Love Day

We tried to keep Valentine's Day low key this year. The best gift was having Brandon home! I don't remember the last time he was around for Valentine's Day. We were able to go to lunch on Monday; we ate at Applebee's. The hour to ourselves was really nice.

Brandon got each of the girls a balloon that each one loved. Analise's had a puppy on it; Maisie's had a princess; Sadie's had a monkey.  The girls naturally had fun at their school parties and coming home with all sorts of goodies.

Brandon came home for dinner that night, but he left shortly after dinner to head three hours away. He was originally scheduled to leave the next morning, but since they were predicting freezing rain, he decided to leave the night before. I still saw him more than I do most years. :) Our dinner was so romantic - waffles. :) I wanted to feed the girls something that I knew they would enjoy.

Here are some picture I took to send my parents and sister.

Celebration and Announcement

Two weeks ago we celebrated Analise's birthday with the local family. I'm not sure when I looked forward to a celebration more than I did that night.

She chose to have tacos for supper, so that was simple enough. During the dinner, Grandma asked questions for the family to see if they could guess Analise's answer. Here is what we learned about Analise.

1. If you could work an job, what would you do?

A: Work with dad

2. If you could be any age for a week again, how old would you be?

A: 10 or 18. She wants to shoot a gun (hah!) and drive.

3. If you didn't have to do a chore any more, what would it be?

A: Pick up toys. (I think folding laundry was a close second.)

4. If you were 1 inch tall for a day, where would you like to explore?

A: Hitch a ride on an eagle's beak.

5. If you had $1000, how would you spend it?

A: Buy a puppy

After dinner we gathered together to open gifts. She got this cute sweatshirt from her aunt, uncle and cousins.

She loves the neon in this Hello Kitty shirt.

The "big" gift this year was a new camera. She had outgrown  her kid camera. She was so excited. I then showed her how to view the pictures she has already taken. This is where it got real fun - the moment I was waiting for. I had taken pictures of words, so when she advanced to the next picture, she read this message:

We. Are. Getting. A. (picture of a puppy). In 8 Days.  See this smile? I think it says it all. When everyone cheered, she asked me quietly, "Why can't we get it tomorrow?" Though the puppy wasn't an actual birthday present,  it was a lot of fun telling her around her birthday.

Maisie surprised me with her excitement. She couldn't stop hugging me and telling me thank you. Once she was finished hugging me, she moved on to her dad.

Analise wanted an 8 cake. I used a new cake recipe that I really liked; the consistency and texture were awesome!

Cousins

 

The annual birthday picture

I think there is a reason most people say Analise looks like her dad.

It was a great night celebrating Analise and the sweet girl that she is. And it's so nice to be able to talk about the puppy around the girls. :)

Analise is Eight!

Another year has gone by, and now my oldest daughter is eight. How can this be? She started counting down for her birthday the first week of January I believe. However, after learning about the puppy, she was counting down to that instead. That doesn't mean she was any less excited about her day. I made cinnamon rolls (Pillsbury kind. :)) for breakfast, and she loved using the special plate.

 Brandon timed his lunch at home so I could go join Analise at school. It was fun sitting with her and her friends. I only join her about once a year, so it was fun seeing her in her every day life. It was just another reminder how much she has grown, and I admit I still get a little sad thinking about the fact that she does spend seven hours a day without me. It seems like yesterday it was just the two of us hanging out.

After school she did homework and played. And she got several fun phone calls that she loved.

A big perk this year - Brandon was home. It's been several years since he was home on her birthday. Her meal of choice was pork chops and shrimp. So I also made salads and baked potatoes with topping. She was happy.

After dinner she opened a few gifts from us and also the gifts from Grandmom and Pops.
Before:

After:

My mom and dad are so gracious to always include something for the "non birthday" girls. Peg - this picture is for you. Too bad it doesn't come in your size. :)

We ate leftover cake after a lovely rendition of happy birthday. I love this picture because it shows Sadie taking a picture with her own camera.

Here she is enjoying her new present!

Analise, you are a sweet, responsible, sensitive eight year old! You changed our lives for the better eight years ago! May God grant us many more together.

Oh my! Brrr!

After Maisie got her pants dirty twice from walking in the snow, she decided to solve the problem this way. Pull those pants up, and they can't get dirty. And mom can't stop laughing.

A Special Dinner

Our community is blessed to have a ministry that goes into high schools to talk about making good choices and NOT backing away from sharing the good news of the Gospel. Their annual fundraiser was a couple of weeks ago, and we decided to go again. Somehow we ended up as table hosts, but that was fine with me. We had family and friends at our table, so that made the night more special.

