valentines day 2014

love love love valentine's day!

love my handsome husband who always brings home flowers for his girls.

i love that he does this every year!

this year he brought them home early, the day before valentines.  what a fun surprise.

loved Lexi's cute valentine box

and i mostly love that she wanted me to help. 

it was fun sitting with her at the table while we crafted this cute monster 

out of the paper bag they sent home.

we did mailbox surprises this year and it was especially fun for brenner.

he would wake up at the crack of dawn to see what surprise was waiting in his mailbox!

they were just little things like chapstick or squishy bugs or woopy cushions

but it was the BEST thing ever for him!

one day they got these mustache glasses.

one of my favorite things to do on valentine's day is heart attack my kids' rooms.

i love an extra reason to take the time to let them know little things i might not always mention to them.  it always makes my heart swell and i feel so very grateful for these wonderful little people we have in our home.  and i heart attack dave too, but those are secret!  :)  

i love hearing them reading their hearts out loud as soon as they wake up.

one last morning surprise in their mailboxes.

and chocolates for breakfast, along with heart shaped pancakes.

mia and i made chocolate strawberries to surprise the kids after school

it was the funniest messiest thing ever!

mia was a great little helper and the finished strawberries made me laugh

especially the one that even had the stem covered in chocolate.

brenner asked if i would come to his valentine's party at school.

lexi asked if i wouldn't come.  porter wasn't sure i could come.

so i took advantage of one child still wanting me.  love him!

i did sneak down and take a picture of lexi and her friends before they got on the bus.

and porter, brenner and mia in the entry of the school on our way out

it is such a nice school!

dave was called to an emergency surgery after work so he wasn't home for our 

candle-light valentines dinner.  i didn't do heart shaped anything, but made ham and potatoes because everyone will eat that.  our love potion this year was pop in glass pop bottles.  my kids think those are tops!

kyler had his last basketball game that night

so after watching him we played a few quick valentine games 

as it was getting late and everyone was TIRED.

and that's a wrap for love day 2014.

moments

one night dave had taken the older 3 kids to scouts and activity days at the church.

i was cleaning up dinner and gathering and folding laundry so i turned a movie on for the little kids.  as i wandered through the house i looked in and noticed them sitting so close together because it was a scary part in the movie.  since they were scared i brought the laundry in and folded it by them on the couch.  it was a silly animated movie so i felt bad they were scared, but thought it made for a cute brother-sister moment.

they look so small huddled together on the couch.

when the laundry was folded and the movie was done we read stories until the others got home.  i'm so glad dave snapped this picture, because this is one of my favorite moments of being a mother.  my belly is getting too big for them to be on my lap.  i'm sad my older 3 no longer gather around my side for stories, but i'm so thankful i have these 2 and another little one on the way so my years of reading stories aren't over yet.  oh how i will miss them.

school lunch date

Last week Brenner asked if I could come eat lunch with him.  Requests like this don't come often so I told him I would love to!  So fun to see his friends and watch him interact with them.  I love seeing my kids in action and knowing a little more what their days at school are like.  And no wonder I've heard a few complaints from my kids about their lunches.  Every child I saw had bags of chips, fruit snacks, juice boxes, packaged sandwiches, etc.  Sheesh!  I now understand why their baggies of carrots and oranges and water bottles aren't as exciting.  But I'm proud of them for eating anyway and accepting it as their fate and no longer begging.  It makes me want to slip in a cookie or two every now and then to surprise them.  I wanted to see what the hot lunches were like at this school so I got a hot lunch while B and Mia ate their sandwiches.  Brenner has never wanted to try hot lunch.  Anyway, it was a fun lunch date with B and Mia.

Then Mia and I came home and she painted this Ariel sun-catcher.

I love our quiet days together.  She is the sweetest little heart ever!  

Love Ariel's pink face!

When she colors in coloring books she only uses the pink and purple crayons.

I love it.

bath time

Mia doesn't like baths.  Mostly because she really doesn't like to have her hair washed.  Her poor hair with natural curl always has the most horrendous tangles.  Most days we don't even deal with the battle and she goes on my errands with me, bedhead, tangles, and all.  I'm really tempted to cut it!

