The days since Annalie and I got home from our visit to Maryland have gone by quickly. The first couple of days after we got back Annalie was still sick. We didn’t do much of anything but unpack and lounge on the couch watching TV and reading books. Even though Annalie was annoyed by how often I chased her around with a tissue begging her to blow her nose, it was really nice for both of us to have that grace period of easing back into real life and adjusting to a different time zone.

When Annalie is sick she loses her appetite so I tend to put a little more thought and preparation into her food to entice her to eat something. Last week we happened to have whipped cream in the fridge so I sliced a banana, added a bit of whipped cream to each slice and drizzled chocolate syrup on top. If I don’t have whipped cream I might smear a dab of peanut butter on each slice and stick a mini-marshmallow on top instead. The frilly toothpicks are what Annalie really loves though. I gave her a box of those for Christmas last year because she loved playing with the ones that came on our sandwiches in restaurants. Now they make occasional appearances at snacktime.

Troy got some things done around the house while we were gone. He installed a new ceiling fan, he put the legs on our new bed, and he put plastic landscaping mesh up on the deck so my mom won’t have panic attacks every time Annalie or Bug goes out there. Of course, now that the mesh is there the cats think it’s there for them to climb. Oh well.

Annalie chose each item of clothing in this ensemble very carefully. (“It has to be pink and white, only pink and white! Except my black shoes. Black goes with anything!”) The scarf she’s wearing is part of a baby blanket I never finished. I started to crochet it and then decided I wanted to use a different pattern. I kept that strip of blanket and stuck it in Annalie’s dress-up box, thinking that maybe she could use it as a play scarf or belt. That was two years ago before Kamree was born and this is the first time I’ve ever seen her wearing it.

By the time Valentine’s Day rolled around Annalie was still sneezing but was overall much better. She had fun with our friends and going out to eat with us that evening for dinner, but at the end of the day it was clear that she was wiped out, mentally and physically. So we dialed it back down and since then have mostly been just putzing around the house.

We’ve spent a lot of time lately with markers and stamps and googly eyes making birthday cards for various friends and relatives. Our calendar is crowded with birthdays this month, including Troy, Troy’s mom and stepdad, my friend Rebekah, my friend Joe, two of Annalie’s playgroup friends, two of my cousins’ kids whom Annalie is close with, and my cousin/Annalie’s godmother Tressa.

Oh, and my parents’ wedding anniversary and Troy’s and my dating anniversary are also this month. As if that weren’t enough, we have our wedding anniversary and my birthday coming up next month. No wonder we’ve never made a big deal out of Valentine’s Day.

As you probably know, I love rain. I was a bit sad to hear about all the rain in Southern California that we missed out on while we were in Maryland. The rain that came earlier this week made up for it, though!

Annalie loves rain too. To her it’s just a good excuse to use her umbrella.

A couple of days ago I was thinking about baking some cookies. Still undecided, I asked Annalie if she felt like making cookies with me. She said, “Yeah! I LOVE making cookies with you, Mom, and we haven’t made cookies together in a long time. We should do that more often.” I had to agree.

Then I somehow got into a cookie exchange with Jen (who just did a hilarious short video parodying Extreme Makeover: Home Edition) so we carefully packaged up some of the cookies we’d baked and sent them off. I will be soon receiving some chocolate-butterscotch-chip lovelies in return.

So that’s what we’ve been up to lately…being homebodies, getting ready for my mom’s arrival on Saturday, and eating our cookies.

What have you been up to?