Valentines Day 2013

I'm finally getting to my Valentines day post! February is by far the craziest month of the year around here and it's all I can do to keep my head above water! Of course everyone knows that I seriously HEART Valentines Day! It's one of my favorite holidays to celebrate and decorate for. I didn't do any new projects this year so my decor stayed the same (though there are a couple things I'm sad I didn't have time to get to). We did make homemade Valentine cards for the kids. I showed them a bunch of ideas on pinterest and let them pick something out. Here's what we came up with:

I  made everything you see in Power Point and just printed them out on my normal printer. Easy peasy. I made a great discovery this year too - if you're ever looking for mini candies, Party City has tons and tons of options. It's a great place to find stuff if you want to do a cutesy, fun card. Makenna's teacher gave them an extra credit assignment to write a personal note to each other on their Valentines. I was so touched by the kind things Makenna took the time to write about her friends and that they wrote about her. It was a brilliant idea from her teacher (I seriously loooooove him - best teacher ever!)

We had our normal Valentine morning breakfast - heart pancakes with strawberry syrup and whipped cream with a red smoothie. Super yummy. We always give the kids a little gift and everyone was happy with what they got. I bought Allen some new headphones after doing about 10 hours of research. He has been looking for new ones for awhile and was so surprised that I did all the research and bought them for him. I love when I can surprise him.

He spoiled me with a new e-reader. I've been on the fence about getting one for a long time but after doing tons of research I found one that I thought I would like. Needless to say, it's getting LOTS of use already and Allen loves that I can stay up late and read without a light on (a nightly occurrence for me).

My cutie-pie Valentines before heading out for the day!

 As room mom for Makenna's class I was in charge of the Valentine party. I decided to have a Minute-to-Win-It party and we played a bunch of quick Valentine themed games. The kids had an absolute blast and I loved it because it was pretty easy to put together. We also had a cookie decorating bar that they loved plus a little bit of snack food for the kids. Her teacher asked that I minimize the junk food due to the kids getting lots of candy for the holiday. Kenna with a couple of her friends:

 Cookie decorating:

I also quickly stopped by Carter's classroom to see his party. What a huge surprise to see the difference between 2nd and 4th grade parties. His was SO low key. There were no parent helpers (the 2nd grade party had about 10 parents helping) and the kids were just enjoying a few snacks, passing out their cards and doing a small craft project. It was kind of refreshing. 

For dinner we made homemade mini heart pizzas and had our traditional chocolate fondue for dessert.

During dinner there was a knock on our door and when we answered it we found one of Makenna's classmates on our doorstep with his mom bringing Makenna ice-cream from Baskin Robbins. This cute boy had also brought her a teddy bear for Valentines day so I suspect there is a bit of a crush happening there. I was quite shocked (still am) that the mom was willing to do this for her and while it was really cute I also realize that we don't really want to encourage this kind of behavior at such a young age. Ugh. I'm so not ready to deal with crushes/boys/relationships. 

One new thing we tried this year was heart-attacking our kids doors every night. We had so much fun with this that I think it will  be a new tradition. Allen or I wrote a quick note to the kids each night with a reason we love them and taped it to their doors. The kids LOVED it. We also did heart -attacks in an envelope and mailed it to the grandparents and they were very well loved! 

 It was a great and busy day! We just have one more birthday this month and then Makenna's baptism this weekend. I'm so excited and have a very busy week ahead of me to get everything ready!

My "baby" is 2!

Sob! Where does the time go?!  Miss Ems turned two years old a couple weeks ago. I honestly can't believe it has been two years since this little miss joined our family. She has certainly made our family better and we are all so in love with her we can barely stand it!

Before opening her gifts:

 Once again we had no idea what to get her for her birthday. She loves playdoh and animals so we got her some new playdoh stuff, a couple animal books, sticker books and more Little People princess stuff. She was thrilled with her gifts and even my big girls loved playing with the princess play doh set! The Farm book has been a huge hit since it plays animal sounds and she has carried it with her everywhere.

 During the day I was so excited to take the girls to a new indoor play area called WiggleWorks. I guess this is a big company in Japan and this is the first franchise in the US. It was super fun and unique. It's geared to kids 5 and under and was so fun. The girls loved the wind tunnel that had tons of balloons flying around in it.

 They loved this giant water bed type thing that they were able to jump and play on and watch the water slosh around inside of.  They had lots of other really neat play equipment. We stayed for about 2 1/2 hours and the girls were sad to leave. We will definitely be going again!

 Emery has been practicing holding up two fingers for a long time. She's almost got it! Showing me she is TWO!

After the play place we met Allen for lunch at 5 Guys. Ems loves fries and ketchup so it was a perfect lunch destination for her.

Later that night we had dinner and cake. She had no idea what to do with the candles so the kids had to help her blow them out!

 A close up of the cake (this was the fastest cake in the history of the world!)

What can I say about Emery?! Holy cow I love this girl to pieces. She is so attached to me and while it should be getting old by now, I love that she still loves me best. She loves to sit on my lap and for me to hold her. Her favorite thing in the world is being read to. We read stacks of books every day before her nap and then again before bedtime. Her favorite books are animal books, touch n feel books and any book that she can point to the pictures and say the words. Emery also loves to color and can keep herself occupied for a long time with a coloring book and crayons. I usually give her a pad of paper and pencil in the car and it keeps her totally happy.

