Valentines of 2012

Here are just a few of the things I "hearted" this year around Valentine's Day, in no particular order...

Getting a Valentine in Spanish from Lydia

Worth every penny for the after-preschool Spanish class.

This guy and eating heart-shaped grilled cheese for lunch.

(I kind of went crazy with heart shapes this year. See below.)

Making my own scratch-off cards for mi familia.

Tyler and Lydia were fans. Luke scratched off two and said, "here, you do the rest." :)

Again, heart shapes...Rice Krispy treats (with red sprinkles of course) and more scratch off cards for Lydia's ballet class.

Yes, I have a problem with scratch-off cards. Good thing I don't play the lottery.

These two handsome devils.

This little beauty...

And my mom, who came up last weekend and took Lydia and me to see the Broadway show "Beauty and the Beast." Lydia loved it and did pretty well sitting through it, even though it was late at night. She was telling her friends all about it at preschool today. "It was magical."

And my sister-in-law, who came to visit us even though she worked the night before, stayed up all day the next day, played with my kids a ton, and went on the carousel at Seaside with Lydia just because Lydia wanted to and they make me sick.

And my brother, who also went on the carousel even when he didn't really want to (as you can see :) and taught Luke to "fist pump." Ask Luke for a demo next time you see him.

Of course, this list is not complete in the least. I have many, many people and things I love that I just didn't happen to have pictures of from the last month. Like my dad and our trip to Pendleton and Ty's family, for example. So, now you know, if you want to make it on my Valentine's Day blog post next year you better come visit in February and bring your own camera (or steal mine and take pictures with it) because I need photographic proof to post. Also, our house will be empty this weekend for the first time in a few weeks....we need more visitors.

Happy Birthday Ian!

Now it's time for Ian's birthday post, early as well but I wanted to do it before we leave town. This little man is a joy to have in our home. Here are a few things you should know about Ian.

He loves to swing.

He's already into playing with cars, and he loves stuffed animals. He's not doing it in this picture but he particularly loves to try to eat the faces off of stuffed animals.

The boy puts anything and everything in his mouth. Here, the milk cap from an empty gallon he dug out of the recycling bin. He also likes to try to dig around in the trash can, but luckily it has a lock on it so I can literally keep him from eating trash.

He needs no coaching when it comes to getting food in his mouth either. (Not his actual birthday cake, but a practice run a few weeks ago.)

He's already showing strong right-handed dominance. Look at the pictures above and below. Right hand=nasty. Left hand=totally clean.

And a short video of a happy walking Ian, just because I feel the need to redeem myself from the last video of him attempting to walk. Apparently we need to buy a new camera that shoots HD video, because the quality of ours stinks!

I sure love this little man of mine. I know I'm biased but I think he's the most adorable thing in the world. I couldn't have asked for a more accommodating third child either. He just rolls with the punches and keeps on smiling. Happy first birthday baby boy!

Happy Birthday Lydia!

Due to scheduling conflicts, we celebrated Lydia's birthday today instead of Saturday. And, to her great joy, she got to have a "real" party this year. I told her she could invite three friends, but of course I neglected to get a picture of them all together. Here's the rundown of the much anticipated day!

#1--The Girl

Happy as all get-out as you can see. The child had been planning this "birthday celebration" for three weeks, I kid you not. She's her mother's daughter, planning things out in advance! :)

#2--The Cake.

She wanted a heart themed birthday party, which I thought was fabulous being that her birthday is so close to Valentines day. I went to the dollar store and went crazy with stuff for the goody bags :) She dictated colors of frosting and chose the star sprinkles...not hearts...go figure. She helped me sprinkle them on her cake and loved it.

(Side note: I tried this frosting. It tastes superb. Give it a try, especially if you don't particularly like frosting.)

She was also particularly insistent that she have a checkerboard cake once she saw it in the JoAnn's flyer. The cake picture is actually what got her planning her birthday party three weeks in advance. The cake is supposed to come out looking like this:

Mine came out looking like this:

So much for using three colors and trying to be tricky. However, Lydia told me "It's lovely Momma. It has the checkers just the way I like them. And it tastes so yummy." What better endorsement could you get?

After having lunch, cake, and opening presents at our house, I took the five kids (I left Ian with a friend) to Pump It Up Jr. to jump around for an hour and a half. We had the place to ourselves when we arrived and only a few extra people showed up partway through. If you're ever heading there, I recommend going at 12:30 on Wednesday afternoon!

The tour:

The party attendees in order of appearance: Erica (already at the bottom), Katelyn, Lydia, Ryan, and, finally, Luke. (My friend Megan and her daughter Piper were there too, but we were chatting so much I didn't get any pictures when they were there!) Of course, they scorned my motherly and ER nurse advice to not start down the slide until the child in front of you gets off. What fun would that be?

It was a fun, low-key birthday party and the best part was seeing the perma-smile on Lydia's face the entire day. I can't believe five years has passed since I first held my beautiful baby girl. She came out with her eyes open and hasn't stopped observing and learning since. I love her imagination and her spunk, and she certainly knows what she wants out of life and isn't afraid to push for it. Happy early birthday my dearest Lydia Jannon!