SNOW!!!

It is kind of silly but I have figured out that I start to really enjoy winter and the snow when winter is almost over. We have been having so much fun in the snow lately. It is almost like we feel like we need to enjoy it as much as we can while it lasts because spring is coming soon.
We have a GIGANTIC sled hill in the village, right next to where we live and we have used it a few times (mostly when Tim is around). BUT I figured out a really neat trick. There are SO MANY other little hills around where we live and they are WAY more manageable for the kids. They can go down the hill and pull the sled up by themselves, over and over again. The big hill where everyone else sleds on is just too big for them to walk back up, so we end up carrying/pulling them back up. That equals not very long sledding.
They spend so much more time on the smaller hill and have some much more fun. And we get the hill all to ourselves, plus the snow lasts longer on this hill we use. Then I can also take them by myself, without Tim's help. It is always a fun activity to do during the day when Tim is gone.
We also found it fun to build snow forts with a pink bucket we got from the hospital when Emery got her tonsils out.
I think it was more fun for Tim and I but the kids did think it was pretty cool.
Though we have been enjoying the snow, we are super excited for Spring and these nice warm days we have been getting. I guess it is just important to enjoy what we have right now and not wish each day away.

Tim's Birthday

February is kind of a fun month for us with Valentines Day, Tim's Birthday and Presidents Day weekend. It is also pretty cool, because Tim's birthday will usually line out to be on Presidents Day weekend, so we get a three day weekend to celebrate it. I asked him if he wanted to do anything special or have a party but he said he just wanted to be with the family. He thought it would be fun to go swimming with the kids. I must admit that was probably the LAST think I wanted to do (being as huge as I am at the end of my pregnancy), but because it was his birthday wish I decided I would just have to deal with it. It ended up being really fun and actually felt really nice to get into the water. The kids had a blast too.Tim is a very good cook and when he has an idea of something he wants in his head, he can produce some amazing meals. So we actually made his birthday dinner and dessert together.
Here he is working on his cupcake invention with the best frosting I have ever had in my life!!!!
These are the sandwiches he came up with, also SUPER delicious. I do most the cooking in our house but when we cook together he is the head chef and I say I am his sue chef. I love having such a good cook in our house.
Getting ready to eat.
I sloppy picture of our meal, but tasty none the less.
One of the finished cupcakes (with the to "die for" peanut butter frosting) YUM.
Here's Tim sporting some of his Birthday gifts. We had such a fun day with the family. I just feel SO BLESSED to be married to him.

Valentines Day

We had a fun and simple Valentines day this year. We had a count down calendar leading up to it (forgot to take a picture). Each day the kids would open the slot and get a conversation heart, an activity related to Valentines day (like eat dinner by candlelight that night), and the star of the day (Emery drew a picture of someone in our family and fill in the calendar when we made it). If you got picked for the star of the day then you were able to choose what we had for breakfast and stuff like that. It was pretty fun.
Then on the 14th (Valentines Day), the kids found this instead of the Calendar.
Tim has a tendency to spoil them more than me. When we were shopping for them for Valentines Day I came back with the suckers and Tim had put this fish game in the cart. It is too hard to tell him no when he is so excited about it. But it ended up being the funnest game ever. We play it with the kids almost everyday and they just laugh and have so much fun when we play it. Tim always knows the best things.
I made stuffed french toast with strawberries on top for breakfast, and Tim made a super fancy dinner (I couldn't find my camera when it was time to eat and we couldn't wait to eat it, so I didn't get a picture of it). Anyway, when he put it on the table Emery said, "Whoa, it looks like Chopped." (a food network TV show we like).

I sure love my little Valentines (Tim, Emery, Kaven and Elsie). Yes the baby if VERY much a member of our family already. She was even included to be the star of the day a few times. The kids already LOVE her to pieces and are always hugging my tummy saying, "I love you Elsie!" or singing to her, trying to wake her up by shaking my tummy ect. I am afraid this baby is going to be mauled. But I guess she will probably be used to it because of how much they are jumping on her and hugging her already.

Hope you all had as sweet of Valentines Day as we had!

Ice-Skating

A few weeks ago, the Village (where we live) provided free Ice-Skating for all it's tenants. This is one of the many perks of living here. Twice a month they provide something for the tenants to do. Our place may be old but EVERYTHING else is WONDERFUL about living here. It defiantly makes it all worth it. I know it is going to be pretty hard the day we move. Not just because of all this place has to offer but mostly because of the people and atmosphere here. ANYWAY...... here are some pictures of our skating trip.
This was Emery's second time Ice-Skating in her life. She loved it just as much this time. Tim had to hold her up the whole time but she seemed to get the concept better and was trying to do what he told her to do. She always tries really hard to get things just perfect.

