sledding, seafood, and a really good movie.

today is the last day of my birthday week. to kick off the last day, i kicked out the family so i could deep clean the house.

they all bundled up and enjoyed the snow and fresh air.

this was mimzy's basic position the entire time. she's not big into sledding.

she squawked every now and then, but, i heard that was the most "excitement" about the entire ordeal that she could muster.

she was much happier post-sledding.

even if she didn't like being bundled and forced to go out in the snow - i think she was super adorable in her snowsuit. makayah was there, too. somehow, i think amidst the whining about how cold it was and all the sledding crashes, she didn't get a picture. isaiah loved it. girls, not so much.

that evening we went to "the admiralty," just off of lake mendota. 

it's nice to have an elegant dinner once in a while. 

the night ended with ryan gosling in this movie:

although we came home to two coughing girls with fevers (seems the kids have been swapping germs), the clean house, the chocolate lava cake, and ryan gosling more than made up this absolutely perfect ending to my birthday week.

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today i am grateful for:

*the empty house. it's so much easier to deep clean when everyone is out.

*saffron. i've always wanted to eat or cook a dish with saffron in it. my seafood rice risotto was delicious.

*our wonderful babysitter, who had this story to relay to us:

"Mak tells me that she can spell "REI" and proceeds to inaudibly spell out "L-E-P" then Z looks over and says "No silly, you spell it R-E-I"