Valentine's Day

***I've tried to post this since Sunday, but Darren woke up with a fever that day and has been acting really grumpy. We learned tonight that he has strep, but that story will come in a different post.

We had a very nice Valentine's Day this year. First we woke up to snow. It didn't stick on the roads and didn't feel too cold so I didn't mind too much. Rick was shoveling snow so the kids and I got our snow clothes on and played. Darren got a big snowball and had no interest in throwing it, he only wanted to eat it. Annie and Carlyn thought it was fun to hit mom and dad. They also liked to shovel the grass. :) Annie on left, Carlyn on right.

Here's D (yes, in pink snow pants!) eating the snowball.


After playing we went in for breakfast. I made goldenrod eggs, one of our favorites. A little while later Rick's Mom, Linda, came over with Maureen and Great Grandma White. We were glad they visited. The girls had worked hard on their valentines.

The girls with their new Valentine bears and candy from Grandma Linda.

Rick's sister, Belinda, wanted us to bring the kids in to see her at work. She gave us a tour where she and Josh work and the kids especially loved raising the lift for the cars. Oh, they also loved the play room at the dealership too.

After that we came home and I made chicken cordon bleu for dinner. We watched Madagasgar 2 and had strawberry shortcake for dessert. After the kids were in bed Rick and watched Fireproof. I really liked that show and it was a good reminder of how to treat each other.

Pictures, Funnies, & Early Valentines Date

We'll start off with some recent pictures. Last time I tried to do "preschool" with Annie she had no interest, but she seemed more interested lately "writing" all the time and wanting to write her name. So yesterday we did the letter A. As you can see, she did a great job and is very creative :) I only told her to write a few more A's after tracing the ones I'd written. When we were doing Valentines she started writing other letters, like T and I & E and was so proud. I didn't know she could do that. She really wants to write her name, but can't remember the letters in the right order for Anneliese. She says, "A-N-N-E-L-E-S-E-S-E". Pretty good, but not quite right. She knows how to spell Annie, but that's not what she wants.

This was the girls making Valentines cards today. Annie is really great at tracing letters and Carlyn wants to copy them. When Darren woke up he wanted to draw too. They were very serious about it and took hours making them.

Darren at Grandma's the other day. He LOVES Thomas the train and even though this isn't Thomas he doesn't care. He made the same noise for it as when he asks for the Thomas movie. We went to Circuit City's store closing sale out of curiosity the other day and Darren magnetically found a Thomas movie. He was so excited I couldn't tell him no and he ran to Rick practically dancing and hopping to him while screaming excitedly, "Mama. Mama. Mama." Which meant, "Daddy, I really want Thomas!" because he calls Rick Mama and Thomas Mama too. :) Rick couldn't tell him no either. I wish that we'd gotten a video of it.

After coming back from St. George Sunday night, Darren fell asleep on my lap. He never does that. It was so sweet I didn't want to put him down.

Before he fell asleep he was running around like a free child again (after being cooped up in the hotel and car.) He figured out how to climb on my FHE file boxes. Guess they need a new place now. Now I can see why my parents called me an imp! Look at that expression!

The is Sharice, Darren, Evynn, & Annie in front of the St. George temple. It was very cold for St. George. 50s with a cold wind.

The weekend before last we went to Rick's sister Belinda's house. They have a dog, Nala. This is Darren in her crate. I love the red eyes. I could have fixed them, but it looked too funny. I swear he climbed in there and shut the door himself. Nala was a little jealous and would go in there with him when he'd open it. It was so funny! Darren also loves their fat old kitty and kept climbing up on the table to pet her. I couldn't get a picture because she'd run away before I could.

I remembered a couple other funny things. When we were in the pool in St. George I asked Darren if he could say Sharice (remember he's mostly a grunter) and he said, "EEEE." We clapped appropriately and then Sharice said, "Can you say Evynn?" He looked at Sharice and looked at Evynn. He said, "EEEE," as he looked at her then turned to Sharice and said, "EEES." He was so proud of himself that he figured it out. Annie and Carlyn are a little jealous because he won't say their names again, but he calls them Mama which he thinks is funny so I guess it works.

I have to note here a few of the more annoying and also cute things that Darren does. As a Mom I have to note how different he is from the girls and how he's so persistent that it drives me crazy. Slapping his hand or saying no does not have any effect on him. I'm determined to never say, "Just wait until you have children," though. Here goes:

-I can't open the dishwasher with Darren around because he pushes the shelves in and shuts the door. He can also open it, so I have to keep the gate up to keep him out of the dishwasher and other cupboards he can reach. He loves to play with the grater if he can and colanders are his favorite but he'll take lids or anything he can bang together or anything sharp he shouldn't have.

-Then today as a bonus he climbed OVER THE GATE! So much for that. I don't know what I'm going to do.

