Life Lately

 We made sugar cookies last week. We made gingerbread cookies all through the holiday season and somehow missed out on the sugar cookies! We cut out big hearts to give out for Valentine's Day. Everyone loves sprinkles!

 Sunglasses....

Our February has been warm and dry. We are praying for rain, but while we wait we are sporting our shades.

 Zackary seems to be extra sensitive to the sunlight. He will cover his eyes with his hands if we don't have any sunglasses with us.

 School is out this week, but usually I take Zack and Zoey with me to pick up the older kids from school. They like to play while we wait.

 Notice the clothes....this was just last week. (Very sunny February!)

 We love french fries :)

Over the weekend we found ourselves at our local burger joint. We ordered regular fries, sweet potato fries, and tater tots. Zack loved the regular fries, everyone loved the sweet potato, and Zoey enjoyed the tater tots!

The kids were so excited yesterday to hear the music from the Kona Ice Truck coming down our street. Max is the best big brother and treated all of his siblings :)

Sunday Things

1. Our Valentine's date was so much fun! We left the kids at home with my parents and Ty and I went to the local drive-in movie theater. Ty had made the back of the car so comfy and cozy! He covered the seats with foam and blankets. We even brought pillows! We brought our favorite candy and had a blast. It was a date night that we are already planning to repeat!

2. I love this Jeffrey R. Holland quote!

3. During Valentine's season I like to make homeade chocolate peanut butter hearts. This year I used THIS recipe.

They are dangerously delicious. I made more last night!

4. I spent most of the day yesterday reading, "Old Blood and Guts", a biography about the life of General George Patton. After much debate we decided that Max should be General Patton for the 3rd grade wax museum, so of course now I need to know everything about him! I finished the book this morning and I was very impressed with Patton. I especially enjoyed learning about his life at home with his family. The Patton family motto was, "You do your best, for if you don't you're better off dead."

I think I need to read more biographies. I love learning about people.

5.  The kids have this week off. I am excited for lazy mornings and pancakes. I know the kids are looking forward to a break from homework!

6. Here is a thought for you as we start the new week!

Have a good one :)

Flowers for the girls!

 So Ty brought home flowers!

Big beautiful Valentine's flowers.

A massive vase for me....

 and little red rose bouquets for the girls!

 All girls need flowers for Valentine's Day!

They are lovely!

He is awesome :)

My Valentine :)

I have spent much of this week feeling so blessed to have Ty as my valentine!

I love him more all the time. He just keeps getting more amazing and I can't help but fall for him.

He is mine and I am his.

Everything else is just icing on the cake.

Valentine's Dinner

We are having our little Valentine's celebration dinner tonight!

We were originally waiting until tomorrow, but Ty and I had a change of plans. We will be going out on the actual Valentine's Day, so the family dinner is today :)

 I wanted to get the table all set before the kids got home from school so that it looks like a party!

It kind of looks like a big mess, but I am sure it will be fun!

 I used the Valentines as place cards. I always write long mushy notes to my kids ( even the ones that are not yet readers!)

 Everyone is getting lots of candy and fun surprises. I really do love our Valentine's dinner! I am making ribs for dinner. It is a favorite! For dessert I made a dark chocolate raspberry tart.

 It is made with a dark chocolate raspberry ganache. I did a lot of tasting!

I am looking forward to the kids getting home! I hope they feel excited and loved!

Sunday

1. At church today I did the music for junior primary first hour. I love singing time in primary. It gives me the opportunity to sing solos for a darling audience :)

So many of those little ones just sit and stare at me while I sing! I hope that one day they can all be confident singers!

2. After primary I lead the music in Relief Society. We sang songs about love in honor of Valentine's Day.

3. By the time sacrament meeting finally rolled around I was exhausted! Ty is working today so I sat with the kids and fed them lots of snacks to keep them happy. When we got home I felt like I needed 3 hours to recover from the 3 hours of church!

4. I have been making big batches of roasted applesauce for us to eat. The kids love it so I am just going to keep on making it. I peel and chop apples, toss them in a dutch oven, throw in a bit of citrus juice, cinnamon, and maple syrup, and then bake at 350 for about 2 hours. I blend everything in my blender and then fill mason jars with the applesauce. Totally delicious!

5. Speaking of delicious.....I made myself a treat this afternoon, as part of the 3 hour recovery.

A Giant chocolate chunk oatmeal cookie.

Perfect for snacking on while watching the latest episode of the Pioneer Woman.

6. I have started planning our annual Valentine's dinner for Friday night. (Ty and I are going out on Saturday, so on Friday we can play with the kids!)

I always set a fancy table and cover it with hearts and candy. I am excited!

7. Max got a Cra-Z-Loom

I guess those rubber band bracelets are all the rage.

It turned out to be pretty fun and we spent a lot of the day yesterday "looming".

This is one product that I would actually recommend! (All of the kids are completely covered in rubber band bracelets at this point....so be warned!)

 

8. Can we talk girl scout cookies???
They are everywhere and we can only buy so many! Cute little girls at the store, cute little girls at your door, and everywhere else we seem to be!
I used a box of thin mints to make a chocolate pie crust last week. I brought caramel delights to church today for the kids. I am sure we will buy more soon.

