{a happy valentine's day}

I love Valentine's Day even more now that I have kids. Rick and I go out and celebrate, but I think it's so fun to do things to make the day special for the kids too.  They are funny--they remember all the details from the year before, and they are quick to remind me "how we always do it".  So...it continues, and it proves to be one of the best days of the year!

I think the MOST exciting thing is heart attacking Rick's car. We usually go out the Monday night before Valentine's Day and do it when he's still at work, but this year it was raining that night, and the other nights were full of practices and lessons.  The night before Valentine's Day we planned to sneak out of the house after he got home, and decorate the car so he would find it in the morning. It worked like a charm--and we hurried so fast to get it done before he noticed anything.  They were supposed to keep it a surprise, but poor Henry, he tried and tried, but the excitement just overwhelmed him.  He ended up telling Rick, but Rick was good about acting SO surprised the next morning, and the kids were happy.  Definitely a favorite tradition! 

That night we set out balloons for each child on their chair, plus a bag of candy, and their fun Valentine's plate and cup for the next morning. We were READY!!!  I woke up SO early the next morning--before 5am-- so I could get breakfast going before Ryan left for seminary.  I also remembered why we usually have cereal in the mornings.  :) We had eggs, sausage, toast...and sugar cookies, of course! I did that once a couple of years ago, and the kids never let me forget it.

Lunches were packed with heart sandwiches and treats, red drinks, striped red straws, and love notes...of course. I was really ambitious and made braided hearts in Emma's hair, and she was beside herself with excitement. I was glad I took the extra time to do it--I'm not usually a "fancy" hair mom at 6:30am.  

The boys also got a fun lunch, and they couldn't believe it was just for them. Jack was especially enamored with the whole heart sandwich thing, and he hasn't stopped requesting them since.  :)

That night we decided to make it a family affair (Rick and I went out the next night), and homemade heart pizzas, red slushies, and more cookies.  We snuggled up to watch a movie, and since it was Friday, the kids got to stay up late.  

It was a crazy, busy, fun day, and I'm so happy and grateful for all seven of my valentines!!! 

  

{meet chubbs.}

I was sitting on the couch with Jack a couple of weeks ago, and he turned to look at me and asked "What's the baby's name again?".  Yes, I know. Clearly we like nicknames at our house, and Miss Caroline has a lot!

Meet Chubbs.

A.K.A...

Petey Pie

Petey Pants

 Chubbers

Peaches

Liney Lou

Sister Sue

Sweet Caroline

There are more I'm forgetting about, but these are the most common.  I CANNOT BELIEVE that she is ten months old. Seriously. I'm in denial.  I can't think about her being a year old--maybe if we postpone her birthday party I can pretend that she isn't that old yet.

She has five teeth!  She had the bottom two for several months, and then all of a sudden three on the top all came in at the same time.  This girl can EAT.  We call her Henrietta. ☺  (See...another nickname!)  She has never liked baby food, and hasn't ever eaten it, other than the few spoonfuls that I tried to get her to swallow.  So...table food it is!  She loves meat of any kind, cheese, grapes, yogurt, cold cereal, and pretty much anything except oatmeal.

She has light brown hair, that looks like it will most likely go blond in the summer.  Her eyes are blue, which surprised all of us.  The other five kids all have green eyes, so I suppose I assumed she would too.  Rick is thrilled, because his eyes are blue. I'm sad we don't have any kids with brown eyes like me, but contrary to popular opinion (i.e. the kids), we are NOT going to keep going until we do.

She is always happy---and absolutely loves all of her siblings.  She lights up with her toothy grin when the girls and Ryan come home from school, when she wakes up, or just anytime you look at her and smile.  Likewise, everyone adores her, and she is most definitely the queen bee of the family. I have the sneaking suspicion that it's going to be that way her whole life.

She's been crawling for months--since she was six months old--and has been pulling herself up and walking around the furniture for quite awhile.  I'm hoping she'll wait another couple of months to walk...

In a nutshell, she's an absolute delight. She lights up our home, and I'm loving this age.  

Miss Caroline, Happy Ten Months!!!

{the park, some ducks, and dad}

It was a beautiful day today--in the high 50's/low 60's, and a great excuse to get outside and go to the park. One of our favorite parks is the North Shore Park, because there is lots of green space, a huge playground, and a lake with tons and TONS of ducks. One of the boys' favorite things to do is go feed them enormous amounts of bread, so we gathered a bag for each of them, and off we went!

I called Rick on the way there, and he was going to be driving past the park on his way to another location, so he stopped by to surprise the boys.  Since we are in the full throes of busy season, we rarely see him, even on the weekends, so this was extra special.  

