Valentine's Day PARTIES!

My kids REALLY wanted me to go their Valentine's Parties. Well, I wasn't feeling the greatest, but I went anyways. Elli's was first and it was fun.

They made little fruit kabobs which I thought was so cute! Elli wanted more, of course since it was something she liked to eat.
Caleb being his cute little self as usual sitting in the stroller. He's always so cooperative when I go places. He just sits there and watches the scenery. (Except the days he's been teething, which by the way, he is 10 months and STILL has no teeth. So I think to myself when he's a little fussy, "Well maybe he's teething," but there hasn't been a tooth yet, so who knows.)




Then there was Braeden's class. Braeden told me that morning that he really needed me to go to his party. He acted pretty insistent about it. So I thought I would tell him "maybe" and surprise him. I almost didn't go. By then, I really didn't have any energy, but I knew Braeden really wanted me there. So I went. I'm glad I did. When I got there, Braeden had told his teacher that I was going to be there and how excited he was. She was hoping I would come so I didn't disappoint. But it ended up being good that I came. A mom who was there to help had to leave because her daughter wasn't feeling good. So I took her place. Braeden was so cute and I'm so glad I could do that for him.


Here's his whole class.

My birthday is actually on Valentine's Day and I ended laying on the couch the whole day with the flu. Kind of a bummer. It wasn't a fun day. Mark was gone from 8 - 3 relocating our storage stuff, so it wasn't a fun Valentine's Day either. I didn't get to eat the sugar cookies that my mom made and I was very sad about that. I did end up losing 7 pounds being sick, which didn't stay off for long, but none the less, I lost 7 pounds! Woo Hoo!

My parents were so cute. They made (well my mom made) these big sugar cookies with each of their grandkid's name on it. They left them at the door and rang the doorbell and ran. I guess "back in their day," that's how they delivered Valentines . . . leave them by the doorstep and run. So they took cookies to each of their grandkids, and the kids loved it. I have pictures, I just need to get them from my dad. So they will be posted when I get them.

Valentine's Day Make-up

Since we didn't get to do anything on Valentine's Day, we made up for it on Monday. We took advantage of the snow and drove to Payson and played. My parents have a lot in Tonto Village that they are going to build on soon and there was a ton of snow there for us to play in. My kids were in heaven . . . until they realized how cold snow is. I couldn't find their snow boots so they wore their tennis shoes. Not fun for them. But somehow, they still seemed to play make the best the best of it!

You see that big ball of snow in Mark's hands . . . . that was right before he nailed me with it. That's my sweet little Valentine right there!! Gotta love him!!

Building our pathetic little snowman.


Braeden found some little twigs for us to use as his arms. It was cute how determined he was to find something to put on this snowman.

Everyone doing snow angels!

My biggest and littlest cute boys! Caleb really loved the snow, he just didn't express it well.

After the snow, we had to make a stop at WalMart (what else do you do in small town Payson??) and got the kids some extra pants and shoes since theirs were soaking wet. Then we went to El Rancho Mexican Restaurant and ate a yummy Lunch/Dinner. Then we started driving home. But we stopped at Fountain Hills to show the kids the fountain. They have never seen it. We got there perfect timing. The kids got to play a little bit before the fountain turned back on. They thought it was super cool.

Little Dare Devils

We were at the San Tan Village Mall and Braeden saw this ride that he really wanted to do. Then Elli saw it and said she wanted to go on it too. So we stood in line for it let the kids have at it. Braeden kind of got the jitters right before it was his turn, but we made him do it because Elli really to go. But he was happy he did it. They loved it and didn't want to get off. They had a blast. Braeden even let go when they turned him upside down and gave us the thunbs up.

Feuding Cousins

Caleb has a cousin (Tyke) who is just 3 months older than him, but he is TWICE the size. Really, Caleb is the size Tyke was when Tyke was 3 months old.

Well, we got together for dinner one week and my little sister Kara got these pictures. Melissa (who's son is Tyke) was supervising this little fight. Melissa also blogged about this and I am going to copy exactly how she posted this. It was cute.....

TYKE - "Hey you!"

TYKE - "Say Uncle."

TYKE - "Say it!!"


CALEB - "Is that all you've got?"


TYKE - "You WANT more?"

Now, if only Mark and I had the genes that Melissa had, we wouldn't be having this problem, now would we??

InfusionSoft

Mark works for the GREATEST Company EVER!!! InfusionSoft. They sell software to smaller companies to help them grow their business faster. Mark has been doing great there and we are SOOOOOO grateful he has a job in this awful economy where everyone is getting laid off.

But last Friday they had this amazing party for the families and it was such a blast!! They had 2 bouncy things, face painting, caricature drawings, YUMMY food and a talent show. The kids had so much fun and they were asking when the next party was.

Elli getting a caricature drawing of herself. Braeden got one too. But Braeden is in the background getting a cardinal painted on his face.

The results.....

Braeden had to get a guitar on the other side too.

Then there's Chubs who did great there. We forgot our stroller so we had to hold him the whole time. He was so wanting to just get on the floor and crawl around. As soon as we let him, it was happiness for him. And he also got to play with a football and chase that around. Oh, he is so squishy!!

I wish that was all the laundry I had to do....

...So Glad When Daddy Comes Home...

Mark got home from work early last Tuesday and our kids were so happy to see him. Elli loves giving her daddy hugs. Oh, the Father/Daughter relationship they have is CUTE!!

Smiley

I noticed Braeden had some writing on his belly so I lifted his shirt up and this is what it was, a smiley face. Ahhh, to funny!

SUPER BOWL!

Although we didn't like the outcome of Super Bowl XLIII, we still had fun getting together with family! Ryan and Melissa invited us over (or we invited ourselves!) and we had YUMMY hamburgers and watched the Cardinals ALMOST win the game.

This was during the 3D commercial after 1st half. Kara and Melissa got everyone 3D glasses and we watched the commercial! Aren't we fun??

Elli and her little cousin Blayke both got the same dress for Christmas from Grandma Harper and they both wore it the same day, so we had to get a picture of it! Blayke was smiling before and after this picture. But aren't these girls just delicious??

Kara and Cody just HAD to be in the picture!


Oh, and so does Grandpa.

The kids got bored watching the game, so they played games. This is one of the games they played. You had to wear this elephant mask and Elli had no problem showing it off for everyone.


Sunday morning before church, Braeden and Elli both made Cardinal posters to hold up during the game. Well, this is Braeden's, I can't find Elli's but she drew an AMAZING picture of the Cardinal. So we laminated this so he could hold it up during the game. Such a great artist he is. He definitely didn't get his artist skills from me.

WINDY??

Must have been windy this day!!

The APPLE Store

We had to make a trip to the Apple Store and I love it there! Especially when you spend an HOUR there. My kids love playing on their computers with their games. Makes everyone happy!!