Mary made the most awesome homemade creme brulee for dessert tonight! Instead of creating a fire hazard, she kindly just put four candles on mine.

I couldn't have asked for a better birthday; my family, a favorite dessert, some great presents and Aunt Donelda shipped in some Chicago pizzas from Lou Malnati's! Thanks everyone!

Mama spotted a wild bear on the loose today! Luckily it just turned out to be Landon after a bath. Below, the little guy can just barely crawl and he's all about pulling up to see what his big brothers are having so much fun doing. Landon's figured out the best toys aren't on the ground!

Just a great photo of three year-old Will being himself.

Drew is six years old and has been taking piano for just seven weeks. Here he is playing two songs during practice today.

After the jump the Vimeo version of the same video. (I've switched from showing the YouTube version after the jump because Vimeo now requires viewers to go to their site to see the HD version of a video which I think is annoying and, so, their demotion to the second page.)

The photo was taken on Valentine's Day in 1991, nineteen years ago. It was Mary and I's first Valentine's Day together and I took her to the Fountains restaurant in Tulsa. They had a photographer who came around to the tables. I don't remember what the options were but we both left with keychain photos about 1 1/2 inches wide. I just scanned the photo and with a little photoshopping to fix fading and scratches, it's clear I found me a purdy one!

After church and lunch today, Will, Drew and I bundled up for some fun time enjoying Tulsa's latest 6 inches of snow. Unfortunately, it was too cold to make a snowman, the snow just wouldn't clump together well enough. But, we were still able to make some snowballs, have a snowball fight, and run around doing all kinds of silly stuff. In the end, we were all cold and tired and had a great time!

With Drew's napping days long gone and Will moving into an every-other-day habit, Landon has become my newest napping buddy.

Tonight, I cooked steaks out on the grill. They looked so good I had to snap a picture. They tasted even better! My mouth is watering as I write this just remembering how good they were. I've explained before how much a good stake means to me...here's to you Spiv.

Drew had his very first piano lesson today. We think we found a really good teacher. Drew is excited about playing and very serious about practicing. It is so wonderful to hear him playing and since I'm writing about this after-the-fact, I can say how surprising it is that he is progressing so fast. Hopefully he'll have fond memories of learning to play.

The musical notes in the photograph are not photoshoped. They are the result of some Christmas lights hanging in the background and a note shaped filter which creates the bokeh effect of the same shape. I used the same technique with a star shaped filter in my New Year's Eve photos of the boys.

Tonight Mary made the most incredible potato soup...I had three bowls! It looked so good I grabbed the camera and Mary said that if she knew I was going to take a picture she would have garnished it nicer. How about that! The photo, which looks pretty appetizing to me, is just her plain old, put together an ordinary meal, style. It's good being married to someone who can cook! I hope the boys...when they grow out of their macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets and cheese pizza phase...will appreciate what a great cook they have for a mother.

The boys got the Lego Castle Troll Warship (7048) for Christmas. We were a little hesitant to crack it open since it is officially for ages 7-14 with 493 pieces. However, six-year-old Drew is always ready for a new challenge and spent just two days of remarkable concentration and sticktoitiveness to put it together with remarkably little help. Both he and Will have had a great time playing with it and putting it back together as it takes a beating from the play. It was a great and much appreciated gift!

I turned the corner to see 8 month old Landon looking at a cloth book, properly oriented, propped up against a stuffed toy...apparently reading. I exclaimed, "Ha! Caught you, you can read can't you?!" Of course, Landon resumed his ruse of being a typical infant with no plans for world domination by babbling, rolling over and drooling. Nice try Stewie, I'm on to you!