alive... but barely

I think this may be the longest I've gone without blogging.  But really... what's it to ya?  ;)

I'll give you my excuses, although I'm sure you'll just roll your eyes and say, "Big deal."  But here they are anyways...

* Addie got pinkeye.
* Tate got pinkeye.
* Addie had a bad cold.
* Tate had that bad sinus stuff complete with fevers.
* Mommy had that bad sinus stuff complete with fevers too and awful headaches. Really awful headaches.
* Tate got pinkeye AGAIN.
* Tate was fussy.  Really fussy.
* Tate had double ear infection.  :(
* Mommy was just plain too tired to blog.

So, yes, I know I could've managed to blog within this time, but they would've just been whiney posts about how tired I was and how sick everyone was.  Wasn't it better to just get it in a list instead?

I promise to post something better soon.  Why, it's spring break here so I'm bound to have cute pictures up soon!  Stay tuned...

daddy's got a lot of money

Addie woke up this morning with her eye crusted shut.

When I told her she had to stay home from school, she started crying.  I told her she could pick out whatever movies she wanted to watch and we could read whatever books she wanted and she still cried.  This girl loves school... which is completely lost on me.  When I was her age, I snatched any opportunity I could to stay home from school.

But, to her credit, she didn't have school Monday due to President's Day and she was sick Tuesday after having a fever of 102.5.  And I tried to keep her home yesterday because she just looked so tired, but she insisted she was fine and didn't have a fever, so I let her go.  And now I'm pretty sure she'll have to stay home tomorrow because she'll probably still be contagious.  And this girl is devastated.

Luckily, I still have some non-expired eye drops from the last time pinkeye circulated through our house in the fall, so I think we'll be able to avoid the dreaded trip to the doctor.  As you may recall, those aren't very successful for us...

Anyways, the reason for the title of this post... the girls were watching a Madeline movie this morning (which, bien sûr... j'adore!) and Madeline was at the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa.  So I told the girls that mommy had actually been there and seen that.  Millie asked if I could take them there sometime.  So I explained to her that Daddy and I would love to take them there someday, but it costs a lot of money to fly all the way over there.  Millie's eyes lit up as she excitedly replied, "But Mommy, Daddy has a LOT of money!"  "Oh yeah?" I asked.  "Yeah.  Right next to his bed, in his drawer, he has a bunch and bunch of money!"  Yes. Yes he does.  He has a little butter dish full of his spare change.  A lot of money.  ;)

I wonder if $11.17 is enough for a family of 5 to fly to Paris...

In a 3-year-old's world it is, at least.  ;)

our valentine's recap... a few days late

Yeah, yeah... I know in my last post I said I'd share what we did on Valentine's in "tomorrow's post" and now it's tomorrow plus 3 days...  But who's counting, really?

So, here's what Valentine's Day brought our way this year:

These girls share everything... including the prized "licking of the spatula."  This was after they helped decorate this ginormous cookie cake that my lovely mother made for our small group Sunday night:

And there she is.  My lovely mama.  My parents were here last weekend to watch the kiddos while we did our Young Families Valentine's Party.

Valentine's morning brought us making these funky yarn-heart thingies that I found in Family Fun (where else?).

 Daddy came home Monday evening with beautiful orange roses for moi (which I failed to get a picture of...) and funky light-up ones for the girls.

After getting jammies on (so they'd be all ready when the sitter arrived)... we did a Valentine's hunt.

I hid these hearts around the house and they had to hunt them down.  For each one they found, they got to tell us one way God shows His love for us (in exchange for M&M's for some incentive, of course).  I loved hearing the answers they came up with.  My favorite was when Millie said, "By giving us Uncle Mark and Uncle Scott."  Okay, so I need to be honest with you... this may have been in response to a hint, like... "Sometimes God shows He loves us by putting people in our lives to love us..."  But the idea that Millie thought of them was pure sweetness.  I'm sure it'll melt their hearts too.

Addie has grown so much in her knowledge of God that she was able to think more deeply to come up with answers like, "by sending us his son to die for our sins."  And then we were able to come up with verses to match her answers.

Shortly after, Tessha, the sitter, arrived.  She babysat 2 years ago one night when our usual awesome sitter (Emma!) was unable to and since she's getting married and leaving us very soon, we thought we should fit in one more night with her.  And, of course, the kids had a blast!

And then Chad and I headed out to our "secret" Valentine's spot.  We've always had luck with a certain restaurant in our town that is kinda "hidden" so no one thinks to go there for Valentine's or weekend nights.  I know it's not good for them, but it's awesome for us when we want to get seated right away and enjoy some yummy food!  I'd love to tell you the name of it, but... I'm just not so sure I want to take the risk... ;)  We highly enjoy getting seated the minute we enter the doors!  Okay... so maybe, if you live in the area and your dying to know... I may tell you if you plead your case.  ;)

After our lovely meal, we headed to none other than the Home Depot!  I know, super romantic, right?  But Chad bought me an electric fireplace to warm our basement when it's finally finished - they were clearancing at half off!  So, we joked that he truly lit my fire on Valentine's Day! ;)

*****

After a winter with lots of snow... (in fact, this snowman and fort were built with Baba Cornie just last weekend... in nearly 50 degree weather, so they had already started to melt by the time I snapped these pics)

 

... we were super excited for our 68 degree weather yesterday!!!

