Beautiful Life Made Easy: Super Bowl parties, Chinese New Year and February blahs

I remember it was only February 3rd and the words "This is the longest month ever" came out of my mouth.

Because, well, winter is long. And I'm pretty much over it.

So I've been trying to keep these two entertained inside on those cold days--but with a now very mobile little girl, who laughs at pretty much everything that her brother does...she has thankfully been providing the majority of the entertainment without my help.

Because a moving, laughing, real life doll is fun to play with. Says every 3yr old everywhere.

And on those cold February days when a mom is trying to convince her little girl to please keep those adorable little head bands on without tearing them off to eat them--well, big brothers come to the rescue, and show their support.

Which I'll pull out for him when he's 16, just to remind him.

But you know what else you do when it feels like a dreary, long, never ending month? Well, you hatch some plans. Some spontaneous plans that will surely result in memories for your kids. Because that's really what it's all about.

So on a day when Terry had purposely taken the day off of work, we waited until the end of the day, then called Mya's school and picked her up 20 minutes early. And called Jen to see if she wanted in on our plans too. So 2 little surprised cousins packed up their backpacks and walked down the school hallway, excited to have gotten called down to the office unexpectedly, and even more excited to find Terry waiting for them at the end of the hallway.

"We're going to McDonald's guys to play on the indoor playground and have an early dinner".

And the look of shock, excitement and the words "BEST. DAY. EVER!" came screaming out of their mouths.

Because we could have waited that extra 20mins and greeted them as they got off the bus and brought them at that time instead. But there is something pretty darn special about being called down to the office out of nowhere, and feeling like you're leaving school "early"--even though they basically missed the length of time it takes for kindergarteners to get their snowsuits on.

To them though, it was exciting. To them, it was thrilling. To them, it was something that they'll never forget.

Because I still remember when my parents did the same for us, all those years ago.

And for me, it all of a sudden made an ordinary, dreary, cold day feel a little bit special.

Because it was.

And then, just when I scanned the calendar to see if there was anything ANYTHING else great happening in February to look forward to, I realized YES! Chinese New Year. Of course. Chinese New Year and my favourite love day--Valentine's Day.

So February started looking up.

Because getting together with family to celebrate Chinese New Year is something that we've done now for several years and something that we do not only to help teach Oliver and Scarlett about their culture, but also for our kids, so we all can learn.

So we dress in red...

make dragon masks...

put up decorations...

and hand out red envelopes to little kids full of coins and gold chocolates.

And then I looked on the calendar, at that cold dreary month of February, to find that there was also some little ol' game called the Super Bowl coming up too. And although I don't care about the game, I do care to hang out at our neighbourhood Super Bowl party.

Because our street gets shut down, a big screen is put up on my neighbours garage, the bbq cooks up delicious food, kids play street hockey and man hunt, everyone brings a dish and everyone hangs out until it's so dark out that you can barely see anymore.

And, sometimes we look up to watch the game--when Beyonce comes on at least.

So February has started to look up. A bit.

And when I pulled out the Valentine's Day decorations yesterday and Carter and I quickly put them up to surprise Mya when she got home from school...

well it made me realize that 10mins of Carter and I scurrying around stringing hearts meant that it changed the whole mood of our house--from dreary to happy.

All with just a few little hearts.

(And an impromptu Valentine's Day card making session after school yesterday).