Valentine's love

www.xkcd.com - Just in case you missed it on Facebook.

 I love Valentine's Day.  Not for the contrived commercialism, but for the sweet expressions of love and fun themed food:)  I don't think that Benjamin really understood what all the heart business was about, but I like to think that he does, and I love an excuse to celebrate and plan a party.  The day started off with beet and cottage cheese pancakes made my Joel (pink and yummier than they sound:)  We went and played with cousins Tegan and Malachi and did some marble painting.  It was a little crazy but I think the boys had fun. 

 

We did some heart blotto paintings at home and even Arianna started painting for the first time.  Victor even got his hands a little messy.  He and Aunty 'Seashell' have been visiting this week.  We sure are going to miss them when they go.  Benjamin has been literally crying every day for 'Beector' since Christmas.  We are going to be bored next week.  But they've had fun together.  Poor little guy sprained his ankle doing laps with Benjamin so we've had to be creative in our fun the last couple of days.  

Benjamin totally rocked the marble painting.  So much that he drove Uncle Tanner a little crazy, he couldn't handle the nails on the chalkboard sound and quickly substituted a plastic utensil.  Not such a big tough guy after all;) 

We had freshly fallen snow AND no wind for Valentine's, a rare combination so we spent a couple of hours playing outside.  Notice the little tuft of blonde on top of Arianna's head.  She's not totally bald!! Benjamin delivered his first Valentine to the neighbour girl around the corner.  So cute.  I told Benjamin to 'Watch me' make letters and shapes in the snow.  Then he ran around saying 'Watch me!  A circle! Watch me! A heart'.  Love this kid.

 

We also made some pink rice krispie hearts and did some Valentine's counting.

The boys loved the heart scavenger hunt with erasers and pink heart ice cubes. 

 

The perfect end to a LOVE-ly day was to have these two wonderful husbands prepare a romantic, candlelit dinner for their wives.  And Tanner.  And Rochelle.  It was fun:)  We had Surf and Turf.  Steak, lobster, shrimp with sides of barbecued potatoes and peppers, brocolini and a salad.  Wow, right?!  It was definitely the best home spun Valentine's dinner I've ever had.  We finished off with the decadent Shocklate hazlenut cheesecake.  You would never know it was somewhat healthy!  It's Joel's specialty. 

Benjamin loved Tanner's Valentine present from his girlfriend so much that Kylee surprised him with his very own giant frog.  And a pink one for Arianna. Too sweet. They love her.  So much that he bawled for 10 minutes when she left today.  Seriously.  And I love that she and Tanner watched the kids so I could have a nap today.  She can come over anytime:)

Birthday!!!

I love my birthday! It was always kind of a big deal in my house. This morning Joel got up with the kids that woke up super early and made me creeps...(crepes. The iphone autocorrect was a little off on this one) My favorite breakfast treat! And I got spoiled with some yummy chocolate covered strawberries! We visited a bit with Alayna and Emma and the kids had fun playing together. Did a bit of shopping with mom and the kids, which I love. And drum roll... We actually went out on a date! First time since Arianna has been born! So glad she is finally sleep trained so we could go out! Thanks to Mom for making it happen! We met Katie and Brenton at the Cheesecake cafe for some quality chat time minus the kids. It's been an awesome day and I feel totally spoiled. And I love all the virtual love from Facebook friends. 

 

Fun in the box!  I was amazed that they all fit, and that they all smiled at the same time!

Birthday Eve

For the first time in four years I was home for my birthday! Tradition dictates that we have family dinner on the Sunday around the birthday. And we did. We played at the park as it is unseasonably warm right now, and there wasn't even any wind! We came home to a clean kitchen and dinner all ready thanks to Randy and Joel, love them! Dinner consisted of salad, beans, butternut squash, roasted potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, roast beef and gravy. Too yummy! And for dessert Grandma Krammer brought jello salad, Kylee brought the fabulous rainbow fruit kabobs, and Randy brought the Costco cheesecake assortment. It was pretty much perfect and I'm still full. Thanks for the awesome birthday dinner!

 

Can't help but love this smiley face!

 

Yes, I took this picture during the prayer on the food.  The kid rarely folds his arms these days so it really was a catch-on-camera-to-prove-that-he-does-it moment.

 

Rainbow fruit kebobs.  Picture perfect! Good enough to eat.  Ben definitely thought so! Pretty sure that's all he ate for dinner.

We love this place!

I miss Utah. It's true. So I've been trying to find activities to keep us busy and get us out of the house. There is a Stay and Play at the school here in Coalhurst. It's basically a drop in preschool program for kids up to 5 years old. The lady who runs it is amazing! I seriously might move to Coalhurst just so we can keep coming! Benjamin is learning routines and participating with the group. It's so fun to see! It makes me miss teaching in the classroom but I love enjoying it with my kids. Arianna usually has a nap in the Ergo while we are there, but she has fun too! We try to go twice a week. It's perfect. There's free play, snack time, stories, songs and messy play time. Definitely enough to keep us busy for a couple of hours. It saves my sanity. I love being able to get a few conversations in with the other moms while we watch our kids play. And it's only a few blocks away. Awesome.