Happy Valentine's Day

The girls had Valentine's Day parties at preschool this week. They had so much fun picking out Valentines and writing their little names on their friend's cards. It brought back Valentine's memories as a kid for me. I can remember deliberating over who I was going to give each card too especially as I got older. You had to be careful not to give the boys the mushy ones. It was fun to see them enjoy the process since there will be more Valentines to come in the years ahead. We also had fun putting together these little buckets "Filled With Love" for family, friends and teachers.




















The girls have Thursday through Monday off of preschool so we had decided to have a Valentine's Day Party with 9 of our little friends and their moms. We had to cancel the party because Eric had been in bed since Friday with Influenza A and I had a bit of a soar throat. Eric did make it back to work today but we didn't want to expose anyone to the germs that might be floating around the house. So instead we had a nice relaxing morning in our pj's. We had heart pancakes for breakfast and got to take some nice long bubble baths!



Dad came home today with some special little Valentines. Shane was all smiles when daddy handed him a balloon and the girls were giddy as daddy handed them each a rose. Alexa said, "This is the most beautiful flower I every got!" I think it is the first flower she ever got. Needless to say daddy made them feel pretty special!

When I was growing up my mom always made Valentine's Day special for us. She always decorated the table fun, we had a special meal and there was always a special Valentine's day present on our plate. Thanks mom for making it special!! I always looked forward to Valentine's Day and want to carry that tradition on in our family. Today as Alexa and Emma were going down for naps Emma said, "Mom, are you going to make the table beautiful when we are sleeping!" It made me smile because already at 4 she knows that her mom likes to make Valentine's special for her too! The kids thought the heart pasta was pretty neat!

We ended the evening with some cake and opening a little gift!

Hope you had a Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

These three remain:

faith, hope and love.

But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:13

Daddy's Girl

There is nothing like seeing a daddy with his little girl. From the time Alexa was born she has had her daddy wrapped around her little finger. Eric worked from home so he would often put her in her little pouch and work on his computer while she snoozed.
This is one of my favorite pictures of Eric and Alexa. She is holding a little flower that she eventually gives to him. She lights up when her daddy is with her.

Alexa loves to go on dates with her dad. He has made a point to take the girls on dates and they love it when it is their turn. They usually go somewhere to eat and then somehow talk him into stopping by the mall to go to Claires, their favorite store. This was take the morning of Alexa's 5th birthday before her and her daddy went out for breakfast.

I had to take a picture of Alexa's first real note that she has written her daddy. I saved it and am going to put it in her scrapbook. Alexa was writing some thank you's the other day and decided she wanted to write a note to her dad. She told me what she wanted to write and I just helped her spell some words. I thought it was pretty special and it melted her daddy's heart!

Happy Birthday Emma Girl

Emma Faith I can't believe you are turning 4 today!! You are growing up way too fast! It seems like just yesterday I was holding you in my arms for the first time. As I looked at your sweet little face I had no idea what spice you would add to our life. Emma you are such a special little girl and we feel so blessed that we get to be your mommy and daddy!! There are so many things that I love about you but here are just a few ....

I love your fun, loving personality

I love the way that you love life and live it to the fullest

I love it that there is never a dull moment with you around

I love that you are always making us laugh with the things you do and say

I love your sweet little michevious smile

I love the way you still like to cuddle with me every morning when you wake up

I love that when daddy asks you how you got so beautiful you say "because God made me that way"

I love it that you were so proud of yourself this week because you thought you wrote your name so good

I love the way you talk to Jesus and tell Him how much you love Him

I love it that you are such a great big sister to Shane

I love the way you and Alexa are best friends. I love to listen to you play house and princesses together

I love the way you dress up everyday! I never know what princess dress, high heels or accessories you are going to come upstairs with. I get nervous when you wear those heals on the stairs though

I love to watch you take care of your baby. You are going to be such a good little mommy someday

I love the way you giggle when dad tickles you

I love your heart and how you care about others. It was so sweet of you today to ask if you could take your 2 dollar bill that you got for your birthday to Sunday School and give it to Jose (the little boy your class supports). You said he didn't have very much food or clothes so you wanted to help him get some. Mommy is so proud of you

Emma Faith you may be growing up way too fast but you will always be my sweet Emma girl!!

Happy Birthday!

I love You!

Mommy

More Birthday Fun

Emma and her cousin Darby celebrated their birthdays together this weekend. They were both glowing little birthday girls. Darby turned 6 on February 2 and Emma is 4 today! We are very glad Emma had an uneventful birthday his year. Last year she was sick and the day before she turned 2 she knocked out her front tooth. She knocked 2 others loose and needed 8 stiches in her gums. Needless to say it was not a very fun birthday!

Emma spends most of her days in dress up clothes so this hat and other fun dress up accessories were a hit!

The kids had fun with the horse pinata. It was one of those that you pull the strings instead of swing at. The candy didn' fall so in the end they all grabbed a leg and pulled it apart. In the end when the candy falls they don't care how it comes out!

