My Funny Valentines

A compilation of our various Valentine's Activities:

Homemade Honey Oat Bread Hearts for Breakfast!

Heart Shaped Bread for after school:

Valentine's FHE: Water Color Painting Hearts:

More FHE... Frosting Valentine Sugar Cookies!

Isaac and Daphne ran the cookies around to neighbors and then came back for baths and a little impromptu dress up... one of Daphne's newest creations:

Finished Heart Paintings:

We had a blast celebrating the love of Christ for us all... we hope you felt of His love on this Valentine's Day, too!

Guess What Daphne Did at School Today?

Yep, that's right! Her first missing tooth! When we first noticed the loose tooth quite some time ago and she wiggled it night at day, day and night.
She also asked me to wiggle it day and night. If I wasn't checking her tooth, she was asking when we could pull it and saying, "I'm the only one in my whole class who hasn't lost a tooth!"
However, when we gently informed her that if she needed to wiggle it the opposite direction if she wanted to pull it sooner, she freaked out. "But that hurts!"
After that, any time she bit a piece of food that remotely brushed up against her loose tooth, she would yelp and howl and cry. Matt and I would exchange a look that suggested that we would never be able to pull this tooth.
So when she came home from school like this:
I was shocked! Thrilled for her, but shocked! When I asked her why she decided to pull it, she said she really wanted the little plastic tooth-shaped necklace that her teacher gives out when you lose a tooth. "So, I just pulled it!" she said.
I think it just goes to show how unpredictable our Daphne can be. You never know if her intense emotion or her persistent determination will win out.
Today.... the determination won out! We are so proud of you, Daphne Faith! I know you will go and do great things, brilliant girl! You have the tenacity, the talent and the beauty... we can't wait to see where you go!

Nine Years Old....

Isaac is Nine Years old now....
Can you even believe it? He's had a tremendous year and has made so much progress. He's mastered soccer and basketball and school- just aces all around! I feel so grateful to God for providing us with inspiration to seek help and find some solutions to things... I feel like now he is the happy, successful and thriving boy I always knew he was inside. So year eight was a big one for us.

We told him he could pick any restaurant he wanted for his birthday... any restaurant at all. And he picked.... drumroll, please.....

Arby's.

Not my favorite choice, but well, he IS the birthday boy.
Then we came back home for some cake and presents!

My mom got Isaac the movie :Diary of a Wimpy Kid, which he had been asking to see. This book series has been a lifesaver for us, Isaac reads and re-reads the books over and over again. I have heard good things about the movie; Matt watched it with the kids and they all laughed and laughed.

And here he is with his Hoth Wampa Cave thingy Lego Set. (That's a Star Wars set for all of those who need a translation!)

And a new video game.... Unfortunately, the evening before his family party at Nanny and Papa's, Isaac sliced his ear open!! Ick!

He was playing at a neighbor's in the backyard. He was holding a very long piece of vinyl fencing on his back like a ramp and Daphne and the neighbor jumped on and somehow it shoved up into his ear, slicing it very badly. He was pretty calm when He came home to show me... he didn't even start crying until I saw it and gasped as if I had seen a ghost! (I'm sorta famous for over-reacting) Unfortunately, the urgent care clinics won't do stitches on ears, so Matt and he waited for over 3 hours at the Emergency Room. Boo. Happy Birthday to Isaac.

So, after we got him all stitched up, we headed to Nanny and Papa's the next day for a family celebration.

As you may remember, Isaac and Corbin celebrate together as Corbin is born on the 9th and and Isaac on the 10th of February. Well, last year, God sent sweet Penelope to Raegan and Dave on February 11th, so now their brithday event is a celebration for three!

Now since it was Penny's first Birthday, she was (rightly) really the star of the show... she wasn't sure about the cake at first but was thoroughly enjoying it after a few minutes!

Victoria and cousin Zach enjoying their cake and ice cream!

Daphne and Abby:

and the birthday boys!

Isaac got lots of fun stuff from family that day, including a $100 bill from Nanny and Papa! He wanted money to go snow boarding (which he does pretty well, but what an expensive hobby!)

Thanks, everyone! Isaac had a great day/week and we feel so very loved to have everyone care so very much. I am incredibly grateful to be the mother of such a precious, helpful, thankful and genuinely kind boy. I cannot imagine life without our precious Isaac, and we thank God for him every single day. We love you, Isaac!!

Super Bowl Partay!

Matt's parents can throw a party. We have dinner with them almost every Sunday, and Super Bowl Sunday is no different. In an attempt to keep the family time going on Sunday, Matt's parents established a contest on Super Bowl Sunday many moons ago (before I came along!) Basically, everyone guesses a score and the top three winners get prizes. (it's much more complicated than that... there is a mathematical formula to determine the winner- and David has it all set up on his laptop to keep track of who the winner is)
And these are not dollar store favors. Calving and Marsha give out PRIZES. Like... AMAZING prizes. I got my gorgeous Wolfgang Puck set of cooking pans when I won the Superbowl Contest one year. No kidding. But there is also a pool for children with prizes as well. It is so much fun, even if you aren't a big football watcher.
David and Raegan made their colors very clear: That's Penny- she's so adorable!

Isaac won $10 for choosing the Packers:

And Tori was the winner of the Kid's Pool: $50 and a box of Ring Pops!!! When it came time for her to pick the score, we asked her how many points the Steelers would get. She said, "1, 2, 3, 4,5 ,6 7,!" So, Matt added all those together for a score of 28. Then, when we asked her who would win, she said, "The green team get the ball". So, we gave Green Bay a score a little higher than Pittsburgh. And she won!! Isaac could not believe that a 2 year old had won, so he kept complaining and whining that she won so much money. So, when I put Tori in the bath after the game, she kept saying, "It's not fair I win Fitty dollas."

Thanks, Nanny and PaPa! We had a blast!