Valentine's Day

I have seen lots of things around (mostly on Pinterest) about 14 days of Valentine's and I thought it would be fun to give that a try this year. We didn't end up doing things every day but we had some days with lots of things and I thought it was really fun to make Love Day a big deal. Darcy is confused now though, because four days later she is still wishing us a happy Valentine's Day.

Some of our days I don't have pictures of:

-Drink strawberry milk
-Watch a romantic movie and have chocolate covered-strawberries
-Make cards
-Make lists of the things we love about each other
-Put hearts on the wall that say "I love you" in different languages
-Heart-shaped sandwiches
-Read and eat conversation hearts
-Dance to love songs
-Lipstick kisses on the mirror and cheeks(didn't do it)
-Foot rubs (didn't do it either)

I saw this fun idea on Pinterest to make mailboxes for everyone to put our Valentines in.

One day in the middle of all this when Drew was gone playing racquetball I was reading a blog about this young married couple who wrote these really sweet love notes to each other all the time. They were trying every day to make sure their spouse knew they loved them and working really hard on their marriage. When Drew got home I was telling him we needed to be more like that and how I thought their notes were so great. Then he asked me if I had ever looked in my mailbox since I had made them, and I said no but of course I went and looked. He had written me two very sweet love notes. It actually made me cry (I had had a rough day and was emotionally compromised at that point.) :) It was so sweet!! A good love note can go a long way!

One of the things on our list was to make and decorate sugar cookies. I wish I could say it was a really awesome thing to do together, but it was mostly too messy for me to handle.

Darcy got a little dough, rolled it out, and found the tiny cookie cutter to make these little beauties! She really decided to do it all on her own.

I was going to make pink pancakes, but Drew asked for waffles instead. I am not good at taking pictures of food, but these waffles were pink, I put a little red food coloring in the peaches, and the whipped cream was pink too.

Another day we had eggs in a blanket with a heart-shaped hole for the egg.

On Valentine's Day I SLAVED to make this homemade heart-shaped meat raviolli with tomato basil and cream sauce. I don't have the pasta attachment for my kitchenaid so I had to roll it out by hand and it took forever. It was yummy though!

Another thing on my list was to take a family "love" picture. (Really just a family picture) We just took it with our timer so it's not the best, but I am pretty happy with it. In the very first picture everyone was looking at the camera! Amazing! Unfortunately I ruined it with a crazy face. Sooo...I sent a couple pictures to Haley and she swapped my head! Awesome right?! I think YES!

Overall it was a fun, but exhausting day!


Happy Valentine's Day

Love, Us

Ezra is 6 Months!

Half a year already? WHAT?!

Some things we want to remember about Ezra at six months:

- 15 lbs. 14 oz. He lost almost a pound over the last couple months and I am totally shocked! I feel so bad. I never thought I would have this issue. So now I am going to be trying to feed him extra and try some formula (even though I don't think he will take it). I didn't even catch how long he was because I was so shocked about him losing weight. He went from the 75th percentile to the 10th percentile. Sad.

- He is still such a happy boy. He loves to have people come talk to him.

- He rolls from his belly to his back and on to his sides from his back.

- He has been trying more baby food. He seems to really prefer the vegetables. The other day I made butternut squash for the family and mashed some up to give to him and he couldn't get enough!

- We love to watch him and Darcy interact. They love each other so much and it is so cute to watch!

- He still spits up like crazy. Booo!

- He is a cuddler and I absolutely LOVE IT!!

At Ezra's six month checkup today all the sweet nurses were telling him he was such a handsome boy...and I have to agree! Just look at that sweet face and those big blue eyes!

Drew took Ezra outside this afternoon and even though it was cold out there he was loving it!

Having some carrots.

Drew took this gem today. I love to have these pictures with my babies!

I just thought this picture really showed how much Darcy and Ezra have matching eyes.

Solution

For the past few weeks I have been having A LOT of rough days. I think it's mostly because Darcy is a two year old and she is testing limits, and she is one stubborn little lady if she feels like being that way. So, we are having to do lots of disciplining which puts a damper on our days. Anyway, I was having a rough time and I was mad at myself for not enjoying my days as a mom more. Laying in bed the other night I came up with this idea. I thought I would share it in case it might be helpful for someone else too. I decided to start a journal that I write in every day and I list the great things the kids did during that day. Only good things. At the end of a hard day it really helps to be able to look back and see how many good things actually happened that day, and I don't go to bed feeling like that day was a bust. It has really helped me!

Here are some things my kids did lately that I loved:

- Darcy and I were having fun together and she asked "You happy Mom?" And I really was.

- Darcy and I were both giving Ezra tons of kisses and it made him and Darcy both laugh.

- For the first time, without being prompted, Darcy randomly came and gave me a hug and said, "I love you."

- While I was Visiting Teachings I got to hold Ezra while he slept (I never do this) and I could barely handle how sweet his baby face was.

- After I told Darcy how to put her doll's diaper back on, she came and instructed me on how to put Ezra's diaper on.

- Ezra was so excited to see Drew when he got home from work. He was thrashing around with excitement.

- When I was done folding the laundry, Darcy walked over and grabbed her pile and took it up to her room without me asking.

- We were riding stick horses and Darcy named hers Towel.

- We went on a stroller walk and Ezra was so happy the whole time (this was big because Ezra is teething and has been pretty cranky).