I've decided not to continue the "gratitude photos." NT seems to have trailed off on them as did everyone on here, and I kind of understand! Like Family December, it was a good exercise for a month or so to make me more aware, but it started to feel like a chore to actually take one photo per day.

Besides, I have an ambitious February already, with both creative and organizational goals. Here's how I'm doing on them:
- Watch all the Rocky movies + Fruitvale Station: I've watched the first three Rocky movies and have dates selected to watch the rest, so I'm on track. I'm loving them! Not only very inspiring and watchable, but lots of interesting stuff about race to unpack and think about.

- Do at least 5 boxing workouts. I've done 3 so far, and there are 2 Saturdays left in the month, which are good days for working out, so I'm on track.

- Read 2 books: Moonwalking with Einstein and Eat That Frog! I'm a little over halfway through the first book, so I'm a bit behind, but making progress. The first book is 270 pages while the second book only about 120, so I think I can make it if I buckle down now and then and really get some big chunks read.

- Get all our tax stuff organized for the tax guy: I finally yesterday sat down with the questionnaire and started filling it out, and seeing what documents we had/needed. Made some good progress on my and NT's, but I have more to do, and then I need to do AS's as well. I think I'll finish by the end of the month.

- Get rid of broken-down dresser. No progress other than discussing it a bit with AS. For a dresser that seems to be falling apart, it seems surprisingly sturdy when I contemplate dismantling it and throwing it out. It's going to take some elbow grease, so I just need to get going on it at some point. Probably not today; I'm feeling pretty lazy as I do most Sundays. At least I have tomorrow off; maybe I'll get some stuff done then!

For Valentine's Day, the grownups didn't go crazy on each other; we're just going out to dinner together tonight. I figured about $100, but it may go over that with drinks. No paying a babysitter; we're putting the kids to bed and then the downstairs neighbor will keep an ear out for them.

I did buy Valentine cards and candy for the kids' school and daycare friends and teachers, and I got both kids a stuffed animal, musical card and candy treat each. I can't resist; I remember fondly my parents always got me all three for Valentine's Day. AA was very sweet; she'd gotten some blank cards from school that she filled out for us, and very thoughtfully selected a small toy for each of us (out of her own toys). So that all cost us nothing! I think I spent about $45 on cards, candy and gifts.

I can't remember if I ever wrote about what came of the air-conditioning offer. I'd called to ask about getting the units installed piecemeal, and the lady had said she'd try to get us a 15% discount, which would save $2K off their price. Well, she called back and said she'd gotten a 9% discount for us. It had already been a stretch to contemplate coming up with the $12K; adding $800 to it (especially after having a better offer dangled then taken away) kind of tipped the scales for us. I told her I couldn't commit either way to having that amount in time for summer. We'll probably shop around and see if there are any better offers out there, and if not, I may call back and ask again about the piecemeal option. Or, who knows? If we get enough unexpected money by May, maybe we'll go for it at the lesser discount.

We're working on three CC bonus offers at the moment (AS just got a fourth card in the mail, but we'll work on these first). NT's $3600 surgery bill plus a few regular purchases puts us close to meeting the Chase Sapphire reward. We're hoping to use it to offset the cost of tickets to NY for my 20-year college reunion.

We're starting to plan for "birthday month" (our bdays are on March 2, 4, 5, 21 & 29)! We're hoping to stay at $500 for all bday parties, and the gift budget is $800 ($200 for each adult and $100 for each kid). I'm trying to find a rec center for AA's birthday, since she wants to invite all of her kindgergarten class, all the daycare friends and a few other friends. I want to do a morning party since most kids are at their best in the morning. None of the parks nearest us have an opening for renting the rec center, so I'm going to broaden my search and we can just get a carshare instead of walking/bussing, which is fine. I think I can get it under $100, and we'll try to keep the parting gifts cheap. Food can probably mostly work into our regular grocery budget if we cheap out on the weeknight meals.

I believe all three grownups are thinking about a quiet night home with food delivery and maybe a couple friends coming over. I know that's what I want! I just haven't decided what food and which friends.

We have a bit of time for SL's bday planning, but I'm already thinking we'll have it at home and I'll probably plan a series of games like I did last time, to keep the kids from tearing through the house like a hurricane. Since we won't spend money on a venue, we can probably order pizza again.

I already ordered some gifts online today, and I'll probably do more today and tomorrow. I like getting it out of the way and not spending a ton of time on it! AA is into really girly stuff now, so it's mostly Barbies and accessories for her; SL is harder to peg, but she's not at all girly. I'm thinking basketball set; and she needs a new cute backpack. We'll figure it out.