Be My Valentine?

Our play group had a Valentine's Party with crafts, games, lunch, and cookie decorating.  It was such a fun day.  We love this group.  None of the moms are judgey and the kids are all super sweet and play well together.  I'm sure this playdate was supposed to end at noon like all the others, but we stayed until 2pm and it couldn't have been more fun!

We went to Sarah's and got to see her new girls' rooms where they built loft beds and play houses.  It was awesome!  The kids played back there the whole time and had such a good time.  

Little Leah stayed with the moms, as well as Hudson, because they are too small.  But I swear the little girl always gives me the biggest smile!  She is just so loving and happy!  I have never seen such easy babies before - these two are perfect all the time!

We did a hand print salt dough craft this time.  Each kid got to play with the dough and make it into a circle, put their handprint in it and then paint a heart in the middle.  I love seeing how these kids are all so different with crafts and messes.  Aaron, boy to the core, is great at staying relatively clean, wants to paint the heart himself, and showing the camera his amazing craft with a perfect smile.  Clara is a sweet girl who just wants someone to put a ring on it.  Joey and Anna were kinda in between wanting it to be just right and wanting to run off and play.  Jack and James were both wanting to play and eat the dough and it might have taken a few tries to get their handprints just right.  And Harper of course wanted to eat it because she thought it was cookies.  In the end it, it turned out to be such a cute craft that I know I will love forever! 

After more play time, the kids had a lunch of heart shaped sandwiches, fruit kabobs, and banana bread. The moms had 7 layer dip and random bits of the kids stuff, and it's possible we may have eaten almost an entire 9x13 pan of the stuff.  But it was such a fun day just relaxing and playing.  After lunch, the kids got to decorate heart shaped sugar cookies with icing and sprinkles.  Let's just estimate that each kid used about half a can of sprinkles - they were all over those things!  Most kids only wanted to decorate one because then they just wanted to eat it, but they had a blast.  

Towards the end, we had the kids hand out valentines and they were soooo cute!  Joey was worried and sad because Harper couldn't have the twinkie because of her allergy.  Aaron was the most shy boy all of a sudden and giggled passing his out.  Harper didn't understand why people were putting stuff in her bag, but all she wanted was the candy anyways.  I just think little people are so cute!  

After all of the party stuff, we decided to head outside because it was absolutely beautiful and warm.  Goodness, we miss summer!!!  The kids all jumped on the trampoline and climbed on the fort.  It was a good hour of getting more energy out and enjoying the outdoors.  The moms just kept talking, did we ever stop?, and it was nice to have all this time to really get to know each other better.

We just kept playing, ignored the time, and had truly the best day ever.  The kids loved it and had a blast and the moms had a nice, relaxing, moms day in.  

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Week

Valentine's Week we did so much this year.  I honestly don't even think we did any crafts last year for Valentine's.  But this year, we read books about Valentine's, made crafts, made gifts to give, baked heart cookies, and had fun at playgroup.  It was a busy week!  

For Harper's valentine's to give to friends, we did the pinterest project of melting crayons into a heart shaped mold.  Then, she colored on each paper that said "You melt my heart."  Cheesy but funny.  So we sent some to friends in Lewisville and of course to Grayson and Reesey, and then we saved some for our friends play date on Valentine's Day.  She had fun with the crayons and did ok coloring.  She just scribbled and tried to get done as soon as possible, she's not a huge fan of coloring.  But I learned my lesson that if you make something cool like heart crayons, make sure and have an extra for your kid, because they will REALLY want one.  

Early in the week, we have a play date for Valentine's.  They got to eat lots of goodies, play "Pin the heart on the Dinosaur" and run around like usual.  Jack and Aaron got sick that morning so they weren't able to make it, but we got to play with Anna, Leah, and a few others.  There was also a little 3 week old there and all the kids thought he was so cute!  They even learned to play volleyball with a balloon but each kid ended up wanting to just keep the balloon to themselves and it was more of a game of chase in the end. It turned out to be a fun morning!

Valentine's morning was pretty normal.  For the last few years, we have always gone to get donuts as a family, but with Harper's allergy, we thought it would be mean to take her to a donut shop and tell her she couldn't have one.  Instead, Cody and I went out the night before and had a nice dinner all to ourselves.  That morning, Harper got to open her Valentine's cards from her Mimi and Pop and Nana and Papa.  Then, we frantically searched and ended up finding a cute shirt with a heart on it (I'm that mom who doesn't buy shirts for one time events...lame I know).  She looked so stinking cute in her neon pink shirt with her denim jacket and cowboy boots.  I just love her!  She of course was shy at first when I asked to take her picture, but she warmed up pretty quickly.  

Normally, Cody and I don't care much for "fake" holidays.  But I realized this year (yes, I know, it's obvious but I just figure it out) that Valentine's Day is a great day.  So what if Hallmark makes some money on forcing you to be nice and kind and loving.  At least for one day, most people are loving and kind to each other and strangers.  It seems like a day that Christ would love too.  So I decided to forgive Valentine's Day and embrace the day of love this year.  And it turned out to be a great day.

We had a Valentine's party that morning and instead of coming home for naptime, we decided to stay and play with our friends for a little longer.  Mostly, it was for the moms, but it was fun anyways.  So on the way home, we stopped and got Cody and drink from Sonic and visited him at his school.  Harper loves to run around and draw on his smartboard.  We said hi to friends and just enjoyed playing with Cody during the school day.  It was a fun surprise!  In the end, we each made a homemade card for the other and it was a fabulous, love filled day with family.  

Happy Birthday Kristen!

Two weeks early, we celebrated Kristen's birthday.  Kristen and Brian are not really big on birthdays, but it still feels weird not to celebrate.  So this year, we just all met at their house with the McCool's and had a nice family dinner.  Brian grilled chicken and we all brought a side and it was easy and fun.  The kids ran around and had fun with all these crazy people to play with and the night went by way too fast.  It's fun to watch Reese and Grayson play - they are the epitome of brother/sister.  They rough house and play and hug all at the same time.  All three play ok together, Grayson bosses Harper around and Harper bosses Reese around, and Reese ignores both of them.  I love these three and it makes me happy that Harper loves her extended family so much.  

Kristen has had to create a "kids table" for family dinners lately and it brings back such funny memories.  The last couple of times, Harper has been having too much fun to eat, and when she leaves the table, Reese immediately finishes off her plate.  They make a good team.  Plus, they absolutely love having Taylor and Carleigh to play with because they will do anything for them.  And this time, even Pop got in on the action and I have never seen them laugh so hard!

It's hard to have such a big, crazy family, but we make it work.  My sister is such a fabulous wife and mom and I love having her around.  Happy Birthday sister - we love you!