....finally I have a moment to sit and type. I'm sorry if I've been MIA, I hope to catch up to everything in bloggy land soon. I've had sick children to tend to. Since it's been awhile I thought I'd share some photos from our Valentines Day.

It's so hard to find a sitter for 3 kids so Jay and I scrapped the idea of a couples date and instead we loaded up the kids and went to Studio Grow. It was so fun! Here's our day in photos:

Little liked playing in the playhouse area. She's such an Ate mommy. This is Littles's tiny baby in a BIG bed....LOL


While Little played House with Daddy. Big and Tiny explored these gears....what a fun lesson in cause and effect, and mechanics! Tiny was so fascinated by them.


After playing block, puzzles, pretend, and gears we hit the dance floor.



Look at that wonderful blackmail picture! LOL He's so my child.


After they were done shaking their tail feathers we headed into the play area. They had this great play structure, ball pit, rocking toys, basketball hoop, and more balls they you could count.


Tiny feeling oh so proud of herself for going through the tunnels.


Little always makes being cute look easy....gahhhhh.....


There was also this roller coaster toy. It was a blast. I mean the face says it all.

Yes, this is the only picture of the three of them for the day. As you can see the big kids wanted nothing to do with posing. I can't say I blame them with all that fun surrounding them.

But, poor poor Tiny can't run away and I HAD to have a picture with the heart Dino. I mean common it was Valentines Day....and she does look divine.

After spend a HUGE chunk of time in the play room we checked out the art studio. They had these awesome Buddha Boards I feel in love with...but the price not so much. I think when we get our someday house I'm going to figure out how to make them.

Once they had their fill of playing chalk, dough, and painting we divided again.

Little went and played Dinosaurs. There were so many great shots of her roaring and playing but this one of her feeding the T-Rex a smaller Dino took the bloggy cake! LOL she's such a riot.


Big enjoyed playing with these shapes at the light table. He's always creating...my artistic soul.

Finally on the way out we stopped and played trains ALL together.....

... and from Tiny's POV....


LOL.

I LOVE when kids make it easy for you!

This year when asked what he wanted to do for his birthday Big said he wanted his 2 best friends to come over for a sleep over...my quick response was "DONE!"

So we greeted Super 7 (did I mention that's only 3 years away from 10?!) by having a sleepover with Gavin, and Weston....so easy, and so fun!

The boys played, made their own pizza creations for dinner, and ate cake on Friday night. I love watching how kids interact and really enjoy each others company and the simple things.

Big got his first big boy bike this year. So after our pancake breakfast we took all the kids to the park and they rode around and played in the lovely sunshine for about 1.5 hours before they went home.

They all had a blast, and like I said it was so easy for me...score!

Big had a jammed packed weekend though because after his friends went home his Lola took him out for the afternoon. They went to Chuck E Cheese (bless her heart, better her then I) then to dinner and finally to pick out his present ( gatta love being the ONLY grandson hu?). She got him this Bionicle.


He built it with his daddies help this morning and was so proud he had to show me. Before he left his room he told Jay "I'm going to show mama, I'll bet she'll want to take a picture" LOL he so knows me =)

He also got to go ice skating with his Te-Tey. She said he did really good! He came home all smiles (until I told him it was bedtime) so I guess they had a blast.

He needed this weekend. It was HIS focused time, and it was awesome. So thank you for all your birthday wishes, texts, and phone calls. He felt so special and loved.

Pause the music on my page first!

Hugs!

Well here are some Highlights from our tree trimming this year.

This year we decided it would be fun to start the tradition of stringing popcorn. Note to self: These sorts of activities are not as fun as they sound just yet with little. She started out being such a great helper. She would pass us whatever we needed. Then she got the fabulous idea that the popcorn belonged on the floor, and for good measure should be stomped to bits.Oh yes, that was so much more fun in here book. LOL. It of course frustrated Big when she got naughty so he gave up too... and lost his needle in the process. We'll just say it was slow going, a learning experience....and very tasty by Littles standards. Just today I had to tell her to stop eating the Christmas Tree....that girl.