When it had been too many days between baths and she was fighting it so badly, I decided we needed to make baths a little more fun.  She picked out some princess shampoo at the store, we bought more detangler to help, and she even got some new bath toys, like bath markers and this little bath doll that came with her own tub.

Mia had so much fun in the tub that day and since.  

Her hair is so smooth and shiny after she finally lets me wash and brush it.

Here's to many more happy baths and hair washes!  haha.  I can hope!

these 3

I just wanted to say how much I love these three kids.  It has been fun having them all in the Elementary School together this year.  (Lexi-5th, Porter-4th, Brenner-Kindergarten)  They love seeing each other throughout the day, and having some older siblings at the school really helped Brenner at the first of the year.

  

Lexi loves riding the bus to and from school, but I have driven Porter and Brenner to and from every day, which I didn't mind at all.  I actually loved it, being the last to see them walk in to the school and wish them a happy day.  Yesterday the boys decided to be brave and ride the bus home with Lexi and lo and behold they LOVEd it!  So this morning they got up and got all ready (nearly an hour before the bus was coming) so they could ride the bus TO AND FROM school today!  So proud of them!

And I love how Brenner does his hair by himself each morning.  It is so cute!

basketball

The Fall was so crazy with all the kids in activities and being pregnant I knew I couldn't keep up with that again.  So we told the kids they could choose one more sport before summer, and Kyler picked basketball.  It was so fun to go watch his games, to sit by Dave and cheer, while the little kids watched with us or played on the bleachers.  Kyler really gave it his all and improved throughout the season.  His team really improved also, they started with a losing streak but ended up winning a few games and doing really well in the play-offs.

100 days

Making it through 100 days of Kindergarten is a big deal!

They had such a fun day with super hero capes,

100 small snacks (like fishy crackers, marshmallows, chocolate chips, etc.)

and each child took in 100 of something. Brenner took LEGOS.

I can definitely tell Brenner is 100 days smarter!

I am so proud of how well he is reading and writing.

The papers he brings home from school are so fun to look at with him.

He was so excited to decorate his 100 day hat with crayons, glitter, pom poms and bells.

Congrats Mr. B on your 100 days in Kindergarten!

Chocolate Cake Day

January 27 is National Chocolate Cake Day.  

We don't celebrate it every year, just when we remember.

I made the Food Nanny's chocolate cake with half and half frosting.

So fun to look forward to after dinner.  

We love any reason to eat chocolate cake!

Poor Brenner gets migraines and he was already asleep.  Poor kid.

high school pep band

As one of Kyler's required classes, he is in 6th grade band.  He plays the alto saxophone, which he also played last year in his school band in New York, and at Turtle Bay Music School in NYC.  He's gotten pretty darn good.  Plus he just is extremely talented that way.  His band teacher invited him to play with the High School Pep Band at a basketball game.  He could not have been more excited!!  He was in awe of the high schoolers and LOVED everything about the night.  Playing with them, and watching the high school basketball team.  

Best night of his life.  

Watching him brought tears to my eyes.  I was a pretty proud mom.

This was right after his piano lesson where his teacher told me how talented he is and how one day he will be making money writing music.  And right before his own basketball practice where he played his heart out. What a great kid.

super bowl

Oh man, were my boys excited for the Super Bowl!!  They are super big Bronco fans.  It was such a sad, sad game!  Those Seattle Seahawks just couldn't be stopped.  But we had fun watching it with Debbie and her family and eating yummy food.  (That's the best part of the Super Bowl anyway, right?!! Family and food!)

poor B

One sad thing that happened while I was with Lexi on Saturday was that Brenner tripped over the roller blades laying on the garage floor and hit his head on his bike handle where the metal was poking through the plastic and popped a slice open on his head, right between his beautiful eyes.  I got home right after it happened and it was so sad.  But thankfully his Dad is an awesome PA and washed it out really well (much to B's discomfort) and then super-glued it back together, then put steri-strips on top to hold it, so he wouldn't need stitches.  Right in time for Lexi's program, so he was my little date to watch her sing, while Dave took Porter and Mia to watch Kyler's basketball game that was at the same time.

circle the state with song

Lexi loves to sing.  She is a member of her school choir that meets in the mornings before school to practice twice a week.  A few months ago she tried out for "Circle the State with Song."  Fifty kids tried out and eleven made it from their school.  These 11 have been practicing the songs for the last couple months with their music director, Ms. 'B', and then last Saturday was the big day.

They practiced with all 300 participants from all schools around this area, from 8am-3pm.  She was so happy one of her best friends, Meredith, made it also.  They had such a fun day.  Lexi and I were able to go to lunch with Meredith and her Mom during their lunch break and they are some of the nicest people we have ever met.  It is so nice to meet new people and have them become instant friends.  So thankful some tender mercies in life are like that.

Their concert with all 300 voices was fantastic.  I loved recognizing all the songs from hearing Lexi singing them around the house the last few months.  I'm thankful for good programs and great teachers who make things like this possible.  It was a neat day!

my helper

i have the cutest little cooking buddy.

while the other kids are at school we like to 

make Valentine cookies in our pajamas.

(notice the sad remains of a scooter wreck on the driveway which she 

told everyone about, even strangers at the grocery store)

and pumpkin chocolate chip muffins

she is so happy she is big enough to do the mixer all by herself

and banana muffins where she loves to mash those bananas

so thankful for my happy sweet little helper.

love her so much!

update: one more. 

she also loves to snitch the dough!

we were making my aunt's best oatmeal cookies and oh the dough is yummy!!!

meeting friends

Some of our favorite friends from New York, the Pinegars, just moved to Amarillo, 4 hours away from us, so we had to take advantage of a no-school day in January and meet in the middle. It was so worth the two hour drive to see this cute family again! Ten cute kids between us and we are each expecting baby #6. So thankful for dear friends! So funny we went from great adventures in NYC, riding the subway with ten kids, to meeting in the middle of nowhere, small town Oklahoma.  Sure love them!

snow biz

Porter's class had a fun musical production in January called "Snow Biz" where they sang Broadway songs and had a funny little plot about the snow.  Porter had a speaking part and we LOVED going to watch!  

While we were waiting for it to start Brenner took Dave and Kyler on a tour of their school and he was so proud to show it all to them.  We really like their school.  The building is brand new this year, and the teachers and staff are incredible.  We're thankful they are able to be part of such a great place!

"where are you Christmas?"

Lexi and her two best friends, Chloe and Meredith, sang at the school's "Falcon Fest" the day before Christmas on pajama day.  They sang "Where are you Christmas?"  They sounded great!  I'm so proud of all of them, and especially my sweet Lexi.

Sadly I was at the dentist with Kyler, as he had a dental emergency (he had an infection in his gum which was swollen and his expander was causing him to be in great pain) and it was the only time they could fit us in.  I was so sad to miss it.  Thankfully someone in our ward noticed I wasn't there and sent me this photo and a video clip of it.  Sure appreciate thoughtful people!

twins

Chloe is one of Lexi's best friends.  We love Chloe!  She is such a nice girl.  They have the same taste in clothes, and found they had the same blue ruffle shirt and the same gray boots.  So they love to wear them on coordinating days so they can match all day at school.  

One day Lexi came home and said that Chloe and her Mom would like to go shopping with us to pick out another matching outfit.  So we had a fun little shopping trip to Kohl's where they picked out matching pink sparkly vests and a striped shirt.  Totally cute.  I just wish I would have gotten a picture of them together in their pink, that they wore the next day.  Chloe's mom calls them 'twinkies' because they are such cute twins. 

I'm thankful Lexi has been lucky to find such good friends, no matter where we move.  

Such a huge blessing!

 

sunbeam

we have a new sunbeam!

she doesn't love going to sharing time by herself, but we are working on it.

she likes going to class and only cries for a minute when we leave.

and starting with the new year we now have 8-11am church.  

yikes!

a couple weeks ago the kids were asked to be the reverence children 

and we had to leave at 7:10am to get there 15 minutes early!

sweet mia is not a morning person

so she isn't ever awake enough by the time we leave to let me happily do her hair.

oh well.  pick your battles right?

for now she is the most darling sunbeam with bedhead at church.  :)