The ducks were a little out of control. There were a million of them, or so it seemed, and they could smell the bread and soon as we got out of the truck. Pretty soon we were surrounded, and Jack was a little unnerved. Henry didn't mind--he headed to the water's edge and stayed there, drawing quite the crowd of ducks and seagulls.  Jack found a safe spot on top of a ledge, and stayed there, on higher ground to feed them.  Rick ran around holding Caroline, and chased the boys, the ducks, and did all the fun dad stuff. :)

After playing on the playground for awhile (we discovered Caroline is NOT a fan of the swings), Rick headed back to work, and I took the boys to Chick-fil-a to pick up lunch for the girls.  We went to their school, and ate lunch with them in the cafeteria, which was an exciting experience for all of them. It was really fun to surprise the girls, it was a great lunch.

Certainly not every day of my life is perfect, and sometimes they are really hard, but this was such a nice day--I'm relishing in it.

{my instagram life...january edition}

Friday night is pizza night, and I'm always so happy when Domino's has this special!  We go through a lot of pizza, so the price is great (4 pizzas for $17!) and they have gluten-free, which makes it quite perfect!

Rick and I sent to see this last weekend, and LOVED it.  We're huge Tom Clancy fans, and love the Jack Ryan character (we think his middle name should be Henry ☺) so it was exciting to have a new one come out.  Despite Keira Knightley being in it (not a fan), it was a great movie!

I'm still learning about the organ in this church--it's very different than the one in Midland. I do love to play though, and it's perfect the once a month I'm on the schedule.

I couldn't help but take this picture, because I was in awe of Henry...eating hot dog number FOUR.  He ate more than Ryan, Rick, and me combined!  Love this kid.

All of the kids were thrilled about our first Love Bucket night, and Kate's grin is testament to it!

We had a day off of school last Monday, so we went to the zoo with a bunch of friends. We ate a picnic lunch, and enjoyed the beautiful weather and good company.  Fun day all around!

Caroline was really sick for about 6 days--fever and a lot of fussiness.  She had a double ear infection, and something else they couldn't quite pin down.  She had to have blood drawn, got a shot of antibiotics, and then still had to come hope to take two different medicines for a week. We are SO glad she's feeling better--it was a very long week!

I LOVE that there are tv's in the doctor's office.  We had to spend over two hours in this tiny room, and that tv was the only thing that saved me from losing my mind! 

Rick texted me this picture last Sunday, because I was home with the baby.  Jack and Henry were having a hard time in church, so they had to come out to the truck and sit for a little while.  You can really tell their size difference in this picture!

I participated in a greek yogurt taste test with Yoplait, and the kids totally loved the whole thing...blindfolds and all!

I'm in the middle of painting stripes onto my curtains.  In the middle of the dining room.  It's saving me a lot of money, but I need to hurry--this is a disaster just waiting to happen!

We used the special red heart plate two times this month--Kate and Emma each earned it because they both received the Bulldog Best Award this month, with a focus on honesty. Way to go, girls!!

My Henry B.  Love his guts.

I'm kind of obsessed with shoes. It's always a happy day when they come in the mail.  ☺

This baby is adored by everyone, but she also adores them!  She is so happy when the girls come home from school, it's so fun to see her little face light up, and huge grin!

I've had to resign myself to the fact that our grocery budget has to keep getting bigger. It has doubled in the last couple of years, and my regular shopping is almost all done at large warehouse stores. It's crazy.  I am glad my kids have good appetites, but it's making me nervous for when they are all teenagers!  (This is one of two carts...)

I can't believe January is over...

{what? snow in texas?}

Not only do we live in Texas, but we live in southern Texas, on the Gulf, where the chance of snow is very, very low.  One of the things the kids have missed the most since moving here is the snow, and leading up to Christmas they talked about it all the time.  

So...it has been pretty exciting around here when we had not one, but TWO snow days off of school in one week!  Yep.  Totally unheard of.  The first "snow" day didn't result in actual snow.  The worry is mostly freezing rain that turns into ice when the temps drop down below freezing and stay there through the night and day.  It did look kind of funny to look outside and see no snow, and yet be home, but since the cities have no snow equipment, it can be pretty dangerous and the roads slick (and no one knows how to drive in it). It's quite the scenario--roads shut down, schools are out, businesses close, and the whole town is on hold.  It really makes me laugh when the newscasters talk about the "arctic freeze" that's coming to town.  Really, people?  35 degrees is "arctic"?  Well, here in Texas, it is!

