Happy Heart Day

They say that Valentine's Day is overrated, or a Hallmark Holiday, but I love any reason to turn an ordinary day into a celebration.  Especially with little ones in the house.  Jordis was dressing for the holiday a few days in advance.

I was pretty excited that my Valentine's treats for bible study turned out exactly like they looked in the picture.  That rarely happens.

I also got a box of chocolates from my secret sister.  Yum!

Jordis and Xander each brought home a ton of cards and goodies from their classmates.

We ended the day with breakfast for dinner (and a picture that for some reason keeps showing up sideways even though it's upright in my computer...grrrrrr).

Hope you had a fantastic Valentine's Day, too!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We've been very busy here celebrating Valentine's Day. We made cards....

....and read books. I loved the book on the left, it was darling.

I'm one of the party planners for Xander's class so Jordis and I attended his kindergarten party at school, too.

Poor Jordis felt so left out, even though she got to make the craft and have snack. You can tell by her face in all the pictures that she was longing for a bag of Valentine cards to open like Xander and the rest of his friends.

Here's Xander with his friends Madison and Brayden.

Today the kids got to open a few presents and they had movie night with Dad while I got to do some shopping by myself.

This is what Jason and I got for Valentine's Day. I never realized how poorly our other vacuum was working until we tried this one out today.

Next up: Mardi Gras! I've got lots of work to do in the next two days.

Happy Birthday, Jason!

Today is Jason's birthday. I've spent the past 15 days being 2 years older than him, so I'm glad it's back down to just 1 year. I don't feel so old that way. I can't believe he's moved up 2 more age ranges (by decade) since we met. He was just a teenager then and now he's climbed the ladder enough to be considered "in his thirties" instead of just at the beginning stages. I'm not saying it to be mean, I'm in the same boat myself. Just my way of noticing how time flies. I don't tend to sugar-coat things, it is what it is.

Anyway.....the kids have really enjoyed his birthday. They actually both participated in making him cards. No fighting, no arguing, they even decorated the front AND the inside of their cards. Xander put his signature "X" on the one he made. X marks the spot, you know. And as soon as Jason got up they were shoving them in his face.



After presents....


....the kids "helped" me make Jason's cake. We basically fought over who poured in what ingredients and in which order, then we beat each other with rubber spatulas. Xander got mad that I wouldn't let him stick his spatula in the mixer so he excused himself from the cake-making process and wouldn't even taste the batter. Jordis stayed to inspect my work and then eagerly had a few bites of the remnants that didn't make it into the pan. I know, I know, I fed her *gasp* raw egg. I've been consuming uncooked cake and cookie batter my whole life and it hasn't killed me yet, so I'm not too worried. Rest assured, I don't feed it to them on a regular basis.



The kids went to bed while it was still baking so they haven't seen the finished product yet, but it turned out pretty good. Jason says my making things from scratch is unnecessary, but it's just what I do. I like things to be homemade (with love) whenever possible. And he deserves it.


Now I'm off to make tortilla soup for my beloved's birthday dinner. His wish is my command. Just for today, ha-ha.