Baby Boy "Sprinkle"

My dear friend Camille threw me a baby boy "sprinkle" since it's my first boy. What a great friend and the decorations and food and company were lovely. I enjoyed it all very much. It was really fun to have a baby shower again!

My mother-in-law gave us two white collared shirts with ties and a bowtie!

Maybe baby boys will be fun to dress up after all.

My mother-in-law brought fruit and dip that was delicious and my friend Kara made these amazing blueberry filled cupcakes. Yum! I felt so spoiled.

Then Camille took some belly shots for me outside. I've never taken maternity photos before but I really like these. It's fun to remember just how big that belly gets. (And that lovely glow you get).












Thanks Camille and friends for a great party.

Valentine's Day

We love making a special breakfast on special holidays. In fact, I love any excuse to make a yummy breakfast and celebrate! I had put off my preparation for Valentine's Day, so woke up early on Tuesday morning and bought special donuts, little treats for the girls and balloons for their chairs.

 I made Shirley Temples with Raspberry Lemonade and maraschino cherries.

Then I did my best to cook our eggs in the middle of our toast in the shape of a heart. They looked great until I flipped them over. (darn Pinterest)  It is our tradition to visit Gram at work on Valentine's Day with some kind of surprise/gift. We had her rice filled heart as a gift and decided to dress up a bit as well!
 The girls had mustaches with signs that said, "I mustache you...will you be my Valentine?"

Ellie was having a minor meltdown here.






Lottie's turn for a meltdown. I think this is when I started to sweat because I remember being exhausted by time we got there.

Worth it.

Eight month belly shot.

Six years of love and learning...

David and I celebrated our sixth anniversary on the 11th of February and it was hands down, the best yet. David took me out to an amazing dinner at our favorite restaurant, Jasoh's. Then he told me to pack a bag and surprised me with an incredible condo in the valley with a hot tub. It was amazing. Thank you to Kevin and Vicki for taking our girls so that we could enjoy this celebration. I'll never forget it. (It's always a little awkward talking about your anniversary celebration, isn't it?)

I have to add that David bought me the most wonderful gift! A dress. Not just any dress, but one that he found on my "want" list on Pinterest. He had to search around the internet until he found it from a seller in Europe. It's lovely. I couldn't try it on because of my eight month pregnant belly, but I can't wait to wear it. There's something so sweet about a man buying you a dress.

I love him. More than ever.

Love

Charlotte has never been one to sit still for very long and work on a project. But for some reason she really loves this bead project where you have to (very carefully) place each bead on a small spot on this plastic heart and then iron them on when you're done. I'm so proud.

 

 For one of our activity time crafts, we made these cute hand warmers. 

Two are for the girls and one is for Gram. They are filled with rice so you can just pop it in the microwave.

   I'm in charge of our Valentine's Day party for Joy School, so these are the BINGO cards Hazel helped me make for our party.
Lately Ms. Eloise is awake during my "quiet time" while the older girls are napping. My daily task is dishes, so I've been putting her into one (clean) side of the sink with some spoons and cups while I wash my dishes in the other side. She is very fun company. I started doing this because she used to play around my ankles and start emptying all the silverware out of the dishwasher. This kept both of us happy.
Stop growing, Eloise. I love that baby face so much.

It just makes me laugh to know that this picture was taken on a Thursday. Thursdays are the worst day. I can't figure out why but it is a very consistent truth in my life right now. I need to start setting up my budget so that I can pack up the girls and go shopping every Thursday. But then again, that might be worse...So the story behind these pictures is that our living room had been messy all week. Even all of the puzzles had been pulled out and spilled across the floor. I finally couldn't handle it and did NOT have the energy to do it right, so I shoved everything into this corner of our room. Puzzles, books, cards, keyboard, barbie gear, toys, etc.



David was at a church meeting while I worked on this, so when he came home he started to say, "Wow! This place is..." and then he saw the corner. Ha. The funny thing is, I even vacuumed out the couches and cleared off our entertainment center. Everything but that corner was in perfect condition.
Happy first week of February.

Time Out for Women

On February 3rd and 4th I had the opportunity to attend my first Time Out for Women. I loved it. The speakers and performers were great and I got to spend a lot of time with both my mothers and my new friend and neighbor, Suzanne. We ate a lot of truffles. It was wonderful. The funny thing is, as nice as it was to have a break from my busy mom life and responsibilities, every time I saw a little baby I became so anxious to have and hold my own baby again. When we found out we were pregnant with Edison (about four months earlier than I was anticipating--surprise!) I remember feeling overwhelmed and nervous and NOT READY (Eloise was only nine months old). But those "ready" feelings are coming just in time.

So I'm not a fan of Super Bowl Sunday. David, of course, is a huge fan and likes to make a party out of it. I however, feel like I have to shield my kids from the horrible commercials and would rather be weeding than watching football for three or so hours. But I try to be supportive of this big game since he tries to be supportive of my dislike for regular football watching on Sundays. We invited his parents and our friends the Hanks to come watch. And then suddenly the supportive and understanding Janelle went away. And out came a grumpy an very ornery version of myself. It was pretty and I have such a hard time hiding my true feelings, so I think everyone sensed I was a grouch. But we survived the party and on Monday I decided to take a quick retreat down to my mother's with the girls.

After about an hour into the drive, it hit me that a 4 1/2 hour car ride with three small children was probably not the best idea for someone needed to "get away" and catch her breath.

So we got our hair cut at my mom's favorite salon in Cedar, stayed one night and drove home the next day.

At least we came home cuter (and happier). I'm so glad I married a patient man who knows me better than I sometimes know myself. Love coming home to him.

The End of January

Here's what we've been up to the last two weeks of January... Hazel started her doll that she got for Christmas. Her sewing machine actually works ($5 find at DI!) and we finished about 1/3 of the doll.

Hazel helped me make some bingo cards for our Joy School Valentine's Day party.
Love those little hands.

Sometimes we stare at her in awe because she is the most beautiful thing.
We know she'll be getting married before we know it.

We have some final shots of the girls' room! Woo hoo!




I love how the vanity turned out. It was a lot of work, but of course now that it's done, it's so worth it.

 Hazel has already started to decorate the top of her dresser.  
We painted some rocks we found to make prayer rocks.

And Eloise is working on her eating skills.

I love that her hair is glued to the bowl that is pasted on top of her head.



Ellie's latest thing is glasses and headbands or anything else she can wear on her head.

And we had a visit to the dentist! Both girls checked out great with no cavities. I couldn't be more proud and grateful for that.

They were pretty excited about their SWAG too.

I caught David dancing with our girls in the living room while I was making dinner.

And 'tis the season to start making Valentine's!