It appears we have another girly girl on our hands. Emery loves to have her hair done and asks for a bow every day. In fact, most nights she sleeps with a bow in her hair since she cries if we take it out. She also loves to have her toes painted and wear jewelry and dress up clothes. She loves to push her babies around in strollers and "feed" them. She loves bath time and would stay in for a really long time if we would let her.

Emery is saying tons of words. I was really worried about her lack of talking a few months ago but her language has exploded over the past few months. One of my favorite things is how she says each family members name. Most nights when we kneel down to pray she walks around and taps us on our heads  and says our names. It's adorable. She is stringing 2-3 words together regularly. She also loves to jump on the trampoline and stands by the door and yells "JUMP" until someone takes her outside to the tramp. Emery's other great love is dancing. She is so stinking cute when she dances. She stands below our iPod docking station and points to it and cries until we turn music on. She has a few favorite songs and wants us to play them over and over again. She gets so excited when one of her favorites comes on the radio. She also loves to go to nursery at church. She hated it at first but now she wants to go as soon as we walk into the church building.  She gives the best kisses and hugs and is really patient with the kids who STILL fight over her. We love this girl so stinking much and can't imagine our family or world without her!!

Giveaway WINNER!

Hi friends! Sorry for the delay in the giveaway - we celebrated a couple of birthdays last week and that kept me busy! Thanks so much for all the comments and all the fun new products that I get to try. So fun to see so many friends comment! So without further delay, the winner is:

JANENE

I'll pop that in the mail later this week. Thanks again for playing along! I have another fun giveaway that I'm getting ready for early March so come back soon!

Addie is 5!

I can't believe my little gal is 5 years old! This girl makes me so happy and warms my heart every single day. She seems so much older in recent months and is developing into such a fun, spunky and interesting little person! 

We started her birthday a little bit early when we were able to go to the mall together one afternoon a few days before her birthday. The original plan was to go to the American Girl store to look at the dolls but since we were there and just the two of us she decided to get her ears pierced! We were going to go on her birthday but the timing was perfect so we did it a few days early.  She was very surprised when the first ear was pierced and  it hurt more than she was expecting but she was very brave and did not cry at all. She loves her new earrings! 

On her actual birthday we got up early and had breakfast and then opened presents.

 Addison was SO excited to get her own American Girl doll. After spending more than an hour at the store looking at all the dolls I was THRILLED when she picked out Saige, the new girl of the year. I did not influence her decision at all but we both love that she is from New Mexico and that she has such a fun story. She also got Saige's accessories and some Barbie princess movies. Allen's mom sent her a pretty temple necklace and my parents sent her a fun AG tea set and girl/doll apron and cooking set. She was so happy with her gifts and she has played with her doll non-stop. It has been so fun to see the girls play with their dolls and really enjoy them together.

For breakfast Addie picked Nutella/banana/pudding crepes and apple cinnamon donut muffins. Yummy!

 Addie wanted to go swimming on her birthday so I took her to the gym to swim that afternoon. We had a very busy rest of the day but were able to go to Panera bread for her birthday dinner. She loves their Mac n Cheese. Since we had sports practices that night we even had her cake at the restaurant. Overall she had a wonderful day and loved her gifts, activities and meals.  (excuse the post-swimming hair in this picture).

Addison is such a joy to be around. She has a real zest for life and has such a happy personality.  She really, really loves preschool and has made some cute friends there this year. Her favorite activity is art time and her teacher often comments on how precise and careful she is with her projects. She loves to draw, paint and create at home too. Addie is doing great academically - she is starting to sound out words and is very interested in the reading process. She always tries to figure out what letter words start with. It is exciting to see her mind expanding so rapidly. Addie also loves her gymnastics and swimming classes and asks every day if she can have a playdate with her friends.

Addison's other great love is being read to. It is not unusual for her to bring me stacks of books to read to her in the afternoon while Emery is napping. She will not go to bed at night unless we have read several books. Addison is a great big sister to Emery. Those two are as thick as thieves and we have to separate them at night or they stay up giggling and laughing with each other. Most mornings when I go to get Emery out of her crib, Addison is snuggled up with her inside the crib. Addie was the first name Emery knew in our family. One of the cutest things about Addie is that every time she prays she prays that our family will "always stick together." It's adorable. She LOVES to pray and gives very comprehensive, detailed, LONG prayers that crack us up.

Addie is still teeny tiny. I am still buying her size 4 pants and having to cinch them in all the way on both sides. She is not nearly as picky a eater as she was a few years ago and salad is now one of her most favorite foods. We laugh that she has a discerning palate and has preferences similar to an adult. She still loves fancy cheeses, chips and guacamole, edamame and really good bread. She is super picky about sweets and refuses to each cheap chocolate or any desserts that are not up to her standards. Addie loves to talk to her grandparents on the phone and will carry on lengthy conversations with them. She is a total social butterfly and likes to have lots of friends. Every single day I'm so glad I get to be her mom and love all that she adds to our family!