Valentines on my mind

I know this is a silly post, but Valentines has been on my mind. It's hard not to notice when hearts and candy are everywhere you look. But honestly, I love this time of year. =) Here are a few reasons why I love Valentines.....(in no particular order). Wow looking at this list it's mostly edible. haha.

1. Sweethearts Candy. I love conversation hearts, they are simple, fun and tasty! But I must admit that I pick out my favorite ones first..the WHITE ones. Do you have a favorite color? my girls have already fallen in love with these candy hearts.

2. Chocolate Strawberries from my hubby. Every Valentines instead of flowers I get these beautiful yummy chocolate dipped strawberries from Cummings Chocolates. I LOVE them and look forward to them every year. =] Aren't they cute?? they come in an egg carton. lol.

3. Cinnamon Lips are addicting. I'm already addicted to cinnamon flavored candies, but it's only at valentines that Sweet's Candy makes the cinnamon lips (at least that's what i've noticed). Ohhh sooo good and when they are in the house I have a hard time saying no when my hand inches closer to that bag of delicious cinnamon flavor. YUM. Now my girls love them.... =]

4. Valentines with my daughter! This is the first year I picked up Kids Valentines for her!! I'm soo excited. Remember growing up we would make the valentines boxes from shoe boxes? and decorate them just the way we wanted to take them to class and show everyone? I remember being nervous about giving certain friends valentines....ahh the memories. I love doing all these kiddie things with my daughter. I just have to remember it's for her and not for me ;).

5. This year I already have a date planned with my husband for Valentines. =] Usually it's just another day for us, but I stumbled onto this fun activity that's happening Valentines Day night. We're going to try a Dinner and Dance! I already have the babysitter lined up, and we're going to do this. The last time my husband and I danced was...well it was a long time ago, so this should be fun.

6. Valentines Activities with my kids! I found this fun sweetheart jewelry kit when I was at Target. My daughter can not wait to open it up and make Valentines bracelets.

That's all I can think of right now...do you have any fun things planned for Valentines? or something you look forward to this time of year? =]

Randomness....what my girls are up to.

I just felt like blogging, and the only thing I could think of to write about are my girls!! of course, since my family is the center of my life. =) So here's the latest.... (this picture is on my fridge, sorry it's a little fuzzy)

My oldest is 4 and still in toddler bed. We would love to put her in a twin bed, but she still has a hard time sleeping in her own bed, in her own room. 90% of the time (in the last 2 years) she ends up sleeping on our floor by morning. Before we get her the "next" bed, I really want her to learn how to sleep in her own room. So this week we are trying something different...being a little creative...call it an incentive. ;) It's only been a few days, but here's what we started. If she sleeps in her own room all night she 1: gets to watch a movie in her room the next night. (she loves our portable dvd player, and watching movies in her room). 2: I've made calendars on her door where she can put a sticker on each day. 3: If she sleeps in her own room for 2 months then we will get her the big girl bed. Since we started this 3 days ago she has stayed in her room all night. I just hope it lasts. What else...she LOVES preschool. She's always asking when she gets to go to school again.

My youngest, she is 19 months. What can I say? she's in that cute, needy, moody stage--tantrums are starting. =) I think she takes after my husband...she gets mad if things don't go exactly the right way, her way. It's funny, she is really pouty and mad at him all the time for some reason. I just laugh. When my husband comes home from work she is literally running to the door to meet him, a hug and a kiss, then she wants nothing to do with him. lol. She loves her dad, but I guess she's learned that she can get what she wants a lot easier from her mom. =) AND she has an interest in potty training! She always wants to sit on her potty and I'm more than happy to encourage her. She's only been successful twice, but if I'm persistent and let her practice it will come. It has too. I do not want to miss this window of opportunity. When my oldest was around this age I was working and wasn't very patient when she showed interest. And I lost that window....she wasn't fully potty trained until she was 3, almost 4 years old. I am determined to not change another diaper in 6-8 months. Ok, I'll just cross my fingers and hope. Other than that, she likes to try on all my shoes and then hide them somewhere.

Love my girls.

