Love-ly Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day has not always been a favorite.  It seems like it's all built up and wadded into this one day when people pay quadruple amounts of cash for roses.  But. This year. Was just so fun.  Somehow, Valentine's Day was magical this year and I'm not really sure what to attribute that to, but I'm guessing it was just the whole day's events combined equaling a fun-loving day.

In the morning, the boys found a simple little 'super hero' valentine on the table with a little box of heart gummies, which Beckett ate immediately and Asher saved for later.  Then, for breakfast, I made them heart shaped pancakes.  My kids just love pancakes.  Somehow this pic was taken before the usual dousing of whipped cream took place. I took an excited Asher to school with Ninjago (I know, I know...Lego/Ninjago...AGAIN?!  That's what they wanted.) Valentines to share with his class.

Beck and I went to his playgroup later that morning.  He also handed out Ninjago Valentines to his little buddies.  My friend, Tami made heart cookies for the kids to decorate and had them put glittery letter stickers on bags for their Valentines.  They loved it:)  It was a fun morning of moms chatting, and happy sugared-up kids playing to their heart's content.  Tami sent all the mom's home with seriously decadent chocolate covered cheesecake bites, which I could have eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner and not been a bit sad about. Yum.

That evening, we had Spaghetti and Meatballs and the kids excitedly shared the day's fun times with Corey.  Oh, and when we decide not to do anything on V-day (primarily since we have a night to ourselves the very next evening), what does Corey do?  Answer:  comes home with a dozen lavender roses for moi, that's what.  What a fun surprise, and what a sweet guy.  They are happily blooming on my table.

Valentine's Day itself was just fun and enjoyable, and I felt none of the usual 'pressure' to love the day, even though I totally did.  Beckett kept saying throughout the day and into the night..."mom...I can't believe it's Valentine's Day!!" And Asher's decorated Valentine's bag from school had this written all over it..."Asher who likes Valentins Day is num. 1. Everyone in the hole world likes Valentins Day and every where you go there is Valentins Day!"   So funny.  It really was a nice little holiday to celebrate with my 3 Valentines!

P.S.  Corey and I swapped with Aaron and Meagan for a 'night out'. We decided to simply stay home and be comfy and cozy.  We made a fabulous dinner together of steak, mushroom risotto, with roasted asparagus and then some creme brulee for dessert.  It was wonderful cooking and eating together.  Th next morning we slept in a bit, then went to a late breakfast at Flying Star and did a little shopping. It was so very nice. I missed the boys though, when I realized that for the first time in 7 years, I wouldn't be checking on them before I went to sleep.  Our house was so unusually quiet!
We were excited to go and pick them up the next day:) It was a wonderful way to wrap up the Valentine's Day weekend!

Ninjago Birthday Extravaganza

Beckett is now officially a 4 year old.  My sweet (not so) little baby boy is growing up.  Boooo.  Time just keeps on chugging along, the boys keep on getting bigger, and I keep on finding myself with bittersweet emotions as I'm forced to move along to the next phase. Letting kids grow up is hard (as if I had a choice)!

Beckett's birthday was celebrated with parties (yes, plural) this past weekend.  First off, we celebrated with our family on Friday night, followed by his first 'friend' party on Saturday afternoon. He's been talking about his birthday for months now, so having it finally arrive was so exciting for our B.

Friday night was lots of fun with Corey, Asher, Adam and Kayla, and the cousins:)  We had Beck's fave, Macaroni and Cheese (homemade, yummmm), and ribs and fruit.  He loved opening his presents, and received some really fun things.  The first thing he happen to open was an orange shirt, to which he replied, "Oh! I always wanted and orange shirt with a number on it!!" Knowing how much kids love to get clothes for presents at this age (har, har), I was taken back.  So gracious, so sincere, so sweet.  I love how sincerely excited about his gifts he still is...even clothes.

Ninjago was the b-day theme of choice for our big boy, so we had to get creative, since you can't buy the stuff anywhere.  My super crafty and helpful mom sent me over a bunch of paper ninja guys, Chinese dragons and lanterns, which really made the party.  They were so festive and cute.  I put 'Ninjago' eyes on just about everything else...balloons, drink boxes, treat bags, you name it.  I even found an iron on and had made him a shirt! Beck was thrilled with us turning our house into Ninjago-land. It really was a fun theme!

The next afternoon, all of his little buddies came over and we had a Ninjago Bash.  He did great, all the kids had a good time, and the party was lots of fun. We played games:  Pin the Sword on the Ninja, did a pull Ninja pinata in the family room, had Ninjago coloring pages, had an obstacle course for 'Ninja Training', and colored some wooden Ninja stars.   The kids had pizza and cupcakes, and Beck was really excited about his cake...'Jay' the Ninjago guy made out of cupcakes, because Jay is his fave guy.  Fun, fun, fun.  Little kid birthdays are the best:)

Happy Birthday Beck!  I can't believe you are already FOUR years old.  We love your feist, your sweetness, your snuggles and all your funny comments.  We love YOU!

Party, Lego Style

This past Saturday, we had a 'friend' party for Asher's 7th birthday.  It has been SO much fun to search and plan for it.  Asher had been looking forward to it since his 'real' birthday, three weeks ago.  I decorated with anything LEGO I could find and made a few things I couldn't.  The kids decorated LEGO head cookies, played a team relay race with LEGOS, guessed how many bricks were in a jar, and each built masterpieces out of a random assortment (they each received a medal and award for their efforts).  So fun!  And the food...pizza, chips and queso, apples and dip.  Again, fun. The cake was a few LEGO bricks.  Corey ordered so much extra pizza that he called his brothers up to come and make a dent.  I guess he overestimated the appetites of 7-year old boys...had they been 12, I think it would have been a completely different scenario.

Asher had a great time with his buddies, received some fun gifts(which he could not WAIT to open...he kept asking when he could open them), and enjoyed his special day:)

I just love that boy.