Love Is In The Air

Love Story #1
I picked Allie and Gabe up at the bus stop on Tuesday. Allie was so excited to tell me about a present she got at school. I asked her who gave it to her and she said Cody did. I asked Gabe if Cody gave him a present. Gabe said no. So did he give one to just the girls? Allie said no, just me. Hmmm...I couldn't figure out why he gave Allie a present. After we dropped Gabe off she pulled it out of her backpack. Wow, a pretty pink purse-shaped gift bag with some pencils and a stuffed puppy! Then Allie pulled out a card and handed it to me. I read it out loud to the girls. Here's what it said in his very cute 5 year old handwriting, "Dear Allie, I Love You You Look Pretty Love Cody. XOXO, Cody." LOL So this was funny but to top it off Kate starts kissing the back of her hand saying, "Cody loves Allie, Cody loves Allie. I love you Allie, smooch, smooch." Allie fell back in her seat and said, "That's a weird card." I just can't believe that Cody's mom or dad took him to the store to buy this stuff for Allie--it just cracked me up. I also couldn't believe that Kate knew how to tease Allie like that? When has she seen someone kiss the back of their hand like that? I think kids just know this stuff on their own! So later that week Allie brought home pictures from two other boys, one was a picture of her under a rainbow and the other said something about Love Allie. Wow, Valentine's is starting early in kindergarten!

Love Story #2
I was looking at my friend Anita's blog (she's been in Hawaii for the past 10 days!) and I saw a link to this AWESOME website. This company will take your blog and put it in a 40 page hardback/bound book with a dust jacket for a mere $22.95!!! They'll even print up to 440 pages. Most of you know that I LOVE Shutterfly books and I do one for our family every year but the problem has been setting aside time to work on it. Anyway, I've also been perplexed about how to save my blog in a nice format. Well, this site does it all and you can customize it. I'll stop talking about it and just give you the link. http://www.blurb.com/create/book/blogbook or http://www.blurb.com/ . No, I haven't ordered one yet but I already have big plans! Oh, and no I don't make a commission, I'm just a geek that loves family books.

Love Story #3
The girls and I played Polly Pockets for about an hour on Friday. My girls LOVE Polly and I have to admit that I had a lot of fun playing too. My house was a wreck (I was sick on Thursday) but they kept asking me to play and I couldn't resist their charms. So Allie set up a Polly Dress Shop, Kate had a Pet Shop, and I had a Hair Salon. I realized that having kids really gives you the opportunity to be a kid again. In that moment that I was changing Polly's clothes and looking over at the kids (Roman opted for a nap next to us), I realized that it was really a perfect moment. Ohhhh, so in love with my kids.

Love Story #4
Just realized this week how much I LOVE seeing that I have comments on my blog. I hope I'm not the only blog geek that does this, but it really makes my day. After realizing this I've stopped viewing other blogs without leaving a comment---hopefully it makes you all happy too! K, now I feel kinda dumb because you feel like you have to leave a comment but you really don't have to. ;)

Last Love Story
So, I won't go into detail about being in love with Darin but I am....and trying to think of a Valentine's gift for him. Maybe I should call Cody for ideas.

Spotlight

Today at church the Primary President wanted the parents to turn in a "Spotlight" for each of their kids. Each Sunday a child will have their "Spotlight" shared. It was nice to sit and think about my kids likes and dislikes and what makes them unique....so I thought it would be fun to share part of it for my blog (nothing too exciting happened this week so why not?!)!

Allison, who does not like that name by the way, is 5 1/2. She is a terrific artist. I am amazed at how creative she is and the talent she has. Her favorite color is pink..like all little girls. Allie's favorite meal is crunchy peanut butter and honey sandwiches, she eats one everyday. Her nickname is Allie or "Little Debbie", why you ask. Well, one day when I was in the early stages of pregnancy w/ Roman and very sick, thus sleeping on the couch, Allie asked if she could get the kids a snack and I said yes. When I went down to check on them a half-hour later the entire brand new box of Little Debbie Starcrunches was gone! I was babysitting another little girl that day and between Allie and her (Kate doesn't care for sweets, Allie ate the one Kate started on.), they had eaten all 8! No, she didn't want dinner that night. When I asked Allie what she was looking forward to in the future she said, "For my best friend Heidi to visit!" (that's in 17 days!) I love Allie, aka Little Debbie!

