7QT: Winter Break, Best Pancakes, and Breast Isn't Best

1)

It's February break here in Massachusetts!  We get this week off from school, and in a normal year, most people either go skiing or somewhere warm.  This year, we're all just staycationing and enjoying the snow and lack of work and deadlines and commitments.  Lucy Doodle Martin loves it when we're all home and she gets extra long walks each day.  She gave us a scare this week when she seemed like she was having seizures, and then eventually threw up the stuffing from the bed in her crate.  Ugh.  Why, Lucy, why?  

Or better yet, "Lucy...you got some 'splaining to do!"

2) 

Look at this cute snowman the littles built!  It's crazy to me to think that when my oldest kids were little, I would have thought giving them a carrot for a snowman's nose was a waste of a carrot, and now these little kids ask me for something and I'm like,

 "Yes is the answer.  

What was the question?"  

So what if there's a dirty carrot on the ground in a few days...it was worth the cute memories!

This big (you can't tell from the picture) hawk (?) was watching them build snowmen and snowwomen and was making me a wee bit nervous.  My Declan and Brendan are quite tasty, don't ya know.

3)

The Sleeping Queens card game has been hours of fun.  Like hours and hours.  The game says it's for kids age 8 and up, but my 4 and 6 year olds can play by themselves after a few rounds with us.  And don't let the name fool ya if you think it's a game just for girls.  There's Queens, yes, but also Kings and Knights and Dragons and Potions and Wands and Jesters.  So fun!

4)

The highlight of the week off might have been the Camp In we let the little kids have one night.  We watched The War with Grandpa, which was very very funny (in a Home Alone kind of way) if you're looking for a family movie night.  We let my parents borrow it after, and it was a hit with them as well.  There was popcorn and ice cream involved too, so how could it have gone wrong?

5)

Lent is here :(

Our priest distributed ashes with a Q-Tip and my kids decided that I had the best looking ash.  Phil agreed it was a very nice ash indeed ;)

The day after Ash Wednesday I did the most lenten-ey thing I could think of and went for my yearly dermatology visit.  It's invasive and embarrassing to be stripped down and inspected everywhere (everywhere!) but skin cancer would be a lot worse, so we pale folks gotta do what us pale folks gotta do.  Thank God, nothing looked weird and nothing needed to be removed this time!  Next week I have a dentist appointment and a mammogram, so the lenten medical visits continue!

6)

Phil and I woke up early this morning and made the kids a meatless feast for breakfast.  First up was a hootenanny with sauteed apples:

And then I made the best pancakes I have ever eaten in my entire life.  

Lemon Marscapone Pancakes:

Here's the recipe, except that we tripled it (it made about 40 pancakes) and I added the juice from half of a lemon to the wet ingredients (I looooove lemon).  We topped ours with whipped cream because we fancy.  I told Phil that we should open a Bed and Breakfast because people would come back again and again for these pancakes.

7)

Phil sent me this article about how crazy this world is and I just can't even... I mean if he could have chestfed the kids then I would have gotten a lot more sleep over the years.

Well, I'm off to enjoy this last weekend of winter break.  I hope you all enjoy yours too!  Go see Kelly for more.