I didn't have our camera out yesterday to capture us riding bikes and doing sidewalk chalk, so I had to run out this morning and snap this photo for "proof."

Now the snow is all gone and I'm praying desperately that it'll stay that way!

(Although it's only in the 40's today...)

BRING ON SPRING!

cupid's banquet and brawl

This is the busiest "Valentine's season" I have ever had.

We decided (with the help of another couple), that it would be fun to throw a Valentine's party for our church's Young Families class.  I saw some super cute ideas on Kara's Party Ideas for a Vintage Valentine's party, so I thought I'd try and put them to good use.  We named our party, "Cupid's Banquet and Brawl," because we felt that it definitely needed a little spicing up with some good competition after the nice dinner.

I found these adorable vintage Valentines on Craigslist from a lady who lives only about 15 minutes away.  She was selling most of them for just a quarter a piece!

We held the party in our church's "Fireside Room," so it would be cozy and romantic.  :)

I wish I would've gotten a closer shot of those red pom-pom things on the mantel.  They were adorable and sooo easy to make.  Again, I got the idea from here.

These soda-fountain centerpieces were so easy to make.  Go here for a tutorial.  They're not quite as cute as the one's from Kara's blog, but they were much cheaper!  I couldn't find taffy without the hearts on them.  And instead of filling up the glass with M&M's ($$$), I swapped them for the new Strawberry Milkshake Malted Milk Balls (about 1/5 of the price of the M&Ms since they filled the glass fuller too!).

I wish I would've gotten a picture of my sweet friend, Dana.  While I was setting up the games and decorations, she was busy in the kitchen prepping the salads, getting lasagnas in and out of the oven, getting the garlic bread ready and slicing the dessert.  And since her husband ended up with strep, she even had to be without her Valentine for the night.  :(  Poor girl.  But she was definitely a life saver!

The guests finally arrived... 26 of us total!

The couple in this picture on the left (Jason and Amy) CRACKED. ME. UP by arriving in full "competitive gear." Complete with sweatbands, jerseys, tube socks and all.  Ha!

After a lovely meal, we broke for up into 4 teams - Team Amoré, Team Liefde, Team Mohabbat and Team Sayang.  All those words mean "love" and the teams got extra points for figuring out which language it was in.  (Yes, Team Amoré got flack for being the easiest one to guess, but they just got lucky for drawing an easier name! )

Each couple also had a number (1, 2, or 3) so we started out with a team competition and then for the next round, we broke up and went with other couples who had our same number to compete against them for more points for our team.  We had 6 rounds total before our grand finale.

The "I Give You This Ring..." Relay

We had to pass a cup and then a ring down the line using only straws.  And don't worry... we tried to line up husband-wife-wife-husband-husband-wife, etc. so it didn't get too awkward.  ;)

Another round was Just Dance so we could get our groove thing on.

You go, girls!

... and boys!

Oh how I wish Chad would've let me video this one... the Chipmunk Serenade.

 The men had to draw a love song out of a bowl and then attempt to sing it to their wives with their mouths stuffed full of crackers.  The last wife to crack a smile was the winner.  Sorry for the terrible picture with Chad's face pretty much completely chopped off... I was trying to get my "game face" on.

The Ring Drawing Game

The men had to try and draw their wives wedding rings without seeing them and without help from their wives.  

The other competitions included The Wedding Picture Match-Up (trying to figure out whose wedding picture is whose with the faces cut out of the pictures) and Give Me Some Sugar (one spouse feeds the other a Little Debbie cake using only their mouths - first one done is the winner).

And for the grand finale...

The Not-So-Newlywed Game!

Thanks to the brave couples who attempted this, in hopes to win more points for their teams!  I hope none of you needed counseling after this one... ;)

The big winners of the night received...

A large assortment of chocolates (for the winners of the Not-so-Newlywed Game), and the three couples from the winning team got to each have a $10 gift card to either Panera, Olive Garden, or Victoria's Secret.  Ooh là là!

And now I'm excited for my two biggest Valentines (Chad and Addie) to get home from school so we can have our own family Valentine's activity (more about that in tomorrow's post).

And, of course, I must leave you with these pictures of my sweet little Valentine girls.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

I slept in past 11 yesterday...

11:17 to be exact. And it was AWESOME.

You see, we've had some sickies around here lately (which is my excuse for my blogging absence...).  It all started a few Sunday mornings ago when Tate threw up 8 times between 3:30 - 7:00 a.m.  And then a few more times later that morning.  The poor little guy was so weak, he was shaking when he tried to stand up.  :(

We thought we were in the clear (although he did have a few more days of icky poo and strange behavior).

Then Thursday night, Millie puked.  A ton.  All over her bedroom carpet.

Poor girl.  But thankfully, she only did so once instead of repeated times like her brother.

She was fine the next day.  We thought this would surely be the end.

