February 18

Ah, the glamorous life of a SAHM. This is the battle I face daily - dirt on my kitchen floor! I swept this afternoon, less than 24 hours since my last sweeping and this is what had gathered on my floor in less than a day! Yikes! It never ceases to amaze me how quickly my house gets dirty!

February 17

This year we have taken a more proactive approach to our family's health and fitness. Al and I have been running on the treadmill and the kids have recently decided they want to join in the fun. Carter and Makenna walk/run for 10-15 minutes a day and it is ALWAYS their idea. I love that they want to be physically fit to. You can never start too young!

February 16

Most nights I turn on music while I cook dinner and most night the kids come in and dance around while I'm cooking. Tonight the girls were dancing around the kitchen to the Glee soundtrack while I made chicken enchiladas. Music just puts everyone in a good mood!

February 15

I LOVE fresh flowers. I love the pop of color they bring to any room and the reminder of spring during the long winter months. Today the tulips that Al got me for Valentines day are blooming and look so gorgeous!

February 14

Happy Valentines day! This morning we had a quick breakfast of heart shaped donuts and juice before heading off to church. The kids opened their little gifts and cards from us and loved everything. We had fondue for dinner and spent the evening playing games and watching the Olympics. It was a wonderful day filled with all the people I love most!

February 13

Today Allen and I were able to get an afternoon babysitter to sneak out on a Valentine date. We went to lunch at Zio's and I had my favorite Strawberry Fields salad and Al had the artichoke chicken pasta. It was so yummy. We did a little bday shopping for Miss M and got groceries before heading home. We love being together and dates strengthen our marriage so much.

February 12

Allen and I made these cute heart shaped, chocolate glazed brownies for Carter's class LATE last night. They ended up being so cute and yummy. Thank goodness for Allen's help when I get my crazy ideas! I am so grateful for a sweet, helpful and supportive hubby!

February 11

I saw this idea on several crafting blogs and websites this year and knew they would be a breeze to put together and so cute! We had several tries before we got a picture that worked but then I just added the text in PSE, had them printed and inserted the suckers. So easy! These were the gifts the kids are taking to their teachers tomorrow for Valentines day!

February 10

There is almost always a pile of junk on the stairs waiting to be taken up to it's proper home. It kind of drives me nuts to have stuff scattered around the house but it is just part of having a bunch of kids and a busy life. Waiting to be taken up today - my boots left out from Enrichment last night, several toys, Makenna's gymnastics leotard, dirty socks, Addie's monkey and stuff for the laundry.

February 9

This morning I got busy and made Valentine cookies with the girls. I used my favorite shortbread recipe and they helped me roll and cut them out. After they cooled we dipped them in pink and brown chocolate. Yummy! Addie was our official chocolate tester and had it all over her face. Baking with my kids is one of my favorite things ever!

February 8

Since Allen is not a fan of watching sports on Sunday, we had a belated Superbowl party for FHE tonight. Unfortunately Makenna got the stomach bug that Addie and I had last week so it wasn't quite as fun as we hoped. We made pizza and had a bunch of fun snack food and snuggled up on the couch to watch it together. The kids especially enjoyed the commercials - the Doritos ones were their favorites. It was a fun night together despite the sickness and already knowing the outcome of the game!

February 7

Addie loves to hide in the cupboards while I am cooking. This afternoon she unloaded all of the bowls out of this cupboard and had a great time hiding from us. I caught her right as she opened the door to show me where she was. Such a cute girl and age!

February 6

After attending the temple this morning, Allen and I made a run to Trader Joe's. I don't get there nearly as often as I would like but we love their food. This is part of our haul today. A few things didn't even make it all the way home (like the Thai lettuce wraps and chocolate pretzels). Our new favorite are the two dips we found - Blue Cheese Pecan Dip and Pub Cheese with Jalapenos. SO yummy! It's probably a good thing I don't make it up there more often!

February 5

Today is Addie's 2nd birthday! I cannot believe how fast the last two years have flown by. She is such a joy in our family and adds a lot of spunk and fire around here. Today I took a bunch of pictures of her in this cute outfit. She has really started to ham it up around the camera. She also had her favorite dinner, birthday cake and opened lots of fun presents. She especially loved all the phone calls from friends and family wishing her a "happy bwiwthday." We love our Addie girl!

February 4

The kids love our Valentine Fairy tradition. Each night from Feb 1-14 the fairy comes and delivers a little treat to the kids. This morning they woke up to these giant heart lollipops. They worked on them most of the day and constantly had sticky hands and faces. After I took this picture on our bed I had to wash the sheets because they were so sticky.

February 3

Tonight we went out to dinner with our friends the Larsens. We were having a playdate and decided it would be fun to skip out on making dinner and met our husbands at Red Robin. Our kids were pretty wild so it was nice that the restaurant was pretty empty. They also had a balloon lady there who made hats for all the kids. It was a really fun time together but we are even more excited for a night out without the kiddos!

February 2

Today is my cleaning day and as usual, Addie has to be in on the action! She found this scrub brush under the sink in the bathroom while I was mopping the floor and she even got her own water and started to scrub. I love this age when kids want to mimic everything and actually HELP!

February 1

While I was making breakfast and packing lunches this morning I suddenly heard the lid of one of my apothecary jars being opened. I couldn't imagine how it was possible until I turned the corner and saw this! Addie somehow crawled up the piano and perched herself on top and was eating the candy. I had to get a picture because it was hilarious. Such a little stinker. I'll have to watch her more closely now that she has figured this out.

January 31

I have always loved February and Valentines Day! It is one of my favorite holidays to decorate for and makes me so happy. I saw this wreath idea on a craft blog and LOVED it so I made my own. It was quite labor intensive - I cut out about 400 felt circles over the course of several evenings while watching tv and movies. Then I folded and pinned them into place. I think it turned out darling. Yay for February!

January 30

Today was Carter's 7th birthday party! He asked for a Lego party months ago and we had fun planning it. We played lots of Lego related games, had building contests, ate pizza and had a Lego birthday cake. Here he is with his guests at the party. They were a wild bunch but had a really great time together.

January 29

Tonight Allen went to the temple for youth baptisms so we weren't able to have a date night. We turned it into family movie night instead. I made up a batch of our favorite, yummy Whirly Pop and we watched March of Penguins. The kids were bored by the end but we still had fun together.

January 28

Today we woke up to heavily falling snow outside. Since we live in a place where it rarely snows and even more rarely does the snow actually stick, the kids were pretty excited. I was secretly hoping school would be cancelled but it wasn't. The kids played in the driveway before we left for school, even though they weren't dressed for it. They loved it and were sliding around everywhere. I even let Carter be a few minutes late so they could play some more. After school the sun was back out but they enjoyed playing in the snow for quite awhile.