Happy Valentines Day!

Well, the "most romantic day of the year" has arrived. Although Stuart and I celebrated on Thursday night. He took me to The Ranch which is one of the nicest restaurants in Rawlins. Then we went to see Mall Cop...awesome movie if you are looking for something to see. It was a lovely night and since we very rarely do anything like that it was great.

Last night was the bi-ward dinner/dance. Which turned out nice. Two of my friends' husbands had to work and so the three of us went together. Besides the fact that the night was REALLY geared toward couples it was fun. My only complaint was that the husbands were supposed to serve the wives dinner. Since we were husbandless for the night some nice men did get us our dinner. The dancing was hilarious. There are a couple reasons I choose not to dance in public. 1. because I have 2 left feet and 2. because I look ridiculous! It was very interesting to watch!
I did bring Samuel in for a dance. He enjoyed it and kept saying that he wished dad was there to dance with me. I did too, but I had a great time!

I also realized last night that when Stuart is gone I really don't pay much attention to food. The kids took a late nap yesterday and when they woke up a little before 5 I let them have cake, ice cream and chocolate syrup. They sure enjoyed it even though it sure wasn't healthy. So as we were going to the church at 6 I asked if they were hungry so I could get them something to eat. They weren't and so our deal was that if they behaved in the nursery I would get them Happy Meals. The dance didn't get over until almost 9 and so they ate dinner (After a VERY long wait at McDonalds) at 9:30. They had a great time, and I think they realize that when dad gets back we'll get back into a routine!
I think it's a good thing that Stuart's not in the military, I would NEVER be on a schedule! Ok, I probably would but it's more fun to make it enjoyable when we are all missing him!
I guess the old addage is true...the mice will play while the cat is away.

Hope you all have a VERY happy Valentines day!

Birthday Celebrations

This is the cake I made for Phillip's birthday. It turned out pretty cute, although it would have been better if I had had black frosting but alas I didn't have any black coloring.

We bought Phillip a litte tikes cozy coupe car for his birthday. He LOVES IT! He even abandoned his cake and ice cream to play with it and didn't stop until bedtime. I can't count the number of times he's "been to the store" for me tonight! And his only complaint is that it doesn't have seatbelts (no seriously). He informs us of the fact everytime he gets into it.

KatieJo & Samuel wanted to give Phillip presents as well. And we decided that they should make them or help make them. So, KatieJo helped make Phillip some jammie pants (she sewed the straight lines). And Samuel gave him rice buddies. We got the idea from my sister-in-law Aimee except Phillip's are in the shape of a car.

And so it began

Phillip turns two today. My mom called me last night and asked how I was feeling. I wasn't sure how to respond. Was I supposed to be feeling sick? I told her I felt fine and she said "well that's good because 2 years ago you weren't feeling so hot." Which is true. Two years ago today I had been in the hospital for 6 days and had been on bedrest for a total of 2 months. I was SOOOO ready to have Phillip come out and be part of the outside world!

As I think back on his 2 years of life I am thankful for every second I spent lying in my bed or on the couch. He is such a joy to have in our lives! He grows and changes so much everyday and I'm glad that I get to be his mom.

Phillip not quite a day old. On Mothers Day 2007
His One-Year-Old pictures.

First Camping Trip May 2008

Summer 2008

What a ham he is! He loves to sing and dance, and one of his favorite activities is to get out the children's hymnal and "Sing". He turns the pages until he finds one he likes and sings "I am a Child of God". Then once he's done he finds a different page and does the same thing. He is an awesome big brother and sometimes a great little brother. (I say sometimes because he likes to bite Samuel...no one else, just Samuel.)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PHILLIP!!! We LOVE YOU!

I'm all alone...almost!

Friday morning Stuart leaves for the regional high school boys swim meet. Normally not a problem except it's overnight. Also not normally a big deal; however, there is a bi-ward church valentines party Friday night. I knew it involved dinner and so jokingly I asked my friend's husband if I could "be his 2nd wife for the night". He turned me down and said something to the extent of "he was only going to dance with his wife". I had ABSOLUTELY no idea that it was a dinner AND dance or would never had asked him that (I was fairly embarrased after I found out)! On top of that they are having a photographer come and take pictures of "all the cute couples". Everyone is supposed to come in Sunday best and the Young Women are providing daycare (so it's adult only). So, I'm going to be dateless...how sad! I asked someone if I could have Samuel be my date but they didn't think that was too funny. Then I proceeded to ask everyone in Relief Society if anyone wanted to be my date for the night (after EVERYONE encouraged me to come "stag"...I hate that term!). It got a good laugh, but that wasn't my intention. I think I might go, but I fully intend to be a "wall flower"!!!

