We decided to celebrate Valentine’s Day all weekend, since Adam has Monday off for President’s Day. Friday evening we exchanghed cards; Adam buys cards for the girls and I give Graham a card. The kids had a stomach virus this week, so instead of pizza, I made heart shaped PB&J for dinner. Adam started a new tradition this year. He washed our feet and read John 13: 1-12. He then taught the kids about the importance of love and servanthood. It was very beautiful. Saturday morning I made heart-shaped pancakes with strawberries and whip cream on top and heart-shaped bacon. While I was making breakfast, the kids and Adam made some Valentine candy. Saturday was his mom’s birthday so we took her a decorated pancake and some of the candy. Sunday we had a family day and I made heart-shaped red velvet whoopie pies. Of course I didn’t have red food coloring, but they tasted yummy! Sunday night we had a date night and the 2 older kids stayed the night at my parents. It was a great family weekend!!

Our backyard has needed a facelift for quite some time. Between Miles and Jazzy (our great danes that died in 2012) and the chickens, the backyard was sandy, dusty and an eye sore. Thanks to both sets of parents we now have a place for the kids to play! Here are before, during and after pictures.

We made a BIG deal out of G’s birthday this year because we all had the flu on his first birthday. We had a family party on the 22nd and then he opened his presents from Adam, K and I on the 23rd. He got a semi-truck and trailer first, but we had trouble getting it out of the box. He was so focused on his truck, he had trouble focusing on any other presents. He would open a present and then say “Can I play with my truck?” It was adorable. He is such a little ham and he talks non-stop. He definitely talks more than K did at this age and his vocabulary is so well developed.

So happy!

K used money from her piggy bank and shopped for G. She helped wrap the gift and she wrote his name and her name on the outside. She was so proud!

K was so excited for him to open the present she bought him.

He loved his cake!

Mama’s boy

We have been so blessed to have MJ as part of our family. For those of you who don’t know, she was named after me with a little modification.  She is small like K was but she is a lot longer. She is currently between 11 and 12 pounds and she is 24 inches long. She is a pleasant, laid-back little girl. G loves his little sister and he is still learning how to help and how to be gentle. K adores her little sister and she loves to carry MJ around. I have to remind her that MJ is not a baby doll. Here are some pictures from October until now. We take a picture of her every month (the Christmas pictures were here 3 month photos). Sorry the pictures are out of order! I haven’t figured that out yet.

3 months

Newborn

A few weeks old

Well hello there! It has been awhile but now that I am working less, I am hoping to devote time to the blog again. I will be posting pictures of the kids, garden and projects around the house as well as videos and funny things the kids say. K and G say some hilarious stuff so stay tuned for a good laugh. For example: this morning the kids were eating store-bought cereal for breakfast. This is rare mostly because I don’t buy cereal and they usually eat oatmeal every morning. However, it was one of THOSE mornings and thanks to my dad, we had some “healthy” cereal from the store on-hand. There was dried fruit (raisins and cranberries) in the cereal which usually the kids love. K finished her cereal and said, “Mama, I don’t like these craisins. They taste like candy and I KNOW you don’t want me to eat candy.” She is such a “little mama” even to herself!

Here are some pictures from Christmas. Enjoy!