Our second snow day came just a week later, and the night before, the kids were resorting to all of the snow day traditions we did in Michigan.  They put their pajamas on backwards, and flushed about a million ice cubes down the toilet, and even prayed for snow.  Sure enough...the schools announced that night that they would be closed the next day, but we weren't sure if we would actually get snow.

We didn't wake up to snow the next morning, but by mid-morning, there were definitely white flakes coming down.  The ground was still too warm and wet for anything to stick except to the mulch and the trampoline, but the kids didn't care...it was SNOW!

We piled on the warmest clothes they have, tied plastic bags around their feet, and off they went!  Kate went outside, looked around, and asked "Where is everyone?  Why aren't they out here?  Wimps."  It was totally funny, because the streets were dead silent...except for my kids!

They were out there for a good hour--jumping on the snow-covered trampoline, making the tiniest snowman I've ever seen (named Sugar, with no carrot nose because it wouldn't stay on), and thoroughly enjoyed this little bit of winter we were blessed with.  They came in with red noses, cold hands, and completely happy.  We drank homemade hot chocolate, and snuggled in the rest of the day. It was wonderful!  

{The night before...flushing ice cubes!}

 {Look at all that snow!}

 {Look closely...you can see our tiny snowman!}

 

Caroline came out for just a minute, so she could see the snow, but she mostly watched from the window.  She loved watching the kids, and wanted to go out too, but she was just getting over being sick, and I didn't want to take the chance.

 

 I had the BEST run ever that day...it was the perfect temperature. :)  I did not see one living soul, but it was peaceful and beautiful, with the sun shining on the snow covered roofs and glistening icicles.  I loved it. I don't know how anyone can prefer running in 100+ degree weather over this--I'll never understand it!

Homemade hot chocolate...the perfect way to end our fun day!  Marshmallows or whipped cream, with a sprinkle of cinnamon & sugar---YUM!

Don't tell anyone, but I prayed the snow here.  ☺

{my life through instagram}

Yep.  Another edition. ☺

-----

This scared me to death in the parking lot, and it surprised me.  Then I remembered where I live.  Lol.

 I was in Target, and stopped by the baby section to pick out some new pajamas for Liney Lou.  I realized that she is too big--now in the toddler section, and she's only 9 months old!  That IS NOT right!! She is super tall, and wearing 18 months clothes most of the time, sometimes bigger than that.  This needs to slow down, pronto!

 This is the selfie my kids wanted me to take on the way to church this week.  It's a very serious picture of me, but somehow I can't make myself smile while looking at myself taking a picture.  I know, it's weird, but true.

 This is a picture, of a picture, of a my laptop screen, as I'm catching up on "Call the Midwife", a PBS series based on some of my favorite books. A new season starts in March, and I'm anxious to finish the previous seasons.

 This does my heart GOOD!!!  I love love seeing my kids read, and seeing them enjoy to read. This was actually taken at the park, and if you know Kate, she is usually the one running around the most.  But...this book was calling her name, and she stopped for a break to read. 

 Out for a morning run with my newest running companion.  It's so weird to have an empty seat in this double jogger, after so many years.  I can't seem to get rid of it quite yet and get a single, but I'm sure it looks funny to passers-by!

 I just had to show how snazzy someone looks in safety glasses.  See?  Aren't you glad you know now?  I was cutting some wood on the miter saw, but just got from a run and was so sweaty that my glasses kept fogging up.  That's why you can't really see my eyes.  ☺

 Geesh, there are a lot of pictures of me this time around!!  Another running picture, but I took this one because it was in the middle of an "arctic freeze" (i.e. 20 degrees), and I was getting the funniest looks and stares from people driving by. You would have thought we lived in Alaska, and I was running in sub-zero temps on six feet of ice.  For reals.

 I'm loving the kitchen stools makeover I did--it makes such a difference in the room, and I love chalk paint!

 I let the kids use Ryan's old iTouch to play games on (don't you love the cracked screen?), but I still have a passcode on it so they can't play anytime they want.  Apparently they must have tried for A LONG time to have it be frozen for 23 million minutes. That's 44 years!!

 This is Caroline's nursery, which used to be the girls' room. It's not quite finished, but it's been fun to work on!

 A picture of a bill-paying and bank account-balancing day. I do all the finances at our house, and I love it.

 

 I'm working with Skinny Cow on a campaign right now, and it was very fun to get a shipment of yummy candy on our doorstep!  My kids are killing me--they plan to ask for it in their Christmas stockings. 

These are all random photos, of random times and places during my day, but I love looking at them as a collection, and my hope is that one day when grandchildren and their grandchildren are looking at them, that they'll have an idea of what life was like for us...right now.