Lisa's Birthday Weekend

I made it to Tacoma! I love visiting my sister in Washington, it is a beautiful state. But this was a special visit, it was Lisa's Birthday weekend and the first weekend in her new loft. =) Flying into Seattle was fun because it was COVERED in thick fog. One minute the plane was flying over a sea of clouds and then the next minute we were diving into the clouds for a landing. Did I mention cold?? Seattle was ccccold. =) Anyway Lisa and her friend Natalie picked me up and we went back to the loft in Tacoma. That night and the next morning we helped unpack and organize her awesome new loft for the party that night.

Everyone had a great time at the party! Most of us didn't know each other, but we started the party with the best icebreaker ever....a pole dancing class! By the end we were all best friends. hahaha. It was a mother/daughter team in Olympia that taught us a few moves and a routine by the end. The class was a lot of fun, but by the end every one of our muscles ached. I would take that class again in a heartbeat. =) After the class we went back to the loft for yummy Thai food, cupcakes, and a girlie movie marathon! (yeah we made it through 2 movies before everyone was ready to go to sleep.)

The next morning we kinda dragged our feet, and I decided to take a walk across the street to the Glass Museum. I didn't have enough time to go in, but it was great just walking around. The first picture is on the walkway to the museum where they have encased MANY beautiful glass vases. The next picture is a piece of a ceiling display that is also out on a walkway. I could look at these glass pieces for hours.

We finally left the loft that afternoon and rushed to Seattle. It was Natalie's first trip to Washington, so we decided to take the Duck Tour! I've only ever done the duck tour in Boston. So for some crazy reason we took the duck tour in Seattle...in the winter. =) Our driver was hilarious and even Lisa learned a few new things about Seattle on the tour. The Duck Boat does not have any windows, so while we were driving around town it was FREEZING. He drove us all around Seattle, and then we took a dip in Union lake where he showed us the Gasline park, the sleepless in Seattle house, and some other history with that area. The tour was fun, but I recommend doing it in warmer weather.

After the tour we took the monorail deeper into town to walk around the market--a must if you ever visit Seattle. They were closing up shop, so we didn't see the craziness that it usual apart of the experience. We did stop and have some of the most delicious mac and cheese, and then went to a chocolate shop for REAL hot chocolate. By that time we had to rush back to the car and then to the airport so I wouldn't miss my flight home. =) I miss it already.

I'll have more pictures posted on facebook later!

Fun at the Zoo

My sister Amy called me yesterday morning and suggested we go to the zoo! Normally I wouldn't go in the winter, but the weather has been great lately. The zoo was amazing. Almost no one was there, the animals were out, and it was in the high 40's. perfect. For Christmas we got the girls a wagon, and I'm so glad I brought it to the zoo (I barely fit it in the car...ok I had to switch cars with my husband cause it didn't fit in my car). The kids LOVED it. The little ones actually stayed in Amy's stroller, maybe it was the animal crackers, pretzels, sandwichs, and apples that kept them quiet, but it worked! =]

Here are a few pictures of the animals that were out. The leopard is new to the zoo and very active. He is definitely not used to visitors yet. I love it when the bears are moving around, usually when I go to the zoo he's hiding in his cave. My last animal picture is of the monkeys! I swear they occupy the majority of our zoo, but they were super cute I had to take a picture. They were sitting together with their tails entwined! (awww)

And the last picture is of our crew! The kids were amazing, which helps when you go out. I think the highlight for Amy was finding an old alternate entrance into the zoo. lol. I don't think either of us ever remember seeing that entrance. We stumbled upon it when we went east up the path behind the tigers exhibit, up near the wolves and other birds. That path was awfully quiet, but a great view of the zoo below. If the weather stays warm, I highly recommend a trip to the zoo in winter. =)

Family Pictures

If you remember, in early December I talked about finally scheduling and taking professional family pictures, a first for my little family. We went to Kathryn Michaels Photography. We had a great experience and I would recommend her to anyone that is looking for any kind of picture, whether it was for family photos, wedding, or individual portraits. The whole process went very smoothly (I may have been stressin a little too much), she was great with my kids, made everyone feel comfortable, and in the end everyone was happy. Of course my favorite part was getting the call to come pick up our pictures! Here is just one of many great pictures that we chose from. Cute huh?! I love my pictures...now the next challenge is getting some help to get them up on the walls. =)