was beautiful today! Warm, sunny--no wind. So we did what Spencer and Bowser love to do-- we walked to the turnip patch and let Bowser dig up turnips. Yeah, we know how to party.

Girls Night Out

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For Laura's birthday, we did a girls night out party. We started the evening at the movies- seeing "He's Just Not That Into You." It was pretty good-- but a little heavier on story and lighter on comedy than we expected. But that's ok, we made our own comedy tonight.
Following the movie, we went for dinner and drinks at La Hacienda. We laughed throughout the entire dinner--sometimes a little louder than probably appropriate. Somehow we all flashed back to 21 and the drinks were awesome and the conversation all revolved around good times, hot guys, fun friends and "polishing cones." The restaurant closed at 11:00 (what the hell?) and at 10:59 the waiters were clearing their throats loudly and making "cock-a-doodle-doo" noises. Seriously. Pretending to be a cock seems like a good idea?
We decided that the next girls night out needs to involve live music....and a place that stays open later than 11:00! Laura had just gotten tipsy enough to break out her "back in Italy" stories.....

Super Bowl Sunday

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Following our usual tradition, we celebrated Super Bowl Sunday and Melissa's birthday together. Believe it or not, Spencer and IV were quiet and played in Boppa's room the entire game. I know. We were shocked, too. The rest of us enjoyed fun snacks, a few drinks and since no one had a vested interest in the outcome of the Super Bowl, we enjoyed the game as well.