Valentine's Day

I'm not a big Valentines day fan, but since we had to do Valentines for Mallory's class, I took the opportunity to have her learn to write her letters.  She already knew some of them, but 32 Valentines later, Mallory is now a pro at writing her name.  It took a long time, but we did it!  She was the only one in her class that did this.  I was actually surprised that more parents didn't turn this into a learning opportunity.

Jared helped make the silly slime :)

So excited about her face paint and fake tattoo (please don't let her ever want a real one).

I thought this was such a neat idea.  We are hoping to plant it in the spring.

Eric surprised me with some chocolate covered strawberries. 

And a necklace (did I tell you we don't celebrate Valentines day?? Oh, that's right, he ignored that memo so I looked like the fool who didn't do anything for him :)

I think Jared like the chocolate covered strawberries the most.

Very upset that Mallory wanted a picture too. So much competition these days.

And last, a lovely package from Grandma Val with a bunch of goodies.

Hopefully your day was filled with as much love as ours!

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Dance Recital Costume - Sneak Peak

Mallory is geting so excited! May 12, is the big day!

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You know you need to get out when.....

Working from home has had many perks, but the most difficult thing has not been interacting face to face with people.  I knew  it was time to get out when I was getting excited to hear people outside building on the house next door.  It was like there was sign of life outside this house. 

To help with this, I started do as much of the activities in the neighborhood as I could.  I went to my first bunco night- and I got a bunco.  I only got one but I got to wear the bunco queen attire :)

This is a little unrelated, but our QDOBA opened!!! I cannot tell you how excited I am.  We have eaten there at least 15 times.

Here is the retaining wall they built before they started laying the foundation.  I would not like having that 14 foot wall in my backyard!

Also, here is another little random link.  We had a huge downpour while I was working one day so I got the camera out.

Update: 4/5

 This amish guys know how to work fast and every morning I see them it makes me laugh.

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Donut Connection Mishap

We made the mistake of ordering 6 fritters from donut connection.  This is a cake sized box. We about dropped them when they handed it to us because it was so heavy.  We were expecting much smaller! Such a delicious mistake though :)

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P72X

I know a lot of you were probably anxiously awaiting the before and after shots of P90X, but unfortunately we never took.  With all the sickness over the holidays and dental work, we only made it to Day 72, so close! I definitely recommend the program and we'll start again in the summer when my classes are done, so you'll have to wait until then to see the results. Stay tuned!

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19 Months and 47 months!

Since this was so long ago, I only have my notes to go off of.  So here are the notes I jotted down.

1. Mallory has been singing "Pitter Potter face in water, don't get your face in dirty water".  Anyways, I kept having parents tell me that Mallory was teaching their child that.  I kept denying it as I hadn't taught her the song and I thought she learned it at school.  Well turns out, Grandma Valerie had taught her something similar and Mallory changed some words and has her whole class singing it now. Moral: Don't underestimate your child

2. Mallory loves watching Big Bang Theory with us, or as she calls it, Bang Bang.  Recently she has been going around singing, "there was one, there were two, there were three little Sheldon's".  I think she may have a little crush on Sheldon. She also giggles every time he says, "Bazinga!"

3.  Mallory has also taken on quite the attitude.  Here are my three favorite quotes of the month:

Me: Mallory do you hear the airplane?

Mallory: It's a truck.

Me: It's an airplane

Mallory: Whatever, you heard an airplane, I heard a truck

Mallory: Mom is it a school day?

Me: No

Mallory: YES! Does that mean I get to eat breakfast in my pajamas?

Me: Mallory, close your eyes and go to sleep.

Mallory: Mom, now that I'm almost 4, you don't get to tell me what to do anymore

4. As for Jared, he has taken on a slight obsession with clementines. He calls it a snock (for snack). He grabs a bowl out of the drawer and waits for you to open the fridge.  He gets really upset when he can't have anymore...crazy kid.

5. Jared's latest thing is grabbing your cheek and turning your face to look at him so he can make sure you are listening. His vocabulary has really picked up and he is talking in 3-4 word sentences now....he's not a baby anymore :(

Here are the school pictures. Can you tell I forgot it was picture day (this was retake day). :)

Jared wants to do everything Mallory is doing these days.

They decided their babies needed diaper changes.

There are many nights where Jared is not ready to go to sleep by the time I am.  I don't know how this happens, but he is just so happy playing there in the crib, doesn't matter if you turn the lights off or not.

Mallory is obsessed with trying to pick Jared up, which Jared hates! The two most common phrases in our house are:

1) Mallory, we don't pick Jared up, and
2) Jared , we don't throw things

Ah, the technology age.  Pre-bedtime treat.

Everything is a phone, didn't you know that?

Kids are so unpredictable.  I made the mistake of going grocery shopping during nap time. To avoid an all out meltdown, I had to stop, let Jared sit in the recliner and eat a snack.  It was this or everyone listening to him scream for the next 30 minutes.  Your welcome.

Someone please explain to me why rinsing your toothbrush with the bath faucet is any better than the sink???? Drives me crazy!!

This girl is one crazy puzzle girl.  She has gotten so good at them and loves doing them ALL the time.  This is her first two sided puzzle and she was so proud of herself.

I hope you enjoyed!  Keep up to date because they change so fast!

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Artwork Dump

Another lesson in parenting, read all the papers in your child's bag.  I realized that I threw this in with artwork and was that mom who didnt' show up, awesome

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Speeding Warning

Apparently that pack running instinct that helped in college running does not help you in the real world. Pack driving gets you a ticket, or in my case a warning. The highway is a straight road with hills and I swear you could take your foot off the gas and still go faster than 50 miles per hour. 

Anyway, you'll be happy to know I only got a warning because I had two car seats in the back that he said if I let him inspect and filled out the forms then he wouldn't give me a ticket.  Soooo, moral of the story, sometimes kids save you money, oh, and "just because everyone else is doing doesn't make it right, blah blah blah."

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