I'm also sad because Stuart isn't getting home until around 11 on Saturday night. In the 8 years we have had the opportunity to celebrate Valentines day together we have celebrated them in the following ways:
2002: We were driving overnight to Cedar Rapids so Stuart could try out for scholarships as he was going back to school in the fall.
2003: Stuart was in New York with school
2004: I had just had a D & C and was in NO mood to celebrate!
2005: We had steaks after the kids went to bed.
2006: We had just moved to Washington and were working on getting settled and unpacked.
2007: We had Phillip on the 11th and Stuart went back to work on the 14th, and we had only been home from the hospital for a day.
2008: We went to a Costume Party where the vast majority (besides 7 of us) didn't show up. We did play some fun games though. Still, not very romantic!
2009: We are going out on Thursday the 12th because Stuart will be gone.

Someday...probably when I'm 60 because Stuart will most likely be coaching for a long time; we are going to go on an AWESOME Valentines getaway....I'm thinking a Cruise or trip to somewhere terribly romantic although I'm at a loss right now where that may be. Oh, and there won't be any kids (hence the fact that I'll most likely be 60!).

Since Stuart won't be home this valentines day, if you'd like me to watch your kids for the night....bring them over, I plan on having a GREAT valentines day with my kids (and your's if you're close enough for you to take advantage of that offer!). And after they go to bed I plan on watching "You've got Mail" or some other romantic movie.

CHEERS!

The color of the day

So, I started the day out "boycotting" cleaning the house. It never seems to matter if it is 100% spotless when Stuart and the kids get home, within an hour it's trashed. Therefore in my "mini-tantrum" I vowed I wasn't going to clean the house (which really just entailed not putting everybody's laundry away).

However, I can't stand a dirty house which in my world consists of clean laundry being on the couch and the floors not being vaccumed and maybe some dishes not being done. So, my boycotting came to an abrupt end this afternoon when the kids helped me clean. My new philosophy is that maybe if they help me clean it they will be more likely to keep it clean (I hope anyway!). So, their jobs were to pick up or move anything on the floor so I could vaccume under them rather than around them. They also had the responsibility of making sure their rooms were clean so I could vaccume in there (that wasn't a hard task since all the toys are in the playroom downstairs). So, after vaccuming the bedrooms I was in the hallway "detailing" around the edges and vaccuming the floorboards when I looked up and saw Phillip with a crayon in his hand....and I saw where his crayon had been...on the wall!!! I had RED crayon on my white wall!!! KatieJo and Samuel found it hilarious; I did not. But, I talked to Phillip and told him we don't color on the walls and proceeded to clean it off. As it turns out crayon is harder to get off a wall than one would think. But, I'm happy to say that the wall is once again white. Thankfully it wasn't a permanent marker like when Samuel did it in Washington!

Wordful Wednesday

This topic stumped me. How DO I show affection? So, I turned to my most reliable resource....my wonderful husband. He smiled at me and said "Food".

"What?" I asked

"Not necessarily food, but you show it through food or crafts or gifts. You want to give something or do something for people."

As I think more about it, he's right. I like my house to be clean not only for me, but it's part of how I show my love for my family. I enjoy cooking and baking as long as my family is enjoying it (although I do make pea soup despite their complaints because I like it!).

I enjoy making things for my friends and family. I LOVE coming up with new things to make them, and I LOVE buying them things; especially if I get a good deal on the item because I am EXTREMELY frugal!

I try to be very vocal with my love for my children. I tend to be critical and even though I know I love my children I make a point to cuddle with them or give them "eskimo kisses" at random moments. I also try to put notes in their lunch boxes telling them how much I love them.

As for my husband, I attempt to bring him lunch at work almost everyday.

I would consider myself "behind the scenes" in regards to my show of affection. I don't enjoy public display of affections, although I am a very huggy person as I come from a very huggy family. I enjoy getting hugs, and I enjoy giving hugs. I remember right after Stuart and I were married, my grandma was saying goodbye to Stuart and she gave him a hug and planted a kiss right smack dab on the lips. Stuart isn't from a very "touchy, feely" family and so I'm sure you can imagine the look on his face. He has since grown accustomed to my family and that part of the family. It just goes to show how "huggy" I am. However, if I am in public I do NOT like to show affection. Which is one of the reasons Stuart enjoys singing about me in public because I will literally walk (or run) as fast as I can away from him. He thinks it's hilarious and will chase me singing about how beautiful I am.

I sure do LOVE my family!

You CAN teach old dogs new tricks!

I've learned a few things today I thought I'd share.....

1. My hair looks cute wavy. I've always straightened my hair because I don't like the fact that it is wavy in spots. So, I thought I'd try putting some gel in it to control the waves, and what do you know...it's cute!

2. Because we live at approximately 7000 feet I have to reduce the amount of flour in the bread I make. Yes, I do make bread on a regular basis but I haven't been using my bread maker to do it. However, I was watching several other children today and didn't have the time to kneed my dough etc. so I popped everything into the bread maker...it didn't work so well! Next time I'll decrease the amount of flour and hopefully it'll turn out better!

3. I'm grateful I don't have twins

4. Diapers really don't take that long to make if I already have them cut out! And when your daughter is as small as Maija (who at 2 1/2 months still fits in newborn diapers) making smaller cloth diapers is a must!

Anyway, I thought I'd share the things I've learned today!

Cheers!