Happy Valentine's Day!

We had another simple holiday!  Which was a lot of fun!  I LOVE celebrating Valentine's day as a family, especially with the kids.

We started the day with some heart shaped pancakes!  Then I helped out with Connor's class Valentine's day party - I had no idea how much candy people were going to give out - we were definitely the 'lame' ones who didn't have any candy attached to his Valentine.  :)    Oh well!  

For dinner we grilled steaks and had cherry heart 'turnovers' - I kind of made it up.  They turned out pretty good.  :)  At dinner we also exchanged Valentine's day cards.  (Matt and I decided a few years ago that on Valentine's day we would just get each other cards and no gifts, but he does always get me flowers. :)  Yay, I LOVE getting flowers.  It takes the pressure off the gift giving and we enjoy the holiday a lot more!)

 Breakfast

Connor surprised by the pancakes.  :)

 Dessert - cherry heart 'turnovers'

The cute cards we got from each other and family (including grandmas and grandpas) and the beautiful flowers Matt got me.  :)

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day!!!

Happy Birthday Matt!

It was Matt's birthday on February 4th.  We had a simple birthday, per his request!  :)   We had dinner at home (Mexican Lasagna) and then presents and cake (homemade german chocolate cake - delicious!!!) and ice cream.

 Pictures/Cards from the kids!

 Strong daddy opening his present.  :)

 We got him new scriptures!  

He was really excited and surprised I remembered him saying something about needing new ones a few months ago.  :)

Dancing with daddy!

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!  We LOVE you lots!!!!

January and some of February

So I'm a little behind!  :)   My excuse is that we're getting ready to move - so much to do and so little time.  Here are some pics from the last few weeks.  It's been cold so we've been inside most of the time.

 Briella LOVING her yogurt!  

(I think it was her first time eating it by herself.) 

Connor wanted to be a robot one day - so he made it happen (with a little help). 

In the middle of January Connor was chosen to be the Super Student of the Week at preschool!   He loved it!   He got to be first in line for everything and do a lot of things for the teacher.  

(They rotate through the kids throughout the year, so each one has a turn.) 

Briella enjoying the fort. 

Cutie Briella!!!  Love this pic!!! 

 Enjoying the cold.  Crazy kids!!  :)

Connor playing on the Nook with Briella 'taking notes'.

We went to the National Museum of the Air Force for the last time, while we are here in Ohio.  (sad!)

 Astronaut Connor

 Briella had to get in the action too.

 You have to land the jet on the aircraft carrier.  It's pretty fun - we all did it.  :)

Briella walked everywhere!  The world has really opened up for her.  :)

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!

We have had more snow in the past week than we had all year last year!  It's fun!  Connor LOVES it and Briella is getting used to it.  The day after Christmas we were in a blizzard warning and it actually happened!  We got about 6 inches within 12 hours!  Everything shut down so we were 'snowed in'.   We dug out all our snow stuff and went outside to play.  It was Briella's first time in the snow.  It was hilarious getting her ready.  She could barely sit up with everything on and pretty much just laid on the floor or rolled around.  It was so funny!  

 We got her to sit up for a picture. :)

 Getting ready to go out.

 Fun in the snow!

 She didn't last too long.  It was pretty windy.  But we all had a lot of fun playing.  Connor and I had a good snowball fight.  :)

 Briella and I enjoying the warmth inside.  :)  

"Hi Daddy!"

 Matt and Connor were hard at work outside. 

 They made a snow witch instead of a snowman.  

Love the hair and dress!!  :)

 Then they had a snowball fight!!!

 This was our 2nd snow storm.  Not a lot of wