Daddy/Daughter Dinner & Dance

Tonight Hank took Taylor to a dinner and dance at our church especially created for fathers and daughters. I have been looking forward to this event for years. Even before we had children, I dreamed of the day when Hank could take our daughter to an event like this. So tonight's fulfillment of that dream is so special to me.

I have been explaning (as much explaining you can do to a 2 year old) all week to Taylor that daddy was taking her out tonight for a special date night. So later this afternoon, I pulled out Taylor's dress and grabbed a brush and some lip gloss. (Taylor loves lip gloss.) She really enjoyed the pampering although she wouldn't let me curl her hair.

Hank just came home and put our princess to bed. They had a great time and brought home some special reminders of tonight's event. Since I am such a scrapbook addict, I was (am) bummed to hear that Hank and Taylor didn't wait in line to get their free professional photograph to capture the evening. Oh well, at least they had a great time and made some more life-long memories.

He Melts My Heart

Valentine's Day

I love Valentine's Day. Hank and I have spent 15 Valentine's Days together. Now it's even better because we have children to love and express our heartfelt affections to...everyday but especially today.

I remember opening up gifts, even as a teenager, from my parents on Valentine's Day. I always appreciated those little acts of love. So I always told myself that I would do the same for our children. Unfortunately, I didn't buy any gifts for the kids this year, but we did all four go out to breakfast, and we enjoyed family time the entire day.

Thankfully Grammy and Grandpa had little gifts for the kids to open this morning. Ever since Taylor saw the presents that Grammy handed to me yesterday, she has been asking for "presents". So first thing this morning as both kids jumped in bed with us to greet the day, something we do almost everyday, Taylor and Landon had Valentine's gifts to open...and boy were they excited. I'm just bummed that the video clip doesn't include Taylor's squeals of delight before opening the gifts and Landon's excitement expressed by roughly shaking the gift to get it to open. It was precious!

So they opened the gifts packed with snacks, toothbrushes and a t-shirt. The kids love toothbrushes--that's why there are so many photos of them posing with the toothbrush. Anyway, we had a great day as a family and hope that you did too! We are thankful for all of you and love you lots.

A Visit from Mother Goose

Yesterday I took Taylor over to Kat and Brody's house for their birthday celebration. It's fun having friends with kids the same age as my own. Taylor and the twins are less than two weeks apart and now we are both pregnant again.

Anyway, Mother Goose really kept the kids attention and Taylor came home with a lady bug painted on her hand and a flower balloon. So she was happy. Especially when she was given her own piece of cake and strawberry ice cream.

The kids are doing great! They are both healthy again and up to their usual antics. Landon has started a reverse crawl where he pushes himself backwards and ends up cramped in the corner. He can get himself in the crawl position and rocks back and forth but that's it. I wouldn't be surprised if he bypassed crawling altogether and just started walking in the next few months.

Taylor is outside riding her scooter while daddy works in the yard. The kids are so precious. We took them to Hot Bagel this morning and Landon was flirting with the lady sitting next to him. He is such a sweet baby. Tons of people have told me that they are starting to look alike and I can see it too.

Hank took care of the kids while I fly up to Las Vegas to be with my mom and some friends for 24 hours. It was a short, but sweet trip. I loved getting away and the kids did great too.

I think the best gift that someone could ever give me is to hire a maid for our house. Well that didn't quite happen, but my mom did offer to pay a cleaning lady to come to our house every month. I can't handle living in clutter and a dirty house. And lately, my house has not been as clean as I would want it to be. High standards I know, but it has to do with how I was raised. So mom, thank you so much. Any amount of help I can get with help ensure that I don't lose it :-)