This was Kaven's first trip however. I was thinking that he would not like it as much because he is a lot more cautious about things than Emery and really thinks things through. Yet, every time we take him somewhere special he REALLY lights up and soaks it all in. These types of things really mean a lot to him. Did he ever LOVE it. I did not ice-skate however because of my pregnancy condition. I have a hard enough time with my balance lately just walking let alone ice-skating. So this left Tim to take the kids around one at a time. Kaven understood this but REALLY wanted to keep skating and kept saying, "MY TURN!!" while trying to walk out onto the ice by himself.
Tim, like always, was super good with the kids. I kept asking him if he was o.k. and if his back was hurting and needed a little break. Even though it was a lot of work holding the kids up while skating for two hours, he kept on doing it and loving it the whole time. He is the greatest dad ever! He was pretty sore the next day though. :) He sure knows how to make things fun and special for the whole family.

Living Planet Aquarium

Emery's Preschool class took a field trip to the Living Planet Aquarium and Kaven and I were able to go with them. My kids and I had a blast and they still can not stop talking about it.
Emery lined up with a few of her class mates.
Emery was picked to help out with the Presentation before we explored the museum.
The penguins were quite active and fun to watch. It was hard to get a picture of them though because they were swimming around so fast in the water.
I asked Emery, before we left, what she hoped to see while we were there. She said she really wanted to see an electric eel. I thought, that is different, but leave it to my Emery girl to think outside the box or of something different. I was actually pretty doubtful that they would have an electric eel there. Sure enough they had one. I was quite surprised at all they had and the quality of what they had at the Aquarium. Very impressed!
I LOVE how much these two love each other.
They are truly best friends and I hope it lasts for a life time with their other siblings.
Acting like fish.
Watching the turtle
Measuring up to penguins.
I did not realize how big these penguins could get.Kaven and Emery (below) watching the sleeping Otters with Emery's teacher Will. Being as pregnant as I am, I could not climb that low through the tunnel to hold them up. Emery's teacher was so nice to help out.
I would have been fun to watch the otters awake but it was still cool to see them. Once again, the otters were a lot bigger than I thought they would be. It is so neat to see things for real.
Giant frogs!!!!
Just before we left I got this picture with Emery and her teacher Will. All I can say is looks can be deceiving. Her teacher always has some interesting styles with hair and clothing but is one of the kindest people I have EVER met. He is SO GOOD with the kids and I have worked with and seen a lot of teachers in my life. So thankful for him (and the other teachers at her school) for all they do for Emery!

Vacation from January

As many of you know, January can be a pretty tough month for me, especially living in Salt Lake City with the inversions and bad weather. Add being pregnant and miserable on top of it and you find a pretty down Dallas. Thanks goodness for great family. As stated in my last post, we headed to Delta for a day or two for Nicks birthday. Tim's sweet mother offered to have me stay and even ended up taking me to my sisters house in Annabella after a few days in Delta. It was such a WONDERFUL break from everything at home. We had a great time in Delta, shopping with Grandma Paula and playing games with Grandma Dora. Then a few days in Annabella doing all kinds of adventurous things. I didn't get any pictures in Delta, but I did get a few of when we were in Annabella.
Sledding plus four wheeler plus enough land equals hours of fun! What a cool sister I have!
Then when it gets too cold outside, there is always an unfinished basement at their house to ride bikes and skate in.
And if you run out of bikes then Anna is willing to give free rides on her wiggle car.


Then if you have been playing your little heart out from all these fun things, there is always a comfy couch upstairs in the bonus room to snuggle your siblings and cousins with. You could watch a movie or practice your hand signs (Whit is REALLY into signing right now, from Signing Time). He is a great teacher of signing as well and got my kids really interested in it again. They have continued to sign at home. In return, my kids taught him how to use his imagination. Ha ha... living in a little apartment in Salt Lake, you can't survive without an imagination.
This is just to mention a few things. There were also two cool forts built, many adventures with their imaginations, coloring, and basketball games. Thanks Paula, Alan, Brady, Jodi and Chris for perking me up and offering your homes for a fun time with my kids and I. I have so much to be grateful for.

P.S. I am feeling so much more myself now and even feel tons better physically with this pregnancy. It is amazing what a big dose of love can do for you (I know a little cheesy but so true).
I guess I lied. I did get this video while we were in Delta. If you notice at the end, Kaven accidentally started singing Old Mac Donald and they thought it was pretty funny. Sure love my kids!!!

Medieval Dinner

In January Nick (Tim's Brother) had a birthday so we all decided to go celebrate it in Delta with him. Brady (Tim's other brother) has been collecting this really cool Medieval Dinner dinner set and we have been really wanting to use them for awhile now. We could only use our fingers which made it even more fun, especially drinking the soup straight from the bowl.
The kids thought it was pretty awesome as well. Candle lit dinners are always make things special as well.
We each got one of these little hens on our plates. That was a first for me. Needless to say, I was pretty full by the end of the meal.
Great Times!!!