My Valentines and tax season

The past couple of years, Greg and I have been taking turns making a Valentine's Day meal for each other. Since I made it last year, it was technically Greg's turn, but calendar circumstances have made for our kids getting babysat A LOT in the month of February, so we made a compromise. The Friday before Valentine's Day, Nate and Steph offered to watch the kids and Greg and I went out to eat at Red Lobster (oh, yum!). Just spending time together was enough for me, but then my sweet hubby went and surprised me with a super gift: a Kindle! I was completely surprised and soooo excited! As much as I love books, I don't get to the library that often anymore (our kids are not to the age yet where they can be completely trusted NOT to rip out pages), and the convenience of being able to read one-handed is great! Anyway, Monday night I put a pink table cloth on and set out heart-shaped plates to eat on...that was just about as valentiney as we got. :) Oh, except for the cookies, from the Pioneer Woman's website.

Did you know that 'Valentine's' is a really long word? I found that out...

Anyway, I thought I'd put up some pictures of my own 'valentines.' :)


My handsome hubby and me...not the most recent picture of us, but one of my favorites!

Max, our creative little guy, made a 'snowman' and asked me to take a picture.

Our sweet Nora...in the little leopard outfit that seems to fit her personality so well.

Oh, these two...some days they play together so well, and other days all I hear is, "No, Nora! Mine!" accompanied by much indignant screaming from the little girl in question. This tax season has been much different than last, when Nora was still baby enough to not move around or require tons of attention (read: discipline).

Because of that little fact, I've found that sometimes I just need to do this:

...and take a deep breath while I make supper or whatever it is I'm trying to get done. :)

It hasn't been all bad, though. The kids and I have had some fun times, especially when I have to get creative and make something 'different' for them to keep lunchtime from getting too monotonous. From my Apples of Gold Bible study, I was given the idea of this cute little frog, so I made him one day:


The funniest part was when Max popped a whole 'eye' in his mouth...it's straight cream cheese with a chocolate chip in it! He made the funniest face and spit it out...I recommended he take out the chocolate chip and just eat that. :)

One more set of Max pictures...he was playing the piano and said, "Mom, take a picture!"

He's almost got "Hot Cross Buns" figured out. (The one-a-penny part still escapes him.)

Now if we could just make more progress with the potty training...