I love how the popcorn makes our tree look so homey though! This year we left off all the glass ornaments. We just added lights, the popcorn garland, a few non breakable ornaments, and of course my beloved photo's. Another Christmas tradition we have is adding at least one new picture ornament to the tree every year. My goal is to someday have a tree filled with only the faces of my loved ones through the years. Oh that will be a happy day... I can see it now.....BEAUTIFUL!Little is obsessed with all things Miss-Miss. She loves fussing with the decor, looking at lights ( and yelling Ooohhhh wow NICE!), reading the stories, and searching out Santa. She's so much more animated then Big was at this age. This is one respect where she's reminding me of myself.

Finally I thought I'd show you my favorite Nativity. Leah brought it back from Peru a few years ago. I adore it. I love the naked baby Jesus, and the sombreros...LOL... it's awesome! Because of this Nativity I now want ones from all over the world. I love seeing how the whole world views the wonderful story of the birth of our Lord. So if you ever see one that catches your eye pick it up for me will ya?

Even though Jay never logs on and reads my blogs I"ll post this anyways. If by chance he reads today awesome, if not then those of you that do will know today, on the day of his birth, why I'm so blessed to have him in my life....

My children's father is caring. When Big was little he was a stay at home dad. Most people didn't get it, they felt like he should be the one working not me. What they didn't understand was that I loved my job. Not to mention I was a nervous wreck around Big. So he got ridiculed (a little) but he was not only taking care of him, he was taking care of me and my sanity. I firmly believe Big is who he is because Jay gave him those two years. And now that we have the girls I am able to stay home with them, because having one of us home with our kids is a top priority to him. He works harder everyday for it, yet has NEVER mentioned me going back to work.

My children's father knows time is important. I remember when Big was little I would just be so amazed watching him play and give him so much "face time". He would (and still does) loose track of time when he was in Bigs world. What's really amazing is seeing him give that same devotion to Little and Tiny now. His life is so much busier now then it was back then and yet somehow most days he find a bit of time for each of our kids.

My children's father is loving. He understands that the best gift we can give our children is a healthy view of love and relationships. He knows that by treating me well and loving me best our children will mirror what they see and only accept that kind of love for themselves. He knows that it makes Big more confidant when he tells him he loves him and is proud of him. He see that if he shows our girls a good honest love as they grow up that they will NEVER accept a good for nothing mans love later, because they could never stand in their fathers shoes. He hugs them daily, and not just half hearted hugs, but strong soul gripping hugs. He also knows that to love our children you often have to discipline them, and although he doesn't take pleasure in the process he does it anyway because he cares about the people they become.

My children's father knows how to play. NO one can make Big giggle louder, or make sissy smile broader. He gets dirty, silly, crazy, and goofy in the name of fun. He'll play sports with Big even though that's not his thing because it's Big's thing. He'll dance around with Little because she likes to move. He snuggles Tiny close and just stares into her little face, lost to the rest of us for those few sweet moments. He's a hands on, children are to be played with and heard kinda dad.

My children's father is my world.
He works hard to supply our needs. He loves us best.
He makes me laugh louder and smile bigger everyday.
He stepped up to the challenge of being a dad when many boys would have ran away, for that he's also my hero.
He's the love of my life and the man I plan to get wrinkles with.
He's the best father I know.



Happy Birthday Baby, I'm so blessed to have you as my husband, and our childrens father. Here's to many more candles on many more cakes. MUAWH!

Just thought I'd leave a quick post to wish you all a Happy, safe, and hopefully dry night tonight!

I can not wait to post pictures of the kids in costume for you. So for now we'll settle for a few highlights from our ill fated carving adventure. (what in the world possessed me to think carving pumpkins with a 19month old would be fun?)Big cleaned, designed, and (mostly) carved his pumpkin all by himself this year

Tiny was content to sit back and watch until....

This is what Little thought was fun, well this and trying to get the pumpkin goop to stay on Tiny's head...why should sissy miss all the fun right?