I like to win things....

I might make my own bread someday if I won this. It could happen....right?

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 ;)

Tae Bo

I couldn't pick a favorite so here they all are. V and E's new favorite time killer. Notice too cool big brother in the back who couldn't stand not being a part of the video. Also, notice at the end the shirt comes off, it's serious.

February brings good things...

like...


being with these girls...(and sister in law not pictured),


and having this baby happily play...



while I sew an apron,


a tissue holder and a birthday card;



like sunsets,

and kids playing on the ice





and laughing like crazy.

What He Does

You think you'll remember but you don't. I think that I'll remember that everyday he lines up his cars and trucks on his toy chest and talks to them and moves them and drives them off the edge. This is what he does.


He also plays play dough with me.

Closing January 11

We do this now....and we are not always happy when we do it.


We barely fit into this, it's the long torso from the father's side.



And we are proud of ourselves when we get in the kitchen and pull something out.



We share sweet moments.



We prepare yummy treats.


Salted Caramel Vanilla Cupcakes....with sliced pear. yup.
(not made in the easy bake)

Cousins.

Sometimes you love to play the music and sing.

And sometimes you need to be the music and get down with your bad self.

We tried banana. We gagged.

We finished big Lego projects.

We had more cousins over to build snow women with,

and to leap into February with,

Only to find more snow!

V is 3

Please enjoy some straight from the camera, completely unedited, red eye pictures from V's big day.


It made my day that he wanted to wear this for the rest of the afternoon and night!



After dinner with Mom Mom and Pop Pop it was time for presents.



And then time for cake.




He did a great job of spitting out his candles.





V appears to be having some sort of reactions to that much chocolate. But I will still treasure the rare shot of me and all my babies.

Happy Birthday to the little man that cracks me up in so many ways. He was the first baby we actually tried to have. He was my first completely natural, unmedicated birth. The first baby that I was able to hold on my chest right after he was born. So amazing. When he was a baby and still nursing he would cry when he was hungry, but when I held him and he would stop crying to wait for me to have myself ready to feed him and look at me as if to make sure it was me or perhaps say thank you. He loves his siblings and copies the older two. He is great at sharing for a 3 year old. Not perfect, but I'm impressed by his ability to share unprompted with smaller ones or even his older brother and sister. He can be so goofy and make us all laugh. He loves to sing and dance and has some moves that come from who knows where. He's a lover, a cuddler and has a sweet spirit that always seeks reconciliation with a "so sorry" as he's crying. I'm treasuring this time with him as it flies by. He is truly a joy in our lives.

3

Winter bleh.

I'm just not a winter person. No secret there. But to focus on the positive I will list a few things I do appreciate about the colder months.

• the excuse to not go anywhere w/ four children in tow
• I can stay in my sweats or pj's all day (except for when I leave the house) in order to keep warm
• the snow can be pretty
• hot beverages: coffee, tea, hot chocolate
• reading with the kids on snow days

That's all that comes to me right now.

Yesterday we tried to make butter. Skimmed some cream off the top of our raw milk and had a shaking party.


Everyone got in on the fun, and we were able to produce a few chunks. Haven't tried it yet.

Last night Dennis and I had a date. These date nights are rare for us simply because we are too cheap to want to pay for a babysitter, or to mess with trying to find one. It's ridiculous. But, my man arranged for his mom to come up last night and we went and used his gift card he got for Christmas at the Olive Garden. And for the first time in a long time I wasn't disappointed with my meal. Then we wandered around Target. Yes, we can live it up. Don't be sad that you can't be us. There is only one us.



High Fashion.







And this is what this morning was about. Sitting on the potty. We did get one result in the pot and no accidents as of yet!

2010 at a glance....

The 3 of Us

Now that we are back to our regular scheduled programming it's just the 3 of us again. The older 2 are at school, Den is at work and now it's me and the 2 boys in blue. Before B was moving around it just felt like I was spending my day's with V, but now that B is scooting around he's definitely part of the show. It's been really fun to see V interact with his baby brother. I can honestly say that I have not once seen any tinge of jealousy displayed in a negative way. He loves him and is super sweet to him by singing to him, sharing his toys (although sometimes I must intercept what he's sharing) and even yesterday he tried to share some cheerios. I'm loving my little boys.

story of the morning:

Me: V...what do you want for your birthday?
V:..um...birthday...(giggling)...um....cake!
Me: okay, what kind of cake?
V: um....chocket!
Me: okay...what color do you want your cake to be?
V: (still giggling) um...color...ice cream!

that's my boy.

Happy New Year

We'll be sad to leave this view, but it's time to go home.

New Year's Eve dinner, yum.

Some old slides and then speed scrabble!

Almost made it to midnight, but fell asleep laughing to the Marx Brothers. E asked if she could go to bed at 11:15.

Another great year with my love. Here's to another!

CA Christmas 2010

We are still here but I thought I'd cover Christmas...these photos are straight from the camera.

We got in super super late Friday night...or really early Saturday morning. When we woke up we loaded up Baby B and headed to the coast to...

see a sweet baby girl,

and her sweet mama (and daddy, not pictured. thanks for a great visit Mckay's!).

Then to the 7th Annual Cousin Christmas party. The first one was at our place when we lived in Monrovia. It involves fabulous food and a serious game of Catchphrase.

Next day was a lunch with Carla, dear old friend.

Then we headed back to the desert to find our kids

riding bikes

and scooters..in December. sigh...

The rest of the time consisted of tasting pomegranates,

playing with cousins,

resting,

finding water in the desert after the rain,

and taking in the view.

We celebrated Den's birthday,

fed sheep,

pet chickens,

ate carne asada from here...it was amazing as always. Don't hate.

Then there was the candlelight Christmas Eve Service,

where everyone sang.

Then it was time for Christmas pj's.

Someone thought he'd try to take a peek before bed.

Christmas morning came fairly early and started w/ baked oatmeal and

stockings, and then opened gifts.

Who looks the most excited in this picture?

The dog was humiliated.

There was plenty of treats.

We ended the day with a Christmas walk,

happy baby,

rare full family shot,

and fabulous sunset.

Goodnight Grandpa.

The rest of the week has been spent playing w/ new toys,

seeing old friends,

playing games,

seeing more old friends,

playing with dogs.

We have a few days left and we plan to just enjoy the weather (although it's raining, it's still warmer here!) and the family. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.