Valentines Day...

I know I posted this last year but... growing up, one of my favorite holidays was valentines Day, not because of boyfriends, flowers or chocolate, but because my Mom made it such a special day for us!
She made us breakfast in bed every Valentine's Day and I LOVED it!!! I looked forward to it every year. Now that I'm a Mom, I realize it doesn't take too much to impress kids, which is nice- but I also know how early she had to get up to serve us all, get us out the door for school, and then get to work by 8:00 AM.She was and is the most amazing woman in the world.
One reason I adore my Mama is because she gives everyone "their" moment and makes everyone around her feel so loved. Every holiday there were decorations, treats, cards and whatever else she could afford at the time. She made holidays wonderful and birthdays memorable even if all she could give her $ 3.00 canvas shoes from Kmart and our favorite box of cereal. Even now she sends the kids cards filled with dollars for every holiday. Even though I dont get breakfast in bed anymore, I can still look forward to her package of little treats for us and I love it- still. Thank you Mom.

I decided to do breakfast at the table for my kids each Valentine's Day instead. The truth is, I don't want to have to wash 3 loads of sheets & blankets, so I'll save the breakfast in bed until they are older! The kids were thrilled when they woke up and had fun eating candy for breakfast (gasp) and reading their valentine's. You can't see the other decorations, but there were streamers and more decorations- they thought it was great. Afterwards, Tristin gave me that famous hug and said, "Thanks Mom" which was a boy way of saying; That was super cool and I loved it but I can't get too excited or I'll be acting like my little sisters, and that isn't cool.
Later in the day we made our Valentine deliveries to friends & family and the girls loved hopping out of the van and knocking on doors to give them treats.
In the morning, Grace, Willow & I did our normal Double coupon shopping at Albertson's and we even took Valentines to them. Grace delivered treats and cards to the workers and you should have seen their faces... it was truely priceless to watch someone go from pricing cheese to be handed a shiney bag from a 4 year old. Their smiles & surprised faces were the best part of the day. Grace recieved lots of hugs from our friends there and we talked about how great it feels to make someone smile! To me, that's what the day is all about- letting someone know you care, even if all they do is bag your grocies at the store.

Poor Grace wore a dress...

I told Grace to put jeans on with her dress before we left to go swimming, but she didnt listen... so no wall climbing for her. She was so sad that she couldnt do it, but the world would have seen her panties up there so they said No. She was excited when she was able to play on the little 4 foot wall though! She's such a a monkey, look at her Spiderwoman abilities!

Daisy wall climbing...

Daisy was the first one to try it and she was off! I was pretty impressed because its a pretty good sized wall for a 6 year old!

Tristin Wall Climbing...

After swimming at the Y on Saturday, the kids wanted to climb the wall, so we asked about it (because they had never done it before) and found out they could do it! They were thrilled. After a little demo, Trav was helping the kids and they LOVED it! They were fearless!

More Willow...

I know I've posted most of these pictures before, I just wanted to do it again all next to each other so I could see them.

Wrapped in a zebra bathrobe...

Whenever Grace shows any type of affection- I take advantage of it because I never know when she will shower me with hugs & kisses again. It could be in the next 5 minutes, week, or following month- I never know. She's a little unpredictable! So, one of my favorite things is when she wakes up, she stumbles down the hall and over to the compture where I usually am, crawls on my lap and curls into a little ball. We wrap up in my bathrobe and have a few minutes to talk just her and I. I love it... even if it's 6:30 AM!
***Yeah, the flash was covered, so this is what we got! Probably better this way, who takes pictures of themselves at 6:30 in the morning anyway???

Willow...

Here's just a random one of Willow yesterday morning.

Silly Grace...

This was Grace after the party! Sugar+ tape= this!

Daisy's party...

*** Jen, I feel TERRIBLE that the girls were not invited this year to Daisy's party. She invited 3 girls from school and I didn't have enough for your girls. I'm so sorry! Just know I feel really bad about it!!

Daisy's party went really well. I didn't get pictures of the table, decorations or food- so just imagine Hello Kitty everywhere and a lot of pink! She was spoiled, loved the attention & had a great time!

A Successful party...