-He also learned how to turn the doorknobs recently so I can never leave him out of earshot or become too distracted because he'll run to the bathroom and play in the toilet. He loves to splash in it. UGH!

-He also loves to get the bucket that has the bath toys and empty it into the bathtub. Luckily the toilet and tub are in different rooms or you could see where that might lead!

-He loves to climb on the little table that we have (one of the wooden circle ones) and just stand there. Recently he realized he can push it or the chairs around to get himself into things that are supposed to be out of his reach.

-He also loves his milk bottle. I can't lay him down without it, but I'm working on that. If he's still awake and bored he'll push the nipple down in the bottle and make a big mess. Gotta say I really hate that one.

-Its getting hard to change his diapers because he really struggles and he's too big for the changing table now. (Did I mention his growth spurt? He's now in the 75% for height!) He does love to sit on the training potty when we do so maybe potty training won't be too far away (cross my fingers!)

-I can't use the computer during the day or somehow he sneaks over and will turn off the computer when I'm right in the middle of something. That or he'll turn up the speakers so loud that it scares me to death. The girls would love to play PBSkids.org all day, but he does the same to them.

-He hates to blow his nose in a tissue, but he'll do it on his hand or my shirt. Ewww.

-He loves balls and throwing them, but sometimes he throws things that are inappropriate. Tonight he threw a keyboard (one Rick let them have as a toy) at my HEAD.

-He gets really jealous of Annie or another baby sitting on my lap. He'll push them out of the way and climb up. I explain to him that I have to legs and he can share. He's getting better when its Annie.

-He's at a very klutzy phase due to his growth spurt. He trips or runs into things constantly. I hate to see him get hurt but I have to admit that I don't usually react anymore.
-This isn't too new, but he's a picky eater and I never know what he'll eat. If he doesn't want it he throws it. Sometimes he shreds it and then throws it.

Can you tell I love my son? I really do, but he's all boy and so different. Well, enough of that. Annie's new thing is saying, "Its important and its not important," when someone is getting upset about something. I don't know where she got it. She also says, "I'm not kidding (tidding)," after everything. Or she'll say, "Are you serious or are you tidding me?" She also started writing letters in the air. Guess she visualizes them better that way.

Rick and I had an early Valentine's date. We didn't know when we'd be able to get a babysitter and we had one scheduled for Monday night when our plans fell through. So we decided we'd better take our chance. We went to eat at Goodwood BBQ. YUMMY. We shared some ribs and they were delicious. Thanks to our friends who gave us that gift certificate for Christmas. Then we went to see "New in Town". It was silly, but we laughed through the whole thing so we considered it a success. Plus all the kids were asleep when we got home. Thanks Belinda and Josh for babysitting (and the movie gift certificate). You are great and we had a wonderful time.

Valentine's gone awry

I woke up on Valentine's Day with grand plans of wonderful meals, silly but special presents for my family and a few fun things to do during the day. Well, a sleepless night (Darren slept from 11-7 so it wasn't his fault) changed all that. Anneliese woke up at 7:30 (thanks Rick!) and would not be quiet and watch a show so I could sleep. Rick was supposed to come home from work for us to have breakfast with him about 9. Can't blame him for working, but he didn't come home til something like 10:30, so we had a late breakfast. It was nice though, with blueberry pancakes cut into hearts with a cookie cutter. Then I took a nap while the girls watched a movie and Rick worked downstairs.

Then we had a fun lunch of dinosaur chicken nuggets. Yes, girls like dinosaurs too. It was Carlyn's request. It was fun, but late in the afternoon before we ate. I had hoped to take them to the VeggieTales movie at the dollar theater, but we missed all the showings by the time we had lunch.

Then the girls had a bath while Darren wouldn't sleep. I don't know what was with that kid yesterday, but he was whiny and would not sleep. Oh well, I guess he can't be perfect!

Somehow the time was gone by now and none of us needed a big fancy dinner. We were going to make cheesecake and then Grandma Linda stopped by (I don't know why I didn't take any pictures-duh!) They got big pillows that said princess on them. Darren loved grandma and cried when she left. Then Rick had to go to the church for the scheduled audit (he's financial clerk.) That took much longer than expected and by the time he got home it was late.

Carlyn begged to sleep in the front room, so I set them all up for it. Then Anneliese started crying (while I was still there-duh, she was way too tired) and wanted to go to her bed, but I had their lamp in the front room. I took her downstairs with me and she fell asleep on the chair in less than a minute. The picture is dark, but it was so cute! Then Rick went to Red Box and we watched No Reservations until way too late. It was a fun day, but not at all what I'd planned. Oh well. At least the kids are little and didn't care because they had fun sending Valentine's to everyone.

Sometime there in the evening we got a call saying that Emily had her baby. Here's cute Samantha. We can't wait to see her and we love her even though we can't. Good job, Em. She is adorable!!!!!!