Valentine tradition

Every year my visiting teacher, Susan, takes my kids to her home for the afternoon to bake, frost, and decorate sugar cookies.  She's done this for at least six years, because she came and picked up Ember & Ben when Grace was born for some cookie making, to give the new Mama a little break.  She took the kids the following year when I was in the hospital for a week with complications from Crohn's disease, and she's pretty much made this a tradition ever since.  My kids really look forward to it, and I had a quiet afternoon to myself!

I needed the relaxation time, since my BFF Emily talked me into waking up at 6:30 and going for a hike at South Mountain.  We'll talk about that BFF status tomorrow, when my body hurts everywhere.  My butt already hurts today!  I had a blast, and we've made plans to hike every Saturday, for the great exercise and great company.  I'm fun to hang out with, right Emily?  Right?!

So here's the photos from today's new adventures and old traditions.

hummingbirds are really pretty, but they have the 

ugliest birdsong I've ever heard.  

This poor cactus made me sad, the top half was healthy, but the bottom half is more than half rotted away from animals making homes in it, among other things.  This isn't a very pretty picture, but I do love the desert and I love the Arizona landscape.

Grace is the only one who stuck with the project to the very end, Susan said that Ember & Ben got a little bored and wandered off to watch TV.  For that, perhaps Grace will get to consume one extra cookie!