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 New Year!

I know, I haven't blogged in a while. A long time, to be exact. I usually do my blog posts at night when Jason goes to work. But since he's been off for his shoulder surgery/recovery, I've been enjoying having him here EVERY night since November 28th. It's so nice to have someone here to talk to that I haven't been spending as much time on my computer in the evenings.

So, Happy 2012! Let's see how quickly I can catch you up.

We had a lovely Christmas season. I didn't put up all of my trees or decorations and Christmas still came. Imagine that.

I took the kids to a pancake brunch at our local Arts Castle a few weeks before Christmas. It was a good time, albeit crowded. Xander volunteered to cut Jordis' sausage links for her, so I had to capture that.

Jordis also had a very nice visit with Santa.

Then Xander told everyone in the room that Santa was fake because he was wearing a watch and Santa should know what time it is since he is magical. Luckily we were about done at that point, so I quickly ushered them out of there.

We got a dog. Meet Jake.

A friend of a friend couldn't keep him and because of his age we were afraid he wouldn't get adopted if they took him to a rescue, so now he's ours. I'm not a fan of big dogs, but if they were all like this one I would love them. Well, except for the shedding. I'm still having issues with that part.

We had a nice, low-key Christmas with our Latiolais/Hartman/Bradshaw families.

The kids were not very grateful for their gifts this year and were complaining of being bored a few weeks later, so we took away their birthday parties for 2012. I love planning the parties so this absolutely kills me, but they need the lesson and it will save us money, so I'll get over it.

Not much else has been going on except for our serious lack of winter. The kids were so excited when we first got some snow in January and it barely covered the ground.

Other than that we aren't doing much, which is kind of okay with me. But I will try to find something to blog about more often.

The Nutcracker

I try not to wish away my kids' childhoods, but I have seriously been looking forward to the day I could take Jordis to see The Nutcracker at the Ohio Theatre in downtown Columbus. With Jason's surgery and other Christmas happenings, I figured this wouldn't be the year. But then I got free tickets from work. Yea!

Jordis used my phone to take our picture before we left.

We parked in the lot under the statehouse, which is across the street from the theatre.

The LeVeque Tower was looking very festive with its red and green lights and cross pattern in the windows.

I love the Ohio Theatre and have been in it many times, so I was excited to be with Jordis when she got to see it out for the first time.

We arrived early and they had some singing groups up in the loge and mezzanine lobbies. Our seats were on the floor level so I took her upstairs to look around and watch the singers.

While we were standing there a little boy wearing a suit, who appeared to be about 8 or 9, approached and basically hit on her. At first he bowed slightly at her, then said, "Hello, aren't you looking beautiful tonight." In typical Jordis fashion she gave him the stink-eye, so then he looked at me and said, "Hmm, must be a shy one." His parents were standing off to the side drinking cocktails and seemed to be in serious discussion so they didn't witness this exchange (and I couldn't get my camera ready in time before he walked off), but it cracked me up. And of course he was right, she did look beautiful and she picked this dress out herself.

Like the Christmas tattoo on her arm? She is a Latiolais after all.

We went in to the theatre and Jordis thought it was so pretty.

She was really excited when the curtain opened and did a really great job of paying attention. I paid a small fortune to buy us a snack during the intermission and that held her interest a bit better than the actual ballet did when we returned to our seats. But then it was over and she clapped very loudly until the curtain calls when she said her hands were just too tired. Apparently the rest of her body was tired as well, because she was asleep before we made it to the freeway.

Hopefully she was dreaming of sugar plum fairies.

Fire Prevention Week

Last month we stopped by the local fire station near Jason's work for their open house. The kids had fun and Jason visited with his firefighter friends. I took pictures, of course.

Fair Time

Our county fair was last month, so of course we had to go. We prefer to go in the evening, but Jordis' squad had to cheer so we figured as long as we were paying to get in we might as well stick around. We had to get there early so the girls could get their shoe poms, face tattoos, hair glitter.....you know, important stuff.

Like how none of them are doing remotely the same thing and Jordis is looking around to see what comes next? I love it!

We ate lunch after the cheering and the kids always love getting shaved ice. It was a great day for it.

Then the kids rode rides.

I couldn't believe Jordis got on this thing. She saw her cheerleading friends on it and decided she wanted to go, so one of the girls' dad's got back on it with them. I love the little hand-holding chain they had going on.

I told Jason he better keep treating me right or I might leave him for this sexy guy.

On the way out we stopped to look at the animals and we were just in time for the turkey costume contest. Yes, I'm serious.

Welcome to Delaware, y'all!

Our favorite day

We always look forward to our annual trip to the pumpkin patch and this year was no exception. Luckily it was a beautiful day because Jordis also had a football game. In two separate cars the kids, Jason, my mom and I headed out. We made sure the camera was working and the fun began.

After a few runs on the zip line, my mom and I left for a few hours to get Jordis changed and to her game. Xander enjoyed chatting with the baby animals while we were gone.

After the game Jason went home to sleep since he had worked all night and Xander spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with the ladies. Our first order of business was lunch. It was a healthy affair.

With full stomachs we were able to continue on for the rest of the afternoon. Here are some highlights:

And the obligatory annual photos I make the kids take.....

We left tired and with goodies, a successful day indeed.