Valentine’s Day

Sof has been obsessed with “surprise eggs”.  In case you don’t what they are(I didn’t until recently), they are just what they sound like-a plastic or chocolate egg with a surprise toy inside.  There are a thousand Youtube videos with weird grown up people narrating as they open them.  Who tapes themselves doing that??  Maybe they get paid for it??  Anyhoo…Sof loves watching these slightly creepy videos.  So, when I saw these Valentine hearts with candy inside them, I knew she would love them!  What I did not think about, was the frustration of a 5 year old trying to write her name on 24 of these 3-D hearts. 

 

She finished all of them though, and was super excited to bring them to school!

She was so sweet at her classroom party.  We supplied the decorations for the cookies, and she was so proud!  I love watching her in her school environment.  She is such a good little student!

After school we gathered at our house for our family Valentine party.  Every year it gets harder and harder to squeeze this in with all the kids activities, but I’m so glad we make the effort!  It was casual and quiet, kids playing and writing Valentines while the grown ups watched the Olympics and served up dinner.

 

We had gifts that got opened in a frenzy! 

As always, reading Valentines is the favorite activity.  We didn’t make the guys write them this year, and the kids were disappointed(and the guys were kinda mad when they realized they missed it)!  Valentine FAIL!  Good to know that it’s important to everyone even if they grumble when doing it:)

It is in your best interest NOT to touch Nat’s cards.  Ever.  For any reason. 

It feels like an accomplishment every year we make this happen.  Never were there 6 better reasons to celebrate love.

Alice in Dreamland…Again

The ballet show this year was the same as last year, Alice in Dreamland.  Adrienne was able to play her same role as the White Rabbit(everyone loved her last year!).  They made a few changes and improvements to make a very pleasant show!  Adrienne is on stage the entire time, and between Livy, Kaitlyn, and Sof, it was hard to know who/what to watch! 

Sof loved everything about it.  I debated on whether to put her in it or not.  Boy am I glad I did!  She loved every minute of it, even the 5 hour rehearsals!

 

What I see when I look at this picture…1. Sof and Livy should be sisters. 2. Kaitlyn clinging to her Adrienne.  She loves Adrienne, well she loves everyone really, but she’s Adrienne’s little mini me. 

Grandma Linda and Papa Curt came for the show and we went back to Em’s for dinner.  Anne and Rick joined us, and we had such a great time.  I actually love Sunday night get togethers(especially when they’re not at my house:).  It makes the weekend feel so much longer!

The kids got to open their Valentine cards from Grandma, Papa, and Grandma Jackie.  We had a good laugh over the $5 that has been in there since Em and I were kids!  The kids have never thought anything of it, and appreciate it as if it were a million bucks. 

  

Raising appreciative kids…check!

January Insta-Life

I have a new plan that I’m hoping will make my my blogging life easier and more up to date.  I have so many pictures of our everyday life from Instagram.  I want to post them here also for memories sake, but they don’t need lengthy explanations.  I was finding that events I really did want to write about were getting lost in a sea of “look what we had for dinner” and “Sof on the iPad again”.  So, I’m going to try to do one post a month that captures our life on Instagram.  For those of you that already follow me there, it will be redundant.  More importantly though, when I print this blog into a book at the end of the year, they will be there in print forever more.

With that said, there really was a theme to January…snow.  I mean crazy snow.  Of the 31 possible days in the month, we went to school for 14 of them.  Charming at first, but we’re over it now.

 

Along with the snow came unreasonably cold temps(also responsible for several days of missed school).  We spent a lot of time hanging inside, and I was inspired to do a little decorating.  Most drastically, I got rid of the rug in the living room that I never loved, and replaced it with something so much more flexible and me.

We also found quite a few outings to keep busy with.  Like Tiny Town with Emmy and Natty.

Play practice with Lexi and Starbucks.

We saw “The Little Mermaid” at the local children’s theater.

Swimming with the cousins was a favorite!

Dance class and rehearsals for Alice in Dreamland continued.

We also braved an extremely cold night to go to Lucky’s!

I had two after the holidays staff parties. 

Got some coffee, computer, and sis time while the girls were in rehearsal!

We had our non-bowling dinner at the Melting Pot.  I’m actually quite impressed at how well we’ve done with keeping up with this every month!

Finally, I have a myriad of breakfast pictures because I guess Sof’s just cute at breakfast.  That and I’m not irritated with her yet:)

Good bye January!