Kaitlin is 3 1/2. She loves, LOVES, Polly Pockets! Her favorite color is "Pink and Purple and Blue." Kate's favorite meal is Italian Chicken and she doesn't really like sweets. Her nickname is Kate or Kate the Great. When I asked her what she was looking forward to in the future she said, "Going bowling!" She is also very tender-hearted and loves to share. She says terrific prayers, sometimes it's hard to not laugh when she says, "Please help me to not pick my boogers." or "Thank you for our sins"...which sometimes we can all agree with. Just tonight in her prayer she said, "Please help all the people to be able to hear you." That one brought tears to my eyes. I love you Kate the Great!

Roman obviously wasn't "Spotlight-ed" but he does have an update. This week was his 2 month checkup. He weighs 13.5 lbs and I can't remember how many inches. He was 76% for weight and height but wohhhh, his head is in the 96th percentile!!! I asked the doc if I should be worried but he assured me that it was a good thing....lotsa brains. Being that I have a small head I completely believe him. Seriously though, I'm just grateful that he didn't have a big head when he was born...and honestly I can't tell that it's bigger than any other babies' anyway. Roman's personality is even bigger than his head...so funny...anyway, he is guy smiley!

Well, tomorrow is a school holiday but it's too cold to go out and do anything...so we'll stay home and have PB&Honey Sandwiches and play Polly Pockets.

Angel Baby

Today was a very special day, Roman was blessed at church. He was seriously an angel baby. I was hoping that he would just sleep through the blessing and if he was awake I was hoping he wouldn't cry. Everyone who was in the circle said that he was actually smiling the whole time. That really describes how he has been this whole week. Darin's parents were able to come out for the blessing which made today even sweeter. I won't go into detail about what was said during his blessing because it was so special but I will say that he was blessed to be able to live a life of love and service for the Lord. I already love Roman so much and am so proud to be his mother; I can only imagine how proud I will be as I watch him grow up.

Our visit with Darin's parents seemed to go so quickly. I know that many people make jokes about their in-laws and many people don't like theirs; I have to say that I am very blessed to have wonderful in-laws. I truly love and appreciate them. They have raised my husband to be a wonderful, caring man; how can I not love them?. We enjoyed another trip to COSI with them this week, the girls first swimming lesson, The BEE Movie, On The Border, and many other fun activities. Joan was kind enough to indulge my desire for cute burp cloths--we took a trip to Joann's for some decorative fabrics and then she sewed them up. I know it "doesn't matter what a baby spits up on", but I guess I just like looking at pretty things...I got lots of compliments on the one I had at church today.

The Good News Update for the week:
1. Roman slept 9 hours almost every night this week!!!! (except last night grrrrr.)
2. Kate was accepted into the Peer Model Preschool program for next year...it's an awesome public preschool that is a tad competitive to get into. Ridiculous I know but it's really a great program and it's affordable!
3. Allie blossomed in her swimming class and had no fear!
4. I was able to exercise 5 days this week!
5. Darin received his grant money for his research project.

This week we're looking forward to Roman's 2 month doctor's appt and another trip to COSI!

Week In Review...

Happy New Year!

Quick update since it's so late. At dinner we play a game called High/Low and each person tells their high(s) and low(s) for the day, I think it's a good idea for our blog tonight.

Highs this week:
1. Roman slept through the night 2 or 3 times.
2. New Year's Day breakfast was super yummy.
3. We went to COSI twice this week. My niece Kayla was visiting and so we had to see everything there which took two trips.
4. Some very honest person found my lost credit card at COSI and turned it in without using it first!


Lows this week:
1. Kayla went back to Texas. We miss you Kayla!
2. Allie and Kate started back to school on Thursday.
3. Darin went back to school/clinic.
Why can't we live in vacation mode?!

We are looking forward to Darin's parents coming tomorrow and Roman's baby blessing on Sunday. If you're in Columbus you are invited (at the church at 9 am)...unless you are reading this and I don't know you which is a scary thought.