Be Mine

I love Valentine's Day! It's not a big deal holiday to everyone, but since I love celebrating all holidays and this one also happens to be the anniversary of when Derek and I got engaged (8 years! Holy cow!) I can't help but be excited about it.
With young kids, however, I actually really enjoy making it a family holiday -- rather than just a romantic day. This year was a little bit of both.

I made Derek a puzzle valentine and hid pieces of it along his path throughout the day.

Derek spoiled us all with little gifts on the counter for myself, Lydia and Connor. Later, he also had flowers delivered to our house for me and a Valentine's Hello Kitty for Lydia. So sweet.

During the day I had fun making pink heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast and taking Lydia and Connor to deliver some Valentine's treats to my grandma and to some of Lydia's neighborhood friends.

When Derek got home we headed to a wedding reception for one of his friends. Derek and I had agreed earlier that he would take care of dinner and I would take care of dessert, so on the way home from the reception we picked up pizza. After getting the kids settled into bed we enjoyed my homemade version of the Applebee's Blondie and proceeded to watch 4 episodes of Downton Abbey season 3. Yes, that's a lot of episodes to watch and we stayed up way too late, but we haven't indulged like that in a long time -- and we are a little obsessed lately with Downton Abbey. :) All in all the entire day proved to be the perfect way to relax and celebrate. 

Happy Valentine's Derek! You are the love of my life!

I feel so lucky to have two such amazing guys in my life!

Creative play

Dress up in Mom's boots

I am endlessly amazed at the creativity children express when they play. Although this will probably sound like I'm bragging about Lydia, I really am speaking of children this age as a whole. The ideas they have, the way they view the world -- it's priceless.

Some of the games Lydia creates lately are down right ridiculous, while others make me stop and wonder, "why didn't I think of that?" She is very good at entertaining herself lately, although she still seems to prefer it when I play with her. I am trying to cherish that fact (even when, at times, I feel too busy for yet another trip to the pretend doctor/dentist/grocery store/library etc.) I fear that all too soon she'll prefer the company of friends over her mom, so I am extremely grateful for these times.

The other day she took her little IKEA table and covered it with various hot pads and pot holders. She then proceeded to bang on the hot pads and told me she was playing the "bone drums." It took a while before I finally deciphered (at least I think I deciphered) what she really meant. Bongo drums. And you know what? The hot pads on the table sounded a little like bongo drums. It kept us both entertained for quite a while.

Playing the "bone drums"

Lydia is also really into imaginary friends lately. There is hardly an activity that we do during the day that doesn't include at least one of them. "Kathy" seems to be the favorite. I've done some reading on imaginary friends and found it is actually quite healthy to have them (I was wondering for a minute... although I have very vivid memories of my own imaginary friends as a child.) At any rate, it is adorable to see her include them in whatever she is doing at the time. The other day she was even miming holding hands with "Kathy" as she walked down the hall to nap time. Sweet.

Lucky 3

Connor 3 months

For the next few weeks, we have a quirky thing going with the ages in our family.

I am 33

Derek is 30

Lydia is 3

Connor is 3 months

Kind of crazy.


 And although the following picture really has nothing to do with the whole three thing, it is going down as one of my favorite pictures of Lydia. There is just something about the wacky glasses, the pink purse over her shoulder, the hair she refused to let me do... I love it. I wish she could stay this way for a long, long time.

Waiting

We recently hung our cuckoo clock in our house, 

so we've spent a lot of time doing this:

Why is it when you're little, even a minute feels like an hour?

Such a blessing

We are so blessed to have Connor in our lives and on Sunday, Feb. 3, Derek had the opportunity to give him a name and a blessing in our church.

It was a wonderful, special day.

We were so grateful to have several family members and many friends there to support us during the church meeting. Afterward we gathered at our house for soup, rolls, veggies and cookies. It was great visiting with everyone and celebrating this milestone in Connor's life.

Getting Lydia to comply with the photos proved to be one of the more trying aspects of the day. However, it is wonderful to have a photo of all four of us -- having four in our family still feels a little surreal.

My and my sweet boy

The Larson side: Great-Grandma Noma, Derek, Lisa, Connor, Lydia, Diana and Kurtis

The Grady side: Lydia, Leslie Ann, Brian, Derek, Lisa, Connor, Artis, Lionel and Nellie

My mom was so worried the pictures would show her bare feet that my father-in-law snapped this one of just the feet. Sorry Mom :)

My mom and my grandma were a great help keeping food on the buffet line.

Letter C, G and L cookies (for Connor Grady Larson of course!)