LOVE is in the air

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, so we did a few things this weekend to get ready for the day of LOVE!  I had some decorations from Clara's birthday party on this little shelf and figured it was time to take them down.  I thought it would be fun to put a few Valentine's day decorations here.  We made this banner and I printed this quote out and stuck it in a frame.  Simple and sweet:)

We also had to get a few things ready for Reece and Clara to take to school.  Reece made his class Valentine's.  He went through and did all the girl names first.  When he was finished with those names, he said, "whew! I'm finally finished with all those girls' names!  I can get to my buddies now!"  I wonder if he'll be saying that in 15 years:)

We made a card for Reece's teacher.  These are handprints in the shape of a heart. I asked Reece to tell me why he loves Mrs. Henderson and I wrote that around the edge.  One of the reasons he said was, "she laughs loud"  Cute, cute!:)

I've been looking for any excuse to use these cute, little, squatty mason jars, and I finally found the perfect use.  We filled them with candy for Reece and Clara's teachers and put this adorable FREE printable on top!

Perfect, simple and cute!

I loved the handprint hearts so much we also made one for all the grandparents with Reece and Clara's handprints.  I LOVE how they turned out!

Happy Valentine's Day! 

catching up

I have been a terrible blogger lately.  The whole reason I started this blog was to keep a "journal" of all the things we do.  I LOVE looking back and seeing how my kids have grown and some of the fun things we have done.  During the school year, opening my computer is one of the last things I want to do when I'm at home, but I'm going to do better! My kids are growing up WAAAYYY too fast and I know someday these posts will be so fun to look at. So, here's a little catch-up post:)

We celebrated Christmas.

This girl developed a love for monkeys (and all animals)

 We have had LOTS of snow days!  Great for teachers in the winter...terrible for teachers when June rolls around!:)

 I turned 30!!!

 Not only does she love monkeys, she is a monkey!

 LOVE!

 Clara loves  dress-up...as you can see, she piles it on:)

 Baking cookies

 I LOVE these little dresses.  I have always been a little hesitant to sew clothing, but these are pretty easy to make and super cute.  Clara loves when I make her something new.

 My sweet blue-eyed boy.

 And we celebrated Clara's 2nd birthday!  Since she loves monkeys so much, we had to have a monkey party.  Monkeys say ooo-ooo-aahh-aahh, so Clara calls her monkeys aahh-aahh's.

 She had so much fun at her party!  She is still singing "happy birthday!"



4th of July Weekend

We had a great 4th of July weekend!

On Saturday we watched the Independence Eve fireworks from our roof!

On Sunday, the fourth, we had a cookout at Grandma and Grandpa's house...Here's the story:)

The people...

The spread...seriously!  We ate ALL of that!

The sparklers...

The decorations....

And just for fun, here are some pictures from the 4th of July this year compared to the 4th of July last year!  Oh my! 

Fireworks!

Last night, we went to the ASU fireworks.  They are by-far the best fireworks in our area.  The weather was beautiful and the fireworks were amazing!  It was a great night!

Having a little snack...

Loungin' on daddy's lap...

Ya gotta have ice cream!

Aaron and Reece walked down to a creek while we were waiting...

It is nearly impossible to get a picture of both kids looking at the camera.  This next picture cracks me up...it is pretty typical of us trying to get a good picture :)

Reece and Clara had a big time running in the field.

There was a beautiful sky right before it got dark.

Then the fireworks started!  They were SO good!  Reece loved them, and Clara wasn't scared at all.  She sat on my lap, pointing, and saying, "Wow...prie (pretty)."

Mother's Day 2010

A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie. ~Tenneva Jordan

Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs in my field, since the payment is pure love. ~Mildred B. Vermont

The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new. ~Rajneesh

She never quite leaves her children at home, even when she doesn't take them along. ~Margaret Culkin Banning

When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child. ~Sophia Loren,

I love my mother as the trees love water and sunshine - she helps me grow, prosper, and reach great heights. ~Terri Guillemets

These 2 sweet babies make my world! Being a mom really is the hardest job in the world, but I would not trade one moment of it! I just look at them and my heart feels like it's going to explode!

I'm a day late on my Mother's Day post, but I had a great one! Aaron got up with both kids and let me sleep in! I woke up to a clean house, laundry going, breakfast and this sweet card! Reece is getting SO good at writing!

Aaron helped put their handprints on there and Reece drew our family and put initials by each person:)

Just for fun, here is Mother's day from 2009:

I love being a momma to these 2 babies! I sure wish I could make them stop growing so fast!