February is cold in Michigan – have I said that before?  2009 has been especially brutal.  I woke up the other day to -8ºF.  So far, it has risen above freezing less than half the days this month, and all but four days in January were below 32°F as well.

My mom came up north from Dallas last week.  She went to C's school for Grandparents' Day on the 12th. We had a good visit with her, and I'm pretty sure she had a good time—particularly with her granddaughters.

How do you explain to someone else how special your own children are to you?

We tell stories of nice things they say or do for us.  We brag about how smart they are, or how good they are at sports.

Last Thursday my 4-year-old daughter E hugged me for no reason as soon as I walked in the door from work.  That is something special.  You know, I could use one of those every day.

Later on that night, I fired up the snowblower to clean the driveway before the 6–9" of more snow we were expecting for Friday.  As I plowed back and forth, I looked up and saw all three of my big girls hopping up and down happily in the living room.  I waved, and they waved back.

As big as their smiles were, mine was bigger.  I was happy because they were enjoying the simple pleasure of watching me "throw" snow all over the yard.

Kelly later told me that my 2-year-old daughter M was shouting, "You can do it, Daddy!"  She watches way too much Dora.

Of course, your children are special to you simply because they're your children.  We write here about them so that you can get a sneak peek into how wonderful they are.

Yesterday I took the day off work, and took my family to the circus.

The "Greatest Show on Earth."

It was fantastic.  Of course, we didn't make it there an hour before showtime, when we could have walked out on the main floor, met with clowns, and watched an elephant paint a picture, but we still had a great time.

Last night when I got home from work, my big three girls were up and bouncing around, going on little or no rest at naptime.  However, my 4 month old baby A was sleeping soundly in her crib.  It wasn't until after we had eaten dinner, and dragged the big three through clean-up, brush-your-teeth, get-yer-jammies-on bedtime that she finally woke up.