9. Have a great Sunday and a fabulous week :)

The Girls

 Ty took the boys out for a movie and I stayed in with the girls.

 This was one of many failed attempts to take a picture of Mia and Zoey together.

(Notice the band-aid on Mia's chin. Stitches are coming out tomorrow!)

 Mia has been asking all week to make and decorate cupcakes.

We made a batch of yellow butter cupcakes.....

.....and chocolate truffle frosting, because chocolate must make an appearance.

There were lots of sprinkles.

 and lots of tasting.

 We ended up with 12 beautifully decorated cupcakes.

The girls did a great job!

Next we tuned into the Disney Pandora station and danced in the kitchen while we cleaned up and then did a little Valentine's crafting.

Now we are onto movies.....first one selected by Zoey, her current favorite: Charlotte's Web. She calls it the piggy movie and we watch it all the time!

Love my little ladies!

Friday Things

FRIDAY!!!!!!

I am so happy you are here :)

1. Ty is taking Zac and Max to the movies after school.

It's a man date to see:

The Lego Movie!

The boys have been excited about this for about a year so I hope they have a great time!

2. I am staying behind with the girls for cupcake baking/decorating, and lots of Barbie movie viewing. Mia made a list for me to take to the store this morning. It went something like this:

rainbow cupcake liners

pink sprinkles

chocolate frosting

She is adorable :)

3. Scenes like THESE happen a lot at our house. It is nice to know we are not alone! 

4. The kids and I were cracking up over THESE amazing British cookie commercials! Zoey could have watched them forever and they would never have stopped being funny :)

5. I love getting the FRIEND magazine in our home. It is a great resource. I recently discovered the FRIEND online site through lds.org. It has all kinds of videos and and stories. I think we are very blessed to live in a time when we have such easy access to so many amazing things!

6. I love THESE chocolate heart granola bars for Valentine's Day!

so cute, and I wouldn't feel bad about eating them!

7. It has been cold this week. Like in the high 50's! So of course we are freezing and wearing our winter coats.

Zoey looks extra pink in hers!

Happy Friday! Have an awesome weekend!

A Few Things...

1. I am so thankful for tender mercies and wonderful people who are so willing to offer help and assistance at a moment's notice! I am often the recipient of such service. This past weekend, when I had to take Mia in for stitches, a friend was willing to watch my other children at a moment's notice and when I got a hold of my parents they came as quickly as they could to help. Last night, Ty was working late, and I had driven Max to scouts. Zoey was sound asleep and I hated to wake her to go and pick Max up. I called a friend, who was also at the church for a young women's activity. I asked if she would be willing to bring Max home and she was! Honestly these little things mean so much to me. I am so grateful for every bit of help and kindness we receive! 

2. These tender mercies inspire me to be better as well. I hope I can lift and help those around me when I have the opportunity.

3. I have a really awesome husband. This is a mushy post, but really he is the best and I love him like crazy. I am very happy to have him and I hope he is always happy to have me!

4. Yesterday, before scouts, the kids and I decided it would be a good idea to split a large fry from Mcdonalds. I rarely eat fries, and when I do I make sure they are going to be shared! We spread the fries across a platter and then sprinkled them with sea salt. ( I know it must be wrong on many levels to salt Mcdonald's fries, but like I said this is a rarity!)

They were the best things ever. Zackary kept yelling for more fries :)

5. My bed was so very comfortable this morning. I was in a perfect pocket of soft and warm when it came time to get up. I really had to convince myself that it would be worth it to get out of bed. I ended up having a really great workout and enjoyed a little quiet time to read scriptures before the kids got up, so I was glad I hadn't given in to the comfort!

6. I am headed to Redlands this morning with the younger kids. We are meeting my mom and brother for breakfast before a little shopping at Trader Joe's!

Have a really great day!

Weekend Wrap Up

1. Ty enjoyed a beautiful hike yesterday! He loved the snacks I sent him with and came home safe so I was happy. 

2. While Ty was gone Mia fell off the trampoline and split the underside of her chin open. My friend took the other 3 kids so I could rush off to the emergency room with Mia. 4 stitches and a complimentary teddy bear later....she was good as new.

3. These things always seem to happen when Ty is completely unavailable!

He did arrive home about 5 minutes after we did so I had his help all evening :)

4. I threw together a truly fabulous dinner.

Pioneer Woman's Lazy Chiles Rellenos

I roasted my own chile peppers in place of using canned and served the dish with corn tortillas and salsa.

It was so easy and we loved it! 

5. Today is fast Sunday and I always wake up hungrier than I am on any other day of the month. We are feeding the missionaries tonight and I am already looking forward to dinner!

6. I guess today is also super bowl Sunday. We are not a football household. I am very glad for this. In addition to being fast Sunday and super bowl Sunday, it is also Groundhog Day!!! We are not a groundhog household either :)

7. A few things I am loving:

A Snowman Factory using Homeade Play-Doh

so cute!

Less Slutty Brownies....

I have never really gotten on board with the whole "slutty" brownie craze, but I think this less slutty version looks awesome!

Caramel Almond Butter Cups

Everything about these!

8. The weekend did not go exactly as planned, but it turned out okay! Hoping today is fairly uneventful.

Happy Sunday!