Foodies

The kids always enjoy making their own pizzas. We've switched to whole wheat dough, and it's very yummy. The girls wanted carrots, oddly, but ate their pizza, so who I am to question their toppings? 

Macy's Pizza.

Natalie's Pizza. (The jar in the back is the temp. house for our painted lady caterpillars)

This Chicken Confit took time to cook, but prep was very easy and it was delicious! 

Roasted butternut soup with Creme Fraiche and French Bread. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

We keep busy with school and often there doesn't seem to be time for structured crafts. I made a schedule for the month and with the help of Pinterest filled in Tuesdays and Thursdays with craft time.

Our new "home economics" class started with the creation of this beautiful Valentine's Day Wreath. We used paper from an old falling apart German book I had and cut the heart shapes out with my Cricut. We stapled the papers to white raffia and voila!

A friend came over and helped make these paper roses.

Lindsey got to create these butterfly valentines. 

Macy and Natalie made these funny alligator valentines.

Jon arrived home from school with scrapbook paper, stickers, and See's chocolates in hand. He had picked everything up to make the kids (and me) super sweet Valentine's cards. I helped make the kids and they turned out really darling. After I went to bed Jon crafted mine. It's stunning. It's sweet. It's romantic. It was accompanied by a box of chocolate. Need I say more? :)

A dear friend had us over for a Valentine's day party. The kids made more super cute valentine's to share, they made pink soft pretzels (yum!) and played some games. They received darling valentines from all their friends, too. It was a super party. My friend had her son thank everyone for coming and then pray a blessing for everyone. It was simply special.

After that we made a quick trip to the store and then jetted home for pizza leftovers and movie night. The kids watched a movie in their room (laptop love!) and Jon and I watched a cute British movie, The Decoy Bride. We relished the evening, as it's not often we get to sit and snuggle on the couch!

Hope your Valentine's Day was special!

Hudson turns 4!

Wow. F-O-U-R! I remember what a milestone this was with Macy. She was becoming a little girl, and not a toddler any longer. And now six years later it is Hudson's turn. My sweet boy is growing up. We are so proud of the little man Hudson is. He is loving, funny, considerate, helpful, and 100% boy, which is great, because our house needed a little boost of testosterone. One of my favorite boy traits, telling stories with noise effects, has not been lost on Hudson. If he's talking about a train, it's chuggin'. If he's talking about bubbles, they're poppin'. We all love music and Hudson is no exception. He will 'play' the piano and hear sounds that I failed to catch. "Mommy, do you want to hear the dog song?" and then sure enough, there is a note that almost sounds like a bark. "Mommy, do you want to hear the monkey song? and as I listen I can see monkeys swinging through trees.

We had fun celebrating his fourth birthday. Watching kids open presents is pure delight!

We bought white wrapping paper and then all sat on the floor coloring our designs.

Ahh!! Nana wrapped this like a bomb!

Hudson was stoked to get this puzzle!

 Lindsey's nose is so small we weren't sure this would stay on.

Mom gets into the clowning spirit. 

This new chocolate cake recipe was so lame! We pretty much just ate whipped cream instead. 

Priceless Entertainment: After opening presents, we had the kids sing us a song.

Natalie's song was filled with movements that had us laughing and dancing around the room.

Grampa made sure we all got our birthday spanks in!