The speaker for the evening was Tony Perkins, and we had the privilege to meet him before the dinner. He was such a humble, down to earth, Christian man who has followed God's call into serving in the political world. Brandon about laughed out loud when I asked Tony if he ever thought about running for president someday. But I was serious; I would vote for him in a heartbeat. :)

He was a great, funny speaker, too. And even better - he was positive about things going on in our country. It was nice to hear. It was a good reminder to pray for our leaders and country, and to make a difference in my sphere of influence.

If you don't know who Tony is, he is the president of Family Research Council. (It's the only news I read and follow.) I encourage you to check it out!

I enjoyed the evening out with my man, among friends, and the girls enjoyed a night at home with Twin 2.

Analise's Music Program

Even with the 10 inches of snow we got on Saturday, Feb. 4th, we still had Analise's music program. Her teacher braved the 45 minute drive to make it. Analise has been a part of Children's Music Academy for 2.5 years, and this was her first program. There are five kids in the class, so the crowd was complete with parents, siblings and grandparents.

This music class has been a lot of fun and educational. It's one hour a week, and the parents stay for that time. She's learned to play the keyboard, ear training, chords, and I can honestly say she retains it better that I do. This 45 minute program was a sampling of everything she has learned over the 2.5 years, and she had two solos. Great job Analise! I can't wait to see how God will use this gift of yours.

Even the girls enjoyed listening. Thanks for coming Grandma!

Grandpa came, too, and Maisie enjoyed his lap.

Silly girl

I love this picture of Analise with her friend, B. The hats only make it better. :)

Analise has one year left of this class, and in addition to what she's been learning she will also learn the recorder and guitar. And hopefully the other two girls can start next year.

Winter Reality

About five days after our 65 degrees and trip to the park, we were in a blizzard watch. It rained all day Friday and by nighttime it turned into snow. When we got up Saturday morning, we had about 10 inches of the beautiful snow. Of course the girls wanted to be out in it right away. So after breakfast, we bundled them up and sent them out.

After church on Sunday, Brandon went out with them to build a snowman. Playing in the snow is even more fun when dad joins. And I confess I enjoyed the quiet in the warm house.

The second snowman became a chair instead. :)

Maisie's Creativity

Maisie made (colored) this rock in preschool for R week. She came home SO excited about her pet rock hamster. She even made sure it had a little box with "food" in it.

Santa got these wooden dolls with magnetic outfits for the girls at Christmas. Whenever Maisie plays with them, this is always the first outfit she chooses. Not too long ago, she came to me with the doll and told me that she wanted Grandmom to get her an outfit like that.

And for V week, she made this cute valentine.

And since this post highlights Maisie, I will mention that I had a lot of fun at her PT conference this week. Unfortunately, Brandon was traveling (he missed last year, too, but who's keeping track?) so he wasn't able to attend. The three teachers had good things to say about her. She listens and participates without looking for attention; she is on the quiet side. She plays with everyone. She did a nice job writing all the letters, knows her numbers, shapes, birthday, and she adds good detail to her drawings. I am so thankful we let her have another year at preschool and didn't rush her into Kdg. This was just what she needed. Thank you Lord for the blessing of a wonderful preschool with three wonderful teachers. And this year is extra special with the fun classmates. We will treasure these last few months of preschool!

Teasing of Spring

This has been a very mild winter, and I have loved it! We've had a lot of days with the temps in the 40s, and some days it got even warmer. Not many days ago when I stepped outside, I saw three robins. Even they thought it was spring!

One Monday it got up to 65 degrees! When a friend texted me to let me know she was taking the kids to the park, I knew this was an opportunity we couldn't pass up in the middle of January. And we weren't the only ones with the park idea; the park was busy! It was so fun to get fresh air and let the girls run around with their friends - without wearing jackets!  Of course, I also enjoyed talk time with many friends. It made for a crazy 30 minutes at home before music class, but it was worth it!

Sadie and her friend K

Maisie and her friend, H.

Reading is Never out of Style

Though the position looks quite uncomfortable! Analise is hanging off the edge of the mini tramp. She finally moved when I told her to.

Bowling Fun

A couple of weeks ago, we took the girls bowling to reward them for good behavior. They were so excited to go! Brandon and I didn't bowl, but we enjoyed watching/helping them. Maisie won at least one game, and Analise got a real spare. (no aids)  As much fun as they had, I still prefer bowling on the Wii. :)