Darby loves horses so she picked out a cute horse cake! HAPPY BIRTHDAY Darby and Emma!

Our Cupcake Is Turning 4

Our Cute Little Cupcake is turning 4 this weekend. Where has the time gone. We had fun little Cupcake Party with a few of her little friends.



The invitations went out to a couple little friends!!!

The table was set, the banners were made (thanks to Lori and her help), the gift bags were ready, the cake was decorated and the hats were waiting for the little girls to wear!

What a cute little Birthday Girl!!!!

The girls made little purse with fun foam!

There were a lot of giggles as they played "Pin The Cherry On The Cupcake!"

The candles were lit, Happy Birthday was sung and then the cake and ice cream was eaten!
We had a fun morning with our Little Cupcake and her friends. It's going to be birthday weekend with more pictures to come!

I Scream,You Scream, We All Scream For Ice Cream

Alexa is doing a unit right now on ICE CREAM!! Who doesn't love to eat ice cream? We went to Cold Stone Creamery on a nice below zero, blustery day!! The kids sure didn't care how cold it was, they were very excited to eat some ice cream. They thought it was pretty neat that they got to go in the kitchen where it said on the door "Ice Cream Makers Only." They learned about how they make their ice cream. They saw the ins and outs of the kitchen. They got to pick their ice cream with one topping. Alexa picked cotten candy with marshmallows. There were some great combinations. The best had to be Cotton Candy with Reeces PeanutButter cups. It made me kringe just looking at it! The best part was saved for last ..... EATING THE ICE CREAM!

The Things They Say

Emma is our little expressive child. She uses her hands when she talks and tends to roll or bat her eyes or tip her head. She just has that way about her. A couple things she has said lately just had to be written down. The first, Emma and Alexa went to a movie the other weekend with papa and grammy. They went to eat at the Outback as well. A couple days later she told me she really loves eating at the Outfront. The second was the other day when she home from preschool very excited because her teacher and her both wore frognecks that day. I was a little confused about the frognecks thinking it was something fun they did in preschool. She then informed me "no you know mom, frognecks" (while pulling on her shirt neck). I finally got it I said, "Oh you mean turtlenecks!"

What's A Boy To Do With 2 Girls In The House

Shane is all boy but there are times he just wants to play with the girls. There are other times he's not sure what he wants to play with ... his toys or the girls toys. It wasn't working too well to play basketball with his high heals on (notice the neclaces too). He decided to take a break and take care of the baby instead. I have to say he is pretty cute when he's taking care of the babies. I'm sure he'll love it someday that his mom took these pictures.

Alexa The Little Sponge

Alexa is like a little sponge right now. She loves to learn and is always asking me to help her try new things, read new words, spell different words ...... She has a love for learning and is very self motivated. She goes to a preschool that is right up her alley. The teacher does not have the year planned out but instead they develop their units based on what the students are interested in. Their language, music, motor skills, math and art are all centered around that theme. This type of learning is right up Alexa's alley since she is also very creative. She has been interested in learning about the body and dug up all the books I had on the body and took them to preschool. Some of her friends caught the body bug so her teacher has started a unit on the body. She is thrilled. She came home yesterday informing us that her favorite body part was her esophagus. Eric and I looked at each other like wow not your hands, feet, heart or even brain but the esophagus! Here is one of her little projects she did with her body unit.

The Little Red Dot From The Little Blue Pill

I have to go back in time and share a story about our sweet Emma that happened before Christmas. This is one of those stories that will be told numerous times but I have to have it written down somewhere. Emma is our little girls that has a love for life. She is our party girl and lives life to the fullest. She also is one of those kids that is just mischievous, not naughty, just curious. Her curiosity often gets the best of her along with the fact that she just can't help herself. She also loves candy and treats so keep that in mind. Monday, December 10 Emma woke up around 6 am which is not like her and started to throw up. My first thought was oh no not the flu. Eric was going to be out of town for the week and my niece who is 4 was going to be staying with us. I could picture flu going through the gang. It seems like the flu hits when Eric is out of town. Emma was just feeling pretty miserable but no one else got it. On Wednesday morning Emma woke up with 2 rather large pimples on her chin. Very odd I thought to myself. I didn't know a 3 year old could get large pimples with white heads on them. On Thursday morning I opened a new birth control pack and saw a little blue pill missing right in the middle of the pack. Everything started to make sense. I asked my sweet, curious little Emma if she ate one of mommy's pills and she sheepishly responded with a "yes"! The poor thing had to feel miserable with all those hormones in her 3 year old little body. She said she wanted to see what they tasted like. She would tell people she had a big owey from mommy's pill. So lessons learned by Emma - don't eat mommy's pill and even if it looks like candy that doesn't always mean it is. Lessons learned by mom - keep your birth control pills out of the reach of Emma. Most of Emma' s December pictures have a little red dot on her chin from the little blue pill. This isn't the first time and I'm sure it won't be the last time when Emma's curiosity gets the best of her!

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