Early Spring?

Oh Spring...Are you coming?

Cousins + Park = Good Times!

We were so excited to get to spend yesterday with Cousins.

Climbing with Cousin Aubrey

Attempting the daredevil move of switching slides without a net - Adventurous Benjamin!


Paul the Brave in two of his most popular death defying maneuvers!

Claire's static-y hair!

Emma wanted to spit water at everyone and get them wet. I told her I'd try to get an action shot instead.

AAAHHH!!

It's not a party without ice cream...

and a game of Simon Says!

Valentines, and cupcakes, and candy, and ...

What is Valentine's Day for again? Candy, cupcakes, and too many sweets? We went to Emma's class party. They had probably five different kinds of cup cakes on top of cookies and candy and juice. Next year I'm persuading Emma to give stickers or pencils.

Pirates & Piggies

You can tell from the title that we have watched a lot of Dora in this house. Tonight at the dinner table we had the boys being pirates and the girls being piggies. It was funny to me then, but really funny now as I look back through the pictures. The poor kids couldn't help but go cross eyed as they tried to look at their spoons. That's Paul's very intimidating Pirate Arrg! face.

An After - Boxes Round 2

Much better!

On my own two feet

We have been so excited about Lainey's latest accomplishment. She can stand all by herself on her own two feet. She's been doing it off and on, but today we got her to do it a lot right in a row. We've also been working on her clap, which she loves to do. So some of the shots have her clapping as she stands. It was so much fun, we all stopped and stared.



And by the way, she has two teeth coming on the bottom. Finally!

Hooked on You Sign

I told you a little bit ago that I had Valentines on the brain. Well, here's the latest.

The Hooked on You sign inspiration came from the three hooks that I salvaged from something else. I was holding them one day and trying to figure out what I could make with them. My thoughts turned to V-day and, Voila!, a cute little sign!

The frame had been hanging up with nothing in it. I fixed the ribbon the way I wanted it to hang, but couldn't decide what to put on the glass. I got many comments, very funny I'm sure, about how different and unique our new family picture was. I still had the display picture in that the frame came with. So today it became part of the Valentine's decor to stop all the teasing. ;)

Jason's New Job

Some of you may think that I've forgotten about my husband starting a new job. I haven't. We've just been busy. And I haven't taken a picture of him in his new uniform because not all of the pieces have come in yet. Soon...very soon!

He really likes working for Benton County. He says they are very nice and supportive. They tell him how glad they are to have him working there and part of their team. They do love to tease the new guy though. His Lieutenant told him that the new guy always brings cookies for the guys on the day of his first roll call. For Jason that was today. So I made some monster cookies and chocolate chip cookies for him to take in. (Let me just say here that I love monster cookies. Not only do I love what goes in them, but that recipe makes an horrendous amount of cookies. Yum!) He said they were gone within minutes.

We're excited about this next step in our lives. I've said that if I could just take the people of Othello with me when we move, we'd be set. Yes, job with Benton County...people of Othello...that would be a good combo. Or even the people of E-burg...now that would be the icing on the cake. Anyway... that's all for now.

Making Valentines

What a bunch of sillies we were today during our Craft Wednesday. We made Valentines! For Emma's class we made these really cute airplanes using smarties, sticks of gum, lifesavers, and rubber bands. I'll attach a little tag that says, Have a high flying Valentines. The other kids each made valentines for one another. Once Emma gets home on V-day, we'll exchange valentines here. Nothing big, but I knew the kids would all like to do it!

Here's the actual edible plane.

Valentine Candy Jars

Aren't these just the cutest?

I saw these on a blog somewhere and knew just what to do with all of our baby food jars, once we emptied them of course. Clean them out and tear off the label. Wrap them with cute scrapbook paper and add embellishments. Spray paint the lid (works best if you do thin coats until the lids are covered completely - messy otherwise) and let dry. Very important, that drying part! Fill with candy, be sure not too eat too much as you do so. Then give, give, give! It's fun, believe me!