Valentine's Day - ahhh…..I love this "holiday"

Pretty sure if I went back and read old Valentine's Day posts, I probably say this every time, but I love (no pun intended) Valentines Day. I don't know why. I just do. I love to show love to my loved ones.  I post love notes on both of the kids bedroom doors for the 14 days of February until V-Day!  I tell them what I love about them.  They look forward to reading them each morning.  Hard for me to take them down each year.  I hope they always know how much I love them and why.  Why?  Because they are perfect and they are mine.

So I start thinking about Valentines Day right after the new year, as I don't do store bought when it comes to Valentines, so the planner that I am….I begin planning.

This year, Beau wanted a new Valentine box for school so we found this on Pinterest and put our own spin on it. I think it turned out great. He loved it and was so appreciative so it was totally worth it. 

And here were the Valentines he passed out to his friends. 

Sis used the same box as last year (thank goodness), but she decided she needs a new one for next year in the 1st grade. I won't go into the long dissertation she gave me about why 1st graders need new boxes, but rest assured, she had one. Here are her Valentines she passed out to classmates.  "Valentine, you are a Super Star" and she gave out star shaped sunglasses with them.

And here she is with last year's box but this year's Valentine outfit. The box surprisingly held up well from last year, and I actually found it in the closet! Score!

Here is her classmates singing a Valentine's song.  

And then my husband and I had a date night Friday night. Much needed grown up dinner out, followed by a little shopping, and then ice cream. Great night.  He gave me a new wallet, and three bouquets of flowers  - all in sports drink bottles because he couldn't find the vases -  which I really think we are only down to one anyway. I thought it was a great idea, and I just loved the flowers.  He had got up Friday morning early to buy them at Wal-Mart and he brought home donuts for me and the kids for breakfast.  What a good man.

So all in all, it was a great Valentine's Day.  

And two last little input's on Miss B's birthday.  Now that the sun is shining again and the snow has melted, MeMa and PaPa came up to celebrate B's birthday with her.  They brought her a pretty wreath for her bedroom door, which she can bedazzle up with her gems, and PaPa built her a real doghouse for her pretend puppies. This picture doesn't do it justice.  It is amazing. So perfect. My Dad has such great skills.  He has built my kids some of the most beautiful pieces that will be in their lives forever.  This evening since the boys are at baseball practice, she has been in her own world playing with her puppies and their new doghouse.  What an imagination.

Also, two other things I forgot to mention in her birthday post.  I did want to make note that this girl LOVES her some ketchup, ranch, and cheese balls - and yes, consumed altogether. She mixes the ranch and ketchup together and dips the cheese balls in them.  So minus the colossal bottle of ketchup, we did score these finds at Sam's Club this weekend.  That made for one happy girl.

 


Secondly, her taste in music has grown up recently. She loves POP music.  She likes Roar by Katy Perry, Timber by Pitbull and Kesha, and her real favorite is Monster by Rihanna and Eminem. Now, those of you that know these songs know that they are not the most appropriate pieces for a 6 year old, as here is what she belts out in the car (by belts I mean, yells) to the beat of course….

"I'm friends with the monster under my bed,
Get along with the voices inside of my head,
You're trying to save me, stop holding your breath,
And you think I'm crazy, yeah, you think I'm crazy."

She knows the chorus by heart. I'm not proud, but I am proud. ha ha
This child, well, this child is awesome.

Happy Heart Day every day!

Bren's Tea Party

Before I collapse, I thought I better just sit down and download pictures and blog about Bren's Birthday Tea & Dress Up Party we just had.  I think everyone had a good time.  The 5 girls (Tinley, Caroline, Dale, Emma, and Kaitlyn), and Brenley seemed so excited and all the Mom's told me their daughters could not wait for 2:00 to get here so they could go to the dress up party!

We started the party with crafts while we listened to Sofia the First soundtrack. At one point, the girls didn't even realize they were singing along.  We painted tea cups and tea pots, we decorated foam tiara's and foam teapots, all while we snacked and sipped caffeine free soda (not tea!).

Then we blew out candles, opened presents, and free play dress up downstairs began!  I was going to be happy if I kept them in organized activities for an hour and 15 minutes, and I almost made it to an hour and a half, so it worked out pretty well.

So while it took me quite a while to decorate, it took no time to take it all down. Isn't that always the case….you work, work, work, and then poof, it's over!  But my baby seems happy, which makes it all worth it.

The pictures kind of posted from end to beginning, but I am too tired to care. Enjoy!

It's her Golden Birthday! 6 on the 6th!

Princess baby girl turned 6.  Six.  Six.  Are you kidding me?  Where did those years go?  Where is the pause button? My baby is 6. I just want to soak her up.  She loves her Mama, and I adore every inch of her.

She is just awesome.  So awesome.  Full of imagination, energy, ideas, creativity, and love. She loves puppies and crafting and coloring artwork and painting.  Anything that will fuel her mind.  She makes us laugh a lot.  She has a HUGE vocabulary and now that her speech and her mind seem to be more in sync, she talks even more now.  She is definitely coming out of her shyness.  She'll talk to other people more now.  She is a great speller at school.  She is reading so well now.  Blows my mind. She reads everything. Billboards, things on TV, grocery store signs - you name it - she reads it.

Oh, and by the way, she loves Spaghetti, of which, I obviously did not clean her mouth very well after her birthday dinner as her spaghetti meal is all over her mouth in ALL THESE PICTURES!  Oh well. She doesn't care, and I shouldn't either.  She was one happy girl on her birthday and that is all I cared about.

She started her day ready to get to school to be with her friends. Because she was student of the week, Thursday was the day the parents got to come eat lunch with the kids and read a book. I decided to take it one step further and I brought McDonalds in for all the kids to eat for lunch to celebrate her birthday. They had cookies for afternoon snack. She was so happy.

Evening came and she wanted to eat dinner at Olive Garden (it was all we could do to talk her out of Wendy's). We had a really nice dinner and then came home to open presents and get phone calls from loved ones.  We ended the night with ice cream cake - of which she ate none.  She wanted a DQ cake, but then didn't eat any. So thanks Brenley for having a birthday so Dad, Beau and I could have some cake!  Little stinker.  She would have rather had cheese balls, I think.

Anyway, here are some highlights of the first day of Brenley being 6!

Before school.  She wanted to wear her birthday sash.  Who was I to tell her no?

Eating lunch at school! Yum. McDonald's.

Her student of the week board.

Talking to Me Ma. This is my favorite picture of her. 

Loves her some Daddy loving.

Checking out her Rainbow Loom supplies with brother.

Thanks, brother.

It's fun when she opens presents. She LOVES everything you get her.

From Aunt Julee, Uncle Travis, and the boys. 

From Steph, Casey, Talon, and Kamber. This dog is the cutest!

A bigger bike!  Yeah!

She looks so big, doesn't she?

I think I bought this more for me to play with than Brenley.  I LOVED playing with this when I was little. Took a long time for a light bulb to bake a cake.

Sorting out her rubber bands. She could do this for days.

I love this one too. May all your birthday wishes come true, baby girl.

Brother ending the night with birthday spankings.  She loved every minute of it.

ornery! but cute.