February started out fun. Thursday, February 4th, I left for a trip to Montreal. The trip was with my BFF Krissy, her BFF Amanda and Amanda's husband Matt. I will dedicate an entire future post to this trip so I can add more details. The purpose of our trip was to see a hockey game but we saw some sights while we were there also. It was a great time!
While I was on the trip, Chris was busy dealing with Snowmageddon back at home. For those of you not from Pittsburgh, the city was hit with over 2 feet of snow that weekend. Our house was hit pretty hard. That Friday night, a tree landed on our roof. Fortunately not a huge tree, but, a tree nonetheless. It knocked the power lines off of our house and we were left with no power for 5+ days. Braden stayed the weekend with "Grandma & Dude" (Chris's parents), and then both Chris and Braden stayed with my parents. When I returned home, I stayed there as well, while Chris spent nights at the warming station at LVFC. Staying with my parents was interesting, only because I have been on my own for 9 years. But, I am grateful for them, they did everything they could to make our stay more comfortable. The tree was removed on Monday and the power was restored Tuesday. We were able to return home on Wednesday Feb 10th. Thank goodness!
While we were gone, we had a casualty. Braden's fish, "Fishy", did not survive the cold temperatures. We've talked about getting another fish, but I think we're going to get a guinea pig soon instead.
That week was pretty uneventful.... I worked from home (my dad's house) a few days. Valentine's day weekend was spent watching GForce with Braden and ordering Chinese from Peking House. Yum!! All of us were pretty exhausted after all of the work from the week, that week's stress and being nomads for that time!
The following weekend was much more eventful. Saturday we celebrated a special girl's second birthday at the Toy Lending Library! It was a really neat place, Braden really enjoyed himself there and seeing all of his friends from BFF! As usual, he did not want to leave Emma, Sean and Braden, and the evening ended in a tantrum and tears.
Sunday was a baptism for a very special girl! My god-daughter Peyton! She is the daughter of our friends Veronica and Joe. The day went well, Braden behaved a little better during the mass than I had expected, but he started to go wild during the baptism ceremony. But, it was more informal than most that I had attended, so we were able to make it through. It was followed by a lunch at Olive Garden, where Veronica's mom and dad were very nice to treat us.
This is Sean, the godfather, myself holding Peyton, and Veronica and Joe.
This week was busy, between work and Chris's fire hall activities. We had dinner at Oppa's house on Wednesday, and Friday I went with Krissy to take pictures at a basketball game. It had started to snow here again, so our trip to Ambridge was a bit sketchy, but we made it. The highlight of the night for me was learning to use Krissy's camera. She let me use one of her cameras so I could get into the game for free, so I started taking paparazzi photos of the team. It was fun! I could not get over the loud buzzer during the game, but apparently, Krissy didn't even hear it. Our trip home was a bit worse, as the area got a few inches of snow since we left, so I stayed overnight at her house.
Saturday was my dad's birthday. We went over for dinner (tasty chicken with tomatoes and cheese, yum!) We got him a card, and an Arch card, which he was happy about since he likes McDonald's breakfast. The cake was excellent. It was a Raspberry Torte from Signature Desserts. So delicious!!
Today, the last day of February, I didn't leave the house. Scratch that - I left the house only to go to Aldi. This trip led to some interesting conversations between Braden and I. On our way, I told him we were going to Aldi for a few things, and reminded him that Aldi was the store that he helped me shop at last time. He said, "Tell me more about Aldi". And I said more about our last trip there, and reminded him that we have to put a quarter in the carts. He remembered that, and said "Tell me more". So I told him that the food is stocked in boxes in the aisles. Then he started talking about a store that had "lots of ketchup" and "games". I started naming the stores, and after each answer, he said "No." So, I kept naming stores, until he told me, "No. I keep saying no because you're not following my rules of the game". Strange!
When we pulled in the parking lot, he told me he wanted his camera, and he wanted to buy a GPS. ?!?? I'm not sure where that one came from. Then, as we were walking in, he heard church bells, and said "Ice cream!!" Too funny! The trip at the store was great, he has been such a huge helper at the store. After coming home we made brownies, because I promised Braden we would, and I put taco soup in the crock pot for dinner. We all took naps and after nap Chris took Braden outside to play in the snow!