Then early Monday morning, around 3:30, I heard Millie's sad little sobs.  I ran in as fast as I could and sure enough, she was puking again.  :(  

And then I started feeling icky.  Luckily, no puke followed, but I felt nasty and my stomach was burning.  My hero of a husband offered to take a "family sick day" for me (which can be a huge pain for a science teacher), and so I slept in.  When I awoke and saw that it was 11:17, I was baffled.  I haven't slept in that long since... well... hmm... maybe college?  But I don't know if I ever slept that late in college even.  I've never been one who can sleep in like that.  But, obviously, my body needed it and now I'm doing fine.

So anywho, my husband has become a Packers fan (and not because they won the SuperBowl... this all started quite awhile ago), so needless to say, he was pretty pumped for the SuperBowl.  I tried to humor him by dressing in green and gold for the big night.

Can you see the excitement in his eyes?

Saturday, when I was at this super cool open house, Chad made this "ice cream shoppe" for the kiddos.

They had a ton of fun coloring it and giving us "ice cream."  :)

And, I'll leave you with this silly little video.  This is what goes on in the house when mommy is gone for the evening.

Can you tell my girls LOVE to be on camera?  :)

Hope you all have a warm (ha!), healthy week!

a new valentine tradition

I recently read this book, Treasuring God in Our Traditions, by Noel Piper for our Moms group at church.  I highly recommend reading it, as it has truly changed the way I view our family traditions and gave some great ideas for new ones to start. (I think you can read it for free somewhere online too... Google it.)  Chad and I already have a lot of traditions that we do with our kids, especially at Christmastime, but this book changed how we present them to our kids - trying to make sure that we keep God at the heart of them.

So, in thinking about the upcoming V-Day and what we'd do with our kids, I thought of the same old thing we do every year - give them valentines and a little gift and make some valentine cookies or heart-shaped something-or-other.  Big deal, right?  I know... it's lame, but since Valentine's Day isn't really a big "Christian holiday," and mainly focuses on an armed, flying, naked baby and over-priced greeting cards, we never really made a huge deal over it.  So I didn't really think about changing it up much.  It's just Valentine's Day after all.

 And then it struck me.

This is a day all about LOVE.  And what greater love do we have than the love of our heavenly Father?  Shouldn't we embrace this day to teach our children about how much we love them and ultimately, how much more God loves them?  Really, if you think about it, it's an amazing opportunity.

So... that left me thinking about what to do.  Something that will show them our love and God's love for them and something that they'll look forward to every year.  So far, I've only come up with a few ideas.  One of them was a no-brainer.  It's a book we already had - Adeline, written by Bobby Strickland and illustrated by Kathryn Rathke:

Of course I love the title, since it's my oldest daughter's name, but that's really beside the point.  This is a wonderfully written book about a little girl, Adeline Addison, who receives several Valentines on the big day from admirers, but they all have the same message,

"You are the one I will always adore.  

But there is another who loves you much more."

This puzzles her, but at the end of the day she is delighted when she discovers that her "secret admirer" is God. 

"Then a thought flooded Adeline's heart to the brim:

'If God loves me this much, then I'll live for him!

And the love I've discovered is much too profound

to keep all to myself - I must tell the whole town!'"

So little Adeline takes her ginormous stack of valentines and makes a mountain with them for everyone to see and stakes a big sign on top that reads, "God Loves You Too!"

"Then Valentine Mountain,

as it came to be known,

was a message of love

from God's heavenly throne

to a kingdom of creatures

who might not have heard,

had it not been for Adeline's

mound of kind words."

Seriously.  Get this book.  I think it may be out of print now, but try to get your hands on a copy.  You won't regret it.  And at 30 pages in length, it's a nice size read too.  (We also have Adeline's Porcupine, which is another amazing book about true beauty - a must-read for every little girl.)

So, back to our traditions - we're going to make it a tradition to read Adeline every V-Day, of course.  But I also thought it'd be fun to hide valentines around the house that have the same message on them - "You are the one I will always adore.  But there is another who loves you much more." And then have different verses on them about God's love for us, like 1 John 3:1 "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God." and 1 John 4:9, "This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him." 

Of course, we'll still make heart-shaped something-or-others, and give a little gift, but now there will be a bigger meaning to it all.  And I'd love to get more ideas if you have any to offer.  

Anyone?  

What's your favorite Valentine's tradition?

a good pop

So, I woke up yesterday morning unable to move my head or upper body without extreme pain and nausea.  I somehow managed to take care of Millie and Tate, although Tate didn't quite understand why I couldn't pick him up, so he did a lot of fussing about that.  And Chad's home with me today, so that is an ENORMOUS help, of course!  But I just had to share this funny scenario that happened after we got back from the chiropractor last night:

Me: Ugh, I'm still in just as much pain as I was before.  I guess I was just hoping for a really good pop to take care of it all.
Addie: (goes to the fridge and comes back with a 2-liter of pop and a helpful smile) Here you go, Mom.

I, of course, drank the pop and said nothing but "thank you." :)

Oh how I love that sweet girl.