Valentine's Day 2013

Valentine's Day is a big one at our house - but not for reasons you may expect.  Matt and I have never done much for Valentine's Day....instead we celebrate Valentine's Day family style!

Normally we enjoy a big fancy homemade dinner.  However, this year Matt had a business trip to attend to so I got a little more creative and decided we would enjoy a big fun BREAKFAST instead!!!  The kiddos woke up to a kitchen that was decorated in streamers, flowers on the table, special heart shaped plates, and gifts next to their seats.  

On the menu was PINK pancakes, HEART-SHAPED cinnamon rolls, sausage, and fruit.  Fun food for a fun day!!

This was this little guys FIRST Valentine's Day, which made it EXTRA special...

"Loving is not looking at each other....it's looking in the same direction"

He DID it!!!

We have another shoe tying extraordinaire in the family!!  After Jaden announced 2 day days earlier that he was NEVER going to get this....he did.  Crazy what a little patience, a lot of practice, and a Mommy dangling a new Lego toy in front of you will do!  Soooo proud of you little man!!

Dinner is Served!

I decided that Eva and Jaden are old enough to bestow a new responsibility on them....DINNER!  Yes, once a month my little cutie patooties are in charge of dinner.  This means they must do the following...

Plan the menu

Make a grocery list for me of ingredients needed

Set the table

COOK the dinner

I thought this may be a good way to help both of them learn the basics of preparing a meal, and I also thought it sounded fun!  As for Eva and Jaden...they were PUMPED!!

They went through a cookbook and picked out what their first meal was going to be.  I was a pleasantly surprised at their choice!!  On the menu...herb marinated chicken breast and roasted vegetable couscous!!

They made me my list, I purchased the groceries, and they worked together (with supervision) to create the meal.  They were allowed to do things they had never been allowed to do before while cooking....Eva chopped ALL the veggies using one of my knives.  Jaden used hot pads to put the chicken in the oven, as well as pull it out and Eva used hot pads for roasting the vegetables.  The measured, poured, mixed, etc.  It was SO FUN to see their excitement!!

In the end, we had a beautiful dinner....and two children that were PUMPED for Daddy to come home and see what they had done!  Daddy was surprised.....and this mama could not have been more proud!

More Giggles...

If you want good entertainment......just have a few kids.

Seriously.

It's like a comedy club here some days.  Here are a few of our most recent laughs....

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Eva had been pointing at things with her middle finger.  I explained to her that she needed to be pointing her with her first finger.  She (of course) asked why.  I explained that it is called her "pointer finger" for a reason and THAT is the finger she is suppose to point with!!!

She let this soak in for awhile.

A few days later we were eating lunch at a PACKED local restaurant.  Apparently at that exact moment Eva's curiosity about which finger she is to point with got the best of her because she held her middle finger up for all to see and (loudly) said, "So WHY am I not suppose to point with THIS finger?!??!!!"

For Real.

I'm not sure my hand could move any faster as I reached over, grabbed her hand, put it down her lap....and TRIED not to hold in my laughter. 

(it was explained to her that her middle finger means a bad word - although WHICH bad word it means is not important.  What IS important is that we do NOT point with it.  She seemed satisfied with that answer....for now).

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Jaden, Eva, and I were talking about spicy food.  I said that when I eat spicy food it makes my tongue feel hot.  Eva said that it makes her roof of her mouth feel hot.  Jaden explained that eating spicy food seems to make his SHOULDERS feel funny.

Hmmmm......interesting.

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Jaden and I were talking about the movie Home Alone.  We were telling eachother our favorite parts of the movie.  Jaden said he liked the part where the burglars got covered in feathers.  I said I liked the part where the one burglar had a tarantula on him.

Jaden got quiet.

Then he said, "Isn't a tarantula what you flip pancakes with in the mornings?"

Nope buddy....that's a SPATULA.

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Yep, those little ones keep me laughing!