14 days of Valentine's!

Now that Mark has a new. . .additional job, he is gone a lot more!  So to save my sanity and make the most of our days, I wanted to do some fun activities with the girls.  I decided to do the 14 days of Valentines each day up until V-day.  We had lots of fun and LOTS of hearts.  Here are a few activities that we did.

Day 1 - We cut out lots of hearts to decorate our window!  The girls had a blast!

They had so much fun this day the wanted to cut out hearts again! So we did and decorated our kitchen the next day.  We made a huge heart garland and then some heart streamers.  Sadly I do not have a pic, but trust me it was very festive!

Day 6 - Dipping Strawberries - YUMMY!  It was kind of a mess, but totally worth it!

You can tell by the amount of chocolate on their faces and pj's that the girls enjoyed themselves!

 Day 10 - SUGAR. COOKIE. BARS!!!- Need I say more!?!

To be honest, I am not sure we actually did 14 different things, but who's counting really.  Some other things we did though, was paint some valentines for family, make valentines for Abbys classmates, and, our favorite, heart attack Mark's classroom.  This took a few days worth of activities to prepare.  It was a surprise (Mark had no clue!) and Abby did such a good job keeping it a secret. 

Day 14 - Valentine's Day, Mark had to work, so the girls and I took the oppurtunity to eat breakfast for dinner (Mark is so against that...crazy huh?).  So I made Red Velvet Pancakes, hashbrowns, and bacon.  

Don't let the pictures fool you, those pancakes tasted AMAZING!!! 

Lucy. . . you totally missed, Sorry, I don't think getting this second-hand could do them justice!

*Okay so excues me while I get a little sappy now.   But I just wanted to make a shout out (um... in writing!?!) to my four lovely Valentine's!  I am so grateful for each one of you and I love you all so much! 

Happy belated/extended (whatever you want to call it) Valentine's Day!

And then...it's 2012!!!

There's nothing much to say about our lives since Christmas, but here are a bunch of pictures to show you!  Enjoy!!

Daddy and Lucy, (she kind of likes watching t.v.... already!?)

The dance recitals began in January!  Abby is dancing to Leader of the Pack! 

". . . . . . The Leader of the Pack, Vroom Vroom!"

Abby's cousin Embree took dance this year too!  She danced to "My boyfriends back!  Hannah can't wait for her turn to dance!

This is what we call movie night!  All five of us squished in our bed...but we love it! 

I think we were watching Kung Fu Panda 2 this night...great show! 

So this is a funny story!  While I was doing Abby's hair one morning she watched like 5 minutes of a dog competition (it must have been on a saturday when there was nothing on tv), she watched the part where they have to run their little obstacle course. Anyways a few days later she wanted to make a dog show for her stuffed dogs.  She kept asking for a tire that her dog could jump through.  I couldn't figure out what she was talking about, and then I remembered.  It was kind of funny helping her replicate the course, because obviously we did not have a tire for them to jump through, but she was so stuck on making a real course  ("Mom, and what about the yellow see-saw?").  Well after much deliberation and compromise, this is Abby's version of a dog show.  Despite the un-authenticity of the course, the girls had so much fun!

The thing hanging off the back of the chair (Lucy's little playmat)...... yeah, that's our version of the tire!

And that's our "yellow see-saw"

The dogs had to jump through the "tire", run through the tunnel (the colored chairs), over the see-saw, around the cups, and jump over the bowls.  Pretty good for watching only 5 minutes of the competition, right?

So we finally got some snow a few weeks ago (I'm not complaining), so I thought is was appropriate to make a snow man, it was the perfect snow!!!

Here is our eyeless, buttonless snowman!  At least he's got the hat and scarf! I'm not sure where his carrot nose went too.......oh! there it is, on the ground!  Oops! 

It has been sad seeing him slowly melt away over the last few weeks...

*now he's only a rotten carrot on a very muddy ground!  Goodbye Mr. Snowman.

Abby making snow angels.

It's finally Christmas... ahem!

I know I'M sick of looking at the girls in their halloween costumes (I mean it's almost Valentines Day for crying out loud!)  And if I am sick of it, I can imagine YOU guys are sick of it too (that is if anyone still reads this blog!).  So here's to another update!

We had a great Thanksgiving as well as Christmas.  Thanksgiving was spent here and pretty uneventful (hence no pics).  Christmas, however, was spent in Boise with Mark's sis and her family.  His parents and younger brother and his family met up with us there too (or should we say we met up with them!).  The girls had a great time playing with their cousins and us mom's had fun comparing our new babies.

Before we were Boise bound the girls and Mark decorated our christmas tree.  Didn't they do a good job decorating?  (Besides that big patch of tree where the lights decided to stop working after I had gotten them on the tree!  STUPID! LIGHTS!)

For the last few months the girls have been obsessed with sleeping together AND with everything else in their room.  It's always fun until someone gets hurt (or rolls out of bed!).  But please notice their fun and festive pillowcases!

Lucy and Ruby (Who's older?) 

See what I mean...we totally compared (in a good way though!)

Abby holding her new baby cousin Madison.  I absolutely LOVE this picture of Abby!

Grandma Bates bought a gingerbread cookie kit for the kids.  It was a great afternoon activity.  They were so proud of their cookies.

My sis-in-law lives next door to her in-laws, and every year they hitch up (literally) the wagon trailer and go caroling around the neighborhood.  We were fortunate enough to participate this year.  So. Fun.

Our Christmas Eve Nativity Program was definitely Broadway worthy!  I mean just look at these costumes.

Despite the fact that our costumes were made from old pajamas and such and that our acting skill were far from mind-blowing, the kids had a great time and really took their parts seiously.  It was a great reminder of what we were really celebrating that day.

Our very own Mrs. Claus (Lucy) and Mrs. Mr..Claus (Madison). 

I guess I really don't need to say how much they DID NOT like this photo shoot! 

(Pictures really do say 1000 words don't they!)

We had a great vacation complete with beautiful weather, (I really don't want to mention too much about the weather, but aren't we having such a lovely, MILD winter!) yummy food and great company.  We can't wait for the next time we can visit.  We love you and miss you guys!