Valentines Day 2016

We celebrated more of a "valentines weekend" than just a day.  For our "date", Peter and I did a progressive dinner with some of the couples in the neighborhood.  Every house had a different, and yummy course, and then we ended with dessert and games.  We shared a babysitter with one of the other couples so our kids hung out at their house and went to sleep there too.

It was a little stressful getting everything set up, cleaned up, plus having the food all prepped so that I just had to basically plate it when everyone got to our house.

The house was all clean and ready to go.

My soup/salad course - Coconut Curry Chicken Soup, and Thai salad with peanut dressing.  Delicious (I got asked for the recipe by a few people and some even got second servings even though they knew tons more food was coming).  :)

Mary Ann, Jake, Erica, and Chris

Justin, Peter, Me, Melissa, Clint, Jessica, and Mary Ann

Couple 1

Proof I was there - and look at Mary Ann's table set up!  Makes mine look like a night at the homeless shelter.  Sheesh.  Oh well... I put all my attention into the food!

hi, cute husband!

Heart shaped strawberries in the water - - - - she doesn't miss on even the smallest details

couple 2

The main course!  (I forgot to take a picture of the appetizer course and the dessert)

Couple 3

couple 4

Playing games late into the night.  :)

This group keeps me laughing for sure

Maxwell had chosen to sleep on the floor on his nap mat rather than on the guest bed at our friends.  The kids both did great (which was good because this was the only time we've used this babysitter - - she introduced them to Snapchat which was a huge hit with them apparently.)

Happy Valentines Morning snuggling in bed with my family

Sweet girl...

....no wait, silly girl

Maxwell chose to go bowling as a family

We let Emmalyn bowl this time but it was still tough since it didn't completely keep her attention and it was nap time, too.

Video - Maxwell bowling without the ramp and a nice little celebration dance.

Emmalyn bowling with the help of her boys.

Family pic

He asked for my phone to take a selfie

We also went to the library (where it's very important to Maxwell that HE is the one checking out the books).

Silly girl!

Video - Of course after they had fun with the babysitter, Max wanted dad to get snapchat too, so he did.  Here's the fun he had with dad playing around with the filters.

Happy Valentines Day to my sweet family.  I sure am grateful for them and love them so much!

The first week of September 2013

September started out with Labor Day weekend! Summer is over.  :(  I didn't feel too hot (more to come on that) so we really didn't end up doing anything special.

More pool time

Always with that open mouth.  He can't quite get how to close his mouth when he's in the pool.

Dad and Max taking some silly selfies.

The silly selfies

The suitcases have turned into favorite toys of Max and Landen.  They had a lot of fun playing in them while I was trying to pack for a work trip.

Mr. Handsome

Max sleeping in our bed while I was out of town.  I can't believe he's this big.

While I have yet to get a tomato off my tomato plant, my basil plant has done well.  I made some homemade pesto and gave it to our next door neighbors with some pasta.

Another favorite way to play lately - Max pretends to make food with his cups and spoons and then feed it to us.  Common menu items - "icky juice" (Landen has been calling names and then gets to enjoy icky juice), "chocolate" "pudding" and "jello"

Eat it daddy!

Video - He thinks it's so funny!  Got to love that giggle.

Rarely do you get to see all those teeth!

Enjoying a Popsicle at a neighborhood party.

Happy kid.

Maxwell lately...

• Commonly heard phrases "Hey, watch", "Mom, look" or "Mom, watch"
• He has a good memory that catches me off guard.  For example, he wanted to play with his hammer and I told him that he could after his nap.  When he woke up, the first thing he said was, "Hammer?"
• He does not like having messy hands or boogers coming out of his nose
• He loves sports and wants to always watch baseball or soccer games on the tv
• He is such a little boy who wants to be more and more independent every day

New Years Eve 2012

The last night of 2012 was fantastic.  I am so grateful for my awesome sisters and their families.  I am also grateful for our house and the space it provided for us to all hang out together.

Max happily played with his cousins all night.

 Each year we make basically the exact same things to eat for our New Years' snacks.  This year I wanted to shake that up so I challenged my sisters - we each had to try at least one new recipe.

Brittany testing her recipe.

The kids enjoyed their fort.

Hayden has no idea what's about to hit him...

Tackled by Max!!!

Look how big and awesome that fort it - thanks Aunt Kimi.

Love!

What a cute family.

My cute family.

Kimber's family with a photo bomb courtesy of Hayden.

Superman shots (and Kaity holding nothing).   No one is having fun. (HA!)

The kids enjoying their celebratory virgin Pina Coladas.

Even Max got  to enjoy some.

Our spread...

The new recipe items -  (and because I'm blogging this 3 1/2 months later I can't completely remember)

Italian Sausage Hoagies

Jalapeno popper dip

cornbread jalapeno poppers

...and I don't remember anything else.  We didn't end up making one of Kimberly's because it was too much food already.  While it was all good, nothing was so amazing that we would make it again.  Oh well - it was good to try something different!

Pina Colada/Strawberry Daiquiri mixed together.  Yummy.

Gotta love the drool stain - he's teething.

Having a father/son talk.

Video - I can't get enough of this giggle.  Peter is still the best at getting it.

Kisses for Aunt Brittany

Picnic dinner

TOnce the kids were down, we played Apples to Apples.  We didn't even notice when midnight hit because we were having fun.

Small chance getting a picture without one of us pulling a face... :)

I called it a night earlier than everyone else (because Max was still going to get up at 7:00 regardless of a holiday or not) and they stayed up playing more Uno.