We love Rob!

My oldest brother Rob finished off his Christmas vacation from law school (at the University of Texas) with a visit to South Bend. His birthday happened before he arrived, but we are nothing if not partyers, so we celebrated anyway. Rob's birthday was wonderful, complete with princess crowns (as per his request--he wanted all the trappings of the perfect little girl birthday party) and peanut-butter stuffed chocolate cupcakes. Apparently Rob shared a flight home with another young man who celebrated his birthday this last week--only his party was at a strip club. Compare and contrast, my friends, compare and contrast.
The snow came down and down and down on Saturday morning. Normally, I'm willing to ignore the snow and refuse to shovel the driveway, but I decided that 12 inches could turn into one heck of an obstacle if it thawed and refroze. (It hasn't thawed yet.) So, Rob and I shoveled my rather long driveway. Then, because my neighbors are grandparents and I had seen them drive away on an errand, we shoveled their driveway and walk. Somehow, I think that second driveway had accumulated twice as much snow as my driveway. Ow--my aching back. (It's funny--Bill, my neighbor, called me when he got home. The errand they had gone on? Yeah, it was to buy a snowblower. I've decided to chalk it up to a great workout. I needed it after all the delicious food we ate.)
Rob still had enough energy after all that shoveling to bury the children.
They loved it.

Snow pants make a great handle for tossing small children around. And to think that he could have been in 70 degree Austin all this time. Who wouldn't want to be in freezing South Bend instead?
We also went to the HealthWorks! Museum, where Rob and I played game after game on the touch-sensitive light-up floor. And we saw "Tale of Despereaux" which Mimi said was "SO much fun!" and Olivia loved. (I thought it was okay. Not quite enough character development for my taste.) And we bought fun gourmet foods at Target, which is, without a doubt, my favorite store. And we watched loads and loads of Psych. And Rob had two, very small, middle-of-the-night visitors who interrupted his basement sleep.
Mimi cried when Rob got out of the car to get on the train. And Bella had a hard Monday, probably missing her buddy.
We miss you, Rob! Come back anytime.