Our Lovely Love Day

At the end of the day my kitchen looked like this...

And Madi's sweet little lip looked like this....


Even so, it was a good day.

Pierce and Madi were both so excited for Valentine's Day this year. They loved getting their Valentines ready to give out to their friends and could not wait for their class parties. Madi was thrilled when I picked her up from pre-school and loved coming home to show me all of her Valentines and treats- her first class party, so fun! Just before lunch she had a bad fall on the wood floor and cut and majorly bruised her lip. After some snuggling and lots of ice, she was ready for more fun and enjoyed spending the afternoon with friends at Chandler's house. She had fun decorating and eating FOUR sugar cookies (no doubt who's daughter she is!) and jumping on the tramp with Chandler, Jona and Annie, her neighborhood buddies. Thanks to Stace for keeping her while I could run to Pierson's school and do his class party. It felt like blasphemy, having the kids decorate store bought-too thin-and-too hard-sugar cookies, with frosting from a can! The kids loved it but, ick! I was looking forward to coming home to my sugar cookie dough waiting for me to roll out. The afternoon flew by and managed to get my sugar cookies baked. Then Ryan was home and we made a quick trip to the cemetery with Valentine balloons for Grandpa and Todd.



We come home and had a delicious Chicken Alfredo dinner (thank you Costco), then quickly frosted a few sugar cookies to run to a few friends. After giving the kids a Valentine gift (new books, which they loved!) and getting them in bed, I was completely exhausted, my feet were killing me and my kitchen was absolutely atrocious! Being pregnant really made sugar cookie making much harder than it should be. And I realized I hadn't taken a single picture of the kids decorating cookies! So, not me. This pregnancy is really throwing me off. I guess I was too busy frosting them, or maybe I was too busy eating them. Dang!

I did manage to get a pic of Madi's cute Valentine hair do, which she absolutely loves!



We frosted more cookies the next night and I managed to get this cute shot of Madi, actually looking at me and smiling (WOW!) wounded lip and all!
I love sugar cookies. Love my kids. Love Ryan. Lots to love!

Brooke & Todd's Birthday

It was hard to believe this day was really here, January 29th, Brooke and Todd's 9th Birthday. Crystal, once again, amazed me with her strength! We started the morning with a family gathering at the cemetery.

Birthday girl Brooke, with 9 red balloons for Todd.

It's hard to feel sad with her bright smile!

We sang Happy Birthday to Brooke with delicious muffins that Crystal made...

Then we sang Happy Birthday to Todd, Crystal had candles for all the kids to blow out for Todd


Pierce and Madi decorated hearts for Todd that morning - here is Pierson's, a picture he drew of Todd and Grandpa together, with a red balloon :)

Happy Birthday Toddy, we love and miss you buddy!

That afternoon it was time to party for Brooke! She had a swimming party at the Rec Center and Pierce and Madi were so excited for that! Ryan was great to take them swimming, I said- January, pregnant and swimsuit are three things that should not be in the same sentence for me. After a fun time swimming we met back at Jeff & Crystal's for Brooke's present and cake time....

Crystal's fabulous cake decorating skills!

Brooke was all smiles and absolutely darling, she loved her birthday! I think her sweetness and bright smile made it an easier day for everyone. No one could have dreamed we would be celebrating the twins 9th birthday with out Todd. How thankful I am to know we have eternal families. May we all hold our little ones a little closer and love them a little more each day!