To me, February is always so dark and cold. It's been raining a lot and feels gloomy. I took Spot for his annual check up. Is this something people do with dogs? I don't know. A hundred dollars later, he is happy and healthy. A friend I met at last years book summit sent me this cute book of books kids should read before they become adults. I got a whole bunch of them from the library this week so we worked on D.E.A.R. time a lot. Progress Reports came out and Marly still has a C to pull up. Abby made it to the next round for gifted testing. Voss is off the charts and has all E's. Tuesday was a special day for Abby, she had her First Reconciliation. It was a nice ceremony. We continued our tradition of just Phil and I having some one on one time with the child receiving the sacrament. I got to go to confession, too. We did a cute little gift of erasers (reminder that sins can be forgiven), colored lights for her room (to let her light shine), an angel statue (her Guardian angel is with her) and a chocolate heart (we love you!) We took her to Biscotti's for dinner after. We saw the Bentons celebrating Birthday girl, Blythe and the McKinneys. I got to play tennis with Catherine, Patti and Robin on Wednesday. Robin shared her story of fighting cancer. It's amazing what your body can do! I saw Ellie play in a quick game and caught up with an old Stanton friend, Kim. Her daughter is on Ellie's soccer team. Ellie got in some playing time. That night was the hot tub moms night out at Meghan's. I found out a few days later that she's pregnant with her 6th! Thursday, Catherine and I played in a match against Marsh Landing and killed them. We played against Anne Marie's friend whom I'd met at the beach last summer. Phil and I had a lunch date at Larry's. I watched him play tennis against FYC that night. He lost but looked great. It was a busy night with dance carpool and then girls night with the Liberal Ladies. It was nice to catch up. Friday I went to adoration with mom and dad. I'm enjoying the I Heard God Laugh book. I've been using the time in adoration to keep that book club going. Instead of lunch with M&D as usual, Melanie had a triples tennis party for her 40th. It was a nice idea, even the rain was perfectly timed. I picked up a van full of middle schoolers to be the cool mom before youth group that night. Phil and I went to dinner at the Howards and were wined and dined. We even listened to records! We played tennis with the Hershorins on Saturday, tried to get in fun between all the rain! That night was the MOPS & POPS Progressive Dinner Valentine party. It was supposed to be by boat, but the weather didn't cooperate. We stayed out WAY too late and made some new friendships. I took the kids to mass then met the Hershorins for bfast at TCC (Mmmmm biscuits and gravy). Valentines Day was mainly spent side by side in bed (me: Poisonwood Bible, Phil: Cecil Hotel). The Hershorins had us and the Kuders over for steak. It was a nice night. This morning I rushed the kids to their dentist appointment only to find out half of them were left off the schedule. Bummer I have to take them back this week. For morale we went to Dunkin Donuts. I went to a good tennis clinic. Jen had us laughing! Voss and I rode bikes to my parents so he could take is remote control boat in the pool and we could visit. I worked on some onesies for Camille. Ellie went to Charlotte's Birthday party at the movie theater. We did a family dinner at Bodrum and discussed our favorite presidents.