Love is in the air.....

I love any excuse for theme days and festivities, not to mention an excuse for chocolate. Not only does February bring us the Hallmark holiday of Valentine's day but I know of at least seven birthdays this month! (Including my grandma Lee's 90th today!! Happy Birthday Grandma!)


For my niece Elliot I made this sweet heart headband, as well as an not photographed sparkly rosette hair clip.


Here of 3 of the afore mentioned birthday celebrators. The one on the far right is just sneaking in the shot. She's cute, I'll allow it.


The morning of the 14th I made chocolate waffles with a strawberry sauce for dipping and mini heart shape quiches. V was the first one up (as usual) and loved every minute and every bite. It's so fun to see him understand special days and get into the spirit of it all.

Then of course the kids had to take Valentine's to school.

E's this year were Blow Pops in the center of a paper flower, w/ a heart shaped leaf of course.


J's treats were airplanes made from gum and Sweet Tarts.
Of course I saw both of these general ideas somewhere else and I don't remember exactly where. BUT I'm sure I was led to them by One Pretty Thing. I love how she gathers great ideas from all over the place. It saves a lot of browsing time when you are looking for a project.


This is our basement. Several of you often ask us if we are building, or "What's the status on the house?" Well here it is. Den has dug it out. With work being slow due to weather he had time to do this much. We have house plans. That's it. We don't know when we'll finish. We don't have a set goal of when to finish. We really want to be on God's timing. We also would like to accumulate as little debt as possible in the process of building. We could find a way to borrow a bunch of money and get it done but neither of us feel comfortable with that right now. We are trusting the Lord to open and slam doors as we move slowly forward in this process. All prayers are appreciated! Donations are accepted as well ;)

last week through today

Finally doing some catch up on here.....






Last Friday J had a cousin sleepover so E and I had a girl's night out and went to see The Princess and the Frog using some of a gift card we received for Christmas. She seemed to be having fun and she said she like the movie, but when I asked her if she had a good time..."not really." That's my girl.



The next day we headed down to the farm for some sledding and dinner w/ Den's fam.



E is next to Matilda, Ava is holding her very own snowgirl, and J and I made a snow kitty.





Prepare yourself....Den took me for a night time snow mobile ride so I wanted to look my best and stay warm...ladies please do yourself a favor and shield your husband's eyes....
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BAM!! Oh yes, I know how to work those coveralls.





Sister in law Denise said I looked like a teletubby.





(In my defense I'm wearing a puffy jacket underneath the coveralls)



Then came Sunday and it was another sunny day, and not really that cold. Den went out with the kids and built a snow fort so the could have a snowball fight.

He built up the walls higher after he dug this hole, but this gives you an idea of how deep the snow drifted during the first couple storms.

He like the tunnel until his hat fell off.

This video has is one of those "wait for it...." moments. Yes V is adorable on the slide, but wait and listen for J hitting Den w/ a snowball.

belly shot

Here we are today...another snow day because the roads are drifting so bad. It is snowing, but not really sticking where we are. V is starting to get into the trains so J and Daddy built him a track. Den was home today so he also built the kids a great fort, we watched Marty Stouffer's Wild America while I snoozed on the couch, and now he has taken the the two older ones to the gym so I am getting as much done as I possible can while V is still sleeping!

This last one is especially for Grandma Linda...who knows that every 2yr old needs a giant chocolate heart.

a bit late

When I picked E up after her Vday party at preschool, they all sang a special song to the parents and I caught a bit of it to share. I love how she makes a face at me whenever we had eye contact. I had to act like I wasn't watching for her to not act embarrassed.

The past week

V is continuing to take more and more steps. His latest accomplishment his standing up all by himself, without help of people or furniture. He'll take a few steps and then decide he's rather go fast by crawling.


Contemplating a tumble



J made dinner. I'm hoping to do this more often. He picked the meal out of a kids cookbook that we found at the library and we made it together. I enjoy cooking but the hardest part for me is deciding what to make with out feeling like it's the same old thing. Having the kids do that part is huge for me. E will have her turn too.


He chose an "accordion sandwich". It was yummy and we had some tomato soup with it. He was quite proud of himself.


Valentine's from Grandma Linda.


E's preschool class went swimming last Wed. It was a bit steamy being a indoor pool.


On uncle Michael's back at market.


Checking out his new truck, a Vday gift from Grandma and Grandpa.

Happy Valentine's Day!

a few fun shots from our lives


thanks grandma for our Valentine goodies!



when his cord fell off I was so excited to give him his first tubby



sibling love...they are very sweet with him





On Friday there was no school on account of the weather, so we went to the farm and the kids sledded on a mini hill. Notice J's ending pose at the bottom.