My wife is sick, and I do feel bad for her. One sign of her constitution is that she still made me go to the poker game I had planned last night. This morning, she told me something Lindy did yesterday.

Jenn was resting on the couch. She was feeling bad enough that she was just holding her hand against her forehead. Lindy came up to check on her…

Lindy: Mommy, let me in. I’ll take care of you. [She then moved Jenn’s hand and placed hers on Jenn’s forehead.]

Lindy: [moments later] Mommy? Why do I have my hand on your forehead?

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Paleta!, originally uploaded by flamingobear.

We do love paletas.

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Bedtime, originally uploaded by flamingobear.

Aspen is reading to her sisters. It’s homework and bedtime reading at
the same time.

At one point, Aspen said, “I’m teaching Oakley reading strategies.”

I thought, “Hmm, I should probably find out what those are…”

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Lou, originally uploaded by flamingobear.

Yup, I got an iPhone. So now you get to feel the pain of me taking
stupid pictures in random places and posting them. Sorry!

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20080218-38-14619.jpg, originally uploaded by flamingobear.

Sorry, I missed a day yesterday. I found myself laid up in bed for most of the day yesterday with whatever it is that’s making its way around. Fortunately, I was just about entirely recovered 14 hours after it started.

So, I decided to stay out of the office today in effort to stop the spread of what I’ve got. That meant a day of working from home, which is fine by me. My job is cool because I can actually still work with all the folks at the office (Mike, Kevin, Troy and others) using instant messenger, etc. The impact on work is minimal, and the alternative setting can actually help me focus on different stuff.

But how cool is this… it’s like 45 degrees today, and beautifully sunny. So I thought, “Why not work on the screened porch?” Aspen and I spent Saturday afternoon clearing the cedar branches that had been removed for the treehouse. We brought them up to the house, and they make the most excellent firewood. So I’m working in the sun, by a big fire. It’s pretty excellent.

A quick note for those of you with white Macbooks… soot and the Macbook are not particularly good friends.

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20080216-36-14593.jpg, originally uploaded by flamingobear.

That’s right, partly due to circumstances, and partly because Jenn was ready, we passed on our typical, wonderful baked goods from Kingsport and Jenn created these. Strawberry cupcakes, at Aspen’s request, topped with whipped cream and a real strawberry. I must say, they were quite good.

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20080216-36-14598.jpg, originally uploaded by flamingobear.

Aspen created her own birthday hat this evening using bows for the gifts she opened earlier. I thought that was pretty cool.

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20080216-36-14582.jpg, originally uploaded by flamingobear.

Birthday presents abound around here on February 16th. Bow by Jenn, note by Oakley.

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