Two Princesses At A Tea Party

Valentine's Day Fun

We had a fun filled Valentine's Day weekend.  I love Valentine's Day and making it a special day for my kids.  When we were young my mom always made a fun dinner

 and made it a day we always looked forward too.  I wanted to follow suit and have it be a special day in our house too! 

We talk often in our house about Jesus' love for us and about loving others.  This holiday always seems to heighten the kid's awareness about showing love and the

different ways we can show our love to others.  Today as we were coming out of church Eric held the door for a man in a wheel chair who was on his way in.  Emma was walking beside Eric back to the van and said, "Daddy, that was sure nice of you!! That was showing love to that man wasn't it!"  I love it when they get it and see the importance of showing Christ's love to others around them. 

 

Eric and I were able to go out for Valentine's Day on Friday night!  We had a wonderful dinner and enjoyed our time reminiscing over the past year and talking/dreaming about our future. We especially are excited for our 8 day get away together to the beach in 5 weeks, not that we are counting!  I love it that we have made our relationship a priority and try to have date night every week.  I love it that I never tire of spending an evening alone with my husband! I love it that after 10 years of marriage we keep falling deeper in love with each other.  I love the way that we continue to grow as a couple as individuals and as parents. 

When we got home we had a little surprise waiting for us.  The kids had made us these darling cookies.  I think Shane was waiting to fall asleep until we got home so he could tell Eric that the 2 little cookies he made for us but the big one was his.  I have to brag on our sitter a little.  Tanea has been babysitting the kids for 5 1/2 years.  She is like part of the family and truly loves our kidos.  We feel so blessed that we can leave them with someone and not think twice about them or worry.  She often does something fun with them like bring hot cocoa, whip cream and sprinkles or like Friday night she brought stuff to make cookies.  To top it off she always has the house spotless.

   

Saturday morning we started Valentine's Day with some heart shaped pancakes with some of grammy's homemade raspberry jam  on them.  They were yummy! 

We had heart shaped sandwiches, strawberries and veggie chips for lunch.  

We also did some Valentine's Day baking! I love this picture of my girls with their missing front teeth! 

Shane doing some mixing! 

Adding a couple eggs! 

Look at that yummy heart brownie with cream cheese and strawberries!

Daddy brought his girls some flowers and Shane got a frog balloon!

We finished our Valentine's celebration with a Valentine's Day dinner with some chicken Parmesan, heart pasta and homemade apple sauce! 

We went around the table and told each person something we loved about each of them.  It was so cute to hear the kids tell each other the things they love about each other.  They would grin from ear to ear when it someone was telling them the things they loved about them.  Note to self ... we need to do this more than just on Valentine's Day! 

The kids opened a little gift!

We decorated cupcakes and ate some for dessert! 

Hope you had a Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!  

Valentine's Day Party

The girls didn't have school on Friday so some friends invited us over for a Valentine's Day Party!! The girls had fun making little heart men while the boys were off playing with the boy toys. 

The kids enjoyed frosting some heart cookies and then eating them.  Shane ate more frosting from the knife than he he got on his cookie.  Luckily they each had their own bowl of frosting.

They also played a couple games! They played "A tisket, a tasket I had a little basket.  I made a Valentine for my friend and then I dropped it!"  

They also were blindfolded and tried to figure out who was saying "Happy Valentine's Day!"

The girls found the dress up clothes and had fun performing a little dance for the moms!  We had a great time with friends celebrating Valentine's Day!

More Birthday Fun

Emma's Birthday ended up being a whole week celebration.  Last week Saturday papa and grammy, aunts and uncles and cousins came to celebrate Emma and cousin Darby's birthday.  Emma has only been to Chuck E. Cheese and Darby has never been there so we decided to let the kids head over there for an hour to play some games.  Now it is not the adults favorite hang out spot but the kids had a blast.  Emma is riding the flying break! 

Shane  loved shooting baskets!

Alexa and Darby getting some ski ball in! 

We then headed to our house for some pizza and to open presents and have cake! Emma is loving her new Operation Game.  She has a pretty steady hand for a 5 year old.  Who knows maybe someday she'll be a surgeon! 

Emma's highlight was her bike from Papa and Grammy.  She can't wait for it to warm up so she get hit the sidewalks with her new bike!

Happy 7th Birthday Darby and 5th Birthday Emma!!

Story Time At Barnes & Noble

Emma's preschool was featured at the Story Hour at Barnes and Noble last Friday night.  It was fun for her to see all her friends and the teachers from the preschool got to read the books.  There was a huge turnout so it looked like Barnes and Noble was the place to be on a Friday night! This was right after Emma got her ears pierced so she was super excited to show everyone her new earrings and as you can see in the picture she was checking often to make sure they were still there.

Emma and some of her classmates got up to lead the others in some songs they do at preschool! 

The highlight of the night was when Clifford made an appearance.  Shane was the first one to notice him and took of running to give him a big hug.  Shane couldn't get enough of Clifford.

Emma and Alexa got in line for a big hug from Clifford too! 

Emma's Big Day

On Emma's Birthday we went to the mall to get her ears pierced but they didn't have a place that had two people working.  We headed back there last weekend for the big event.  Emma was so excited and her sister was so nervous for her.  She had fun picking out her earrings and then she was ready.

Marking where they were going to pierce!

1, 2, 3  .... ouch ... Emma was so brave we were so proud of her.  She did cry or even shed one tear.  She was pretty excited to see her new earrings in her ears.

The new look!

Mom cleaning them for the 1st time!

Emma's Garden Party

Last weekend we had Emma's Garden Party for her birthday.  She had so much fun planning for the party and even more fun with her friends at the party. 

We had butterfly sandwiches, flowers made out of fruit, caterpillars made out of grapes on a toothpick, grapes as ladybugs, bee crackers and bug juice in a water can.

Emma loved her flower cupcake cake.

The Garden Girls having their lunch!

Emma and all her friends singing "Happy Birthday" to her!

Two puffs and she had them all blown out! 

The girls painted picture frames and made fun foam bookmarks with flowers and bugs.

We played "Toss the Bug in the Flower Pot" and we did a relay "Bug on a Spoon!"

Emma made little garden baskets for her friends to take home! Emma had so much fun with her little friends !