Trying to be like daddy...

Back in January Ryan came out of the bathroom with a surprise for mommy. Yep, that is shaving cream. Someone had watched daddy shave the day before and had gotten a great idea :) Thank goodness there was no razor in sight! So glad I thought to get pictures before I washed him off! Sigh, he is just too stinkin cute!

I Heart Valentine's Day

I love love love Valentine's Day. I've encountered a few 'haters' and I'm so sick of it! While I have a wonderful husband, thats not what the day is about. Its all about love, yes love for and from your spouse or significant other but more importantly love for everyone. We all have someone we love and someone who loves us. What about children, parents, friends, other extended family members? Being single, or not getting the right gift or any gift at all, is the stupidest reason to hate Valentine's day. My great day wasn't dependent on having a spouse or receiving a gift. V-day is about showing and telling others we care about how we feel about them. Whats even worse is that the 'haters' can't just be silently miserable. They have to let the 'lovers' know just how unhappy they are in an attempt to drag them into their own misery. Sorry guys but this day is ours to enjoy, go get your own holiday!

We had a fantastic "I Love You day" (as my kids like to call it) There are so many boring normal days in the year that when you get the opportunity to have a really special day you gotta do it right. We all wore red and pink and we started out with a valentines breakfast and that just really set the tone for the whole rest of the day. Lunch and dinner were also valentiney. That really kept it going because every meal was exciting and different with new surprises planned. Snacks were heart shaped little debbie cakes and strawberry rice krispie treats. Daddy gave them valentine stuffed animals and heart lollipops when he came home for lunch (in addition to the other valentines they received from cousins and grandparents) Hayley had a new shirt and hair thingy to wear to school that was of course special for V-day. Now that Hayley is in kindergarten she gets to exchange valentines with her classmates so she picked some out a couple weeks ago and got going on them and then just kept on going. By the time we wrapped it up she had written out 50 valentines including some for siblings and grandparents and cousins and uncles and aunts. So she had fun passing those out all through the day. She had a v-day party at school that I was able to go to and she was so happy to see me :). She gave me about a hundred hugs and told me "happy valentines day" and "I love you mom" about the same. That was the best part about the day, the kids were all so happy! They were sharing and kind and you could just totally feel the love. I got hugs and I love yous all day long. The kids would say "mom, I want to tell you something, happy valentines day :)" and just smile. Actually Ryan started out with "happy birthday" but he eventually got the hang of it. Ryan recently had a haircut so next to the v-day pic of him and Josh I also added a "before" pic of Ryans hair for comparison. Hes cute with the curly hair and hes cute with the handsome haircut. Haha the fish was Jeremys v-day present. Its our very first pet EVER. Jeremy has been wanting to get a goldfish for a few years (he knows not to even try anything bigger on me, we don't have pets, we have kids) and I kept slamming the door on that idea. I have horrible memories of the things my little brothers did to our family goldfishies growing up. To be brief we're talking microwaves and decapitation. Well for v-day I decided to give it a go, I don't know what I was thinking, but I went to Petsmart and bought "Bear" for 14 cents. I gave Jeremy a card that said 'of all the fishies in the sea you are the only one for me' along with a package of swedish fish. Then SURPRISE! I pulled out the fishie. One of the first things Jeremy said was, "sorry buddy, youre not going to last long". I started laughing because the entire way home from the store I was talking to the fish saying "sorry buddy, you're not to be around long, maybe you got a week." So the fish is well warned and has already had a close call. Ryan put a jar of red glitter halloween makeup into the fish bowl turning the water a nice shade of a very valentine's day appropriate pink. :) BEST DAY EVER!

Have yourself a merry little christmas!

So here are a few pics from our christmas eve cookie decorating adventure that I wanted on here. Please disregard the poorly(if at all) dressed children and the dirty house. Thank you.

Have yourself a merry little christmas!

Christmas was wonderful. Christmas day I mean. The surrounding weeks were a little craziness and stress unfortunately. But I think it was better then last year. We were more prepared this year. I look forward to the day when there is more enjoyment then stress. We're getting there. We didn't get to fit in everything that I was wanting too (there wasn't nearly enough extended family time for my liking) but we did get to do a few fun things. We made sugar cookies and gingerbread men for Santa (and us), we decorated christmas ornaments and watched lots of fun chritsmas specials on tv. Hayley and I had our own little wrapping party and we spent more time looking at christmas lights then any other family in Kennewick. Jeremy was so good about pulling off and turning around and slowing down for any decent display within the kids eyesight. Of course the lights set to music were so fun and we made a point to visit quite a few of them. We turned the car off and all the kids (minus Livvy) climbed into the front seat of the van with us. It is probably my favorite memory I'll have from this year. Mine and Jeremy's laps piled high with bundled up kids, watching lights in the dark car, listening to music, singing along, and just relaxing and enjoying the moment. I got to spend alot of time, especially with Hayley now that she is older, talking about all that Christmas is really about. That was nice, but I missed acting out the nativity with parents and family like we've done in the past. That would have been good for Josh and Ryan. Next year we'll have to make it a priority, this year it just didn't happen.

For the first time in our married life we spent Christmas night at our own home. Usually we spend the night at my parents' house and we have a very early and crazy christmas morning. It was time to break off on our own (3 kids was pushing it, 4 would be insanity!) It was great not having to lug loads of presents between houses. We got to house hop for the rest of the day, getting to spend time with alot of our family, and it was a very nice, stress-free day! There's just always more you needed or wanted to get to, and didn't. We eventually decorated a gingerbread house, 4 days after Christmas:) So maybe better late then never. Anyone want a christmas card?

Excuse my ADD

I have to do a little update on my last ADD post. I have actually done pretty decently with my projects I took on. (for me) My greatest success being crocheting. I've crocheted countless flowers, made a hat for my son, and even crocheted a hat and scarf set for my sister for her birthday/christmas. AND more importantly they were fantastic! YAY! I really feel like I accomplished that goal. I am excited to have this new skill and I'm looking forward to using it for the rest of my life. Next fall when all the crocheters and knitters pull out their hooks and needles and yarn in honor of humanitarian service I'll be able to contribute. It's a great feeling. I added in a couple pics of my recent projects. As you may have noticed by the quality of the shots, the photography project didn't make it much past the "digital photography for dummies" book from the library ;). Still working on that one. At least I read the books (a little) and I actually have a working camera now (yay black friday office max sale). I really need to put the photography idea on hold though until I can save up for a DSLR as opposed to my little point and shoot. Yes, I'm blaming it on the camera. 'Exercise' is currently in the 'fail' category. Blogging can't be put there yet because, yay, I'm blogging right now. Now that its January I have so many new goals to work on (Woo hoo for new years resolutions); there are many more ADD posts to come!

Family pictures-misc.

Family pictures-girls

Family pictures-boys

Family pictures-kids

Family pictures, yay!

So we finally got around to having our family pictures taken. I put a bunch of them on here! Ashley Elliott took them for us and she is Jeremy's sister's husbands' sister AKA my sister-in-laws sister-in-law :) She was coming in town, and it was one of those now or never things! I kept waiting for my children to be unscratched and unbruised, but I decided that I could wait around forever for that to happen and still be pictureless. I doubt I'll regret it and years from now sit around looking at the pictures thinking wow I wish I wouldn't have gotten pictures taken cuz Ryan has a bump on his head and Livvy's face is scratched. I am however certain that I would regret not having any at all. Then theres the trying to get everyone in a good mood at the same time.... oh sheesh. Ryan was GRUMPY and there was no way around that one, and Josh was being shy, but at least he wasn't glaring like Ryan! :) I love them though and I like getting those sides of their personalities. I'm already thinking about more pictures of just Livvy. I love pictures of my kids, I could look at them all day. I remember worrying with my first baby, what will they look like? Are we going to have cute kids? What if they're weird looking!? And after having an adorable baby girl and an adorable baby boy, that hasn't been a worry since. Boy or girl, its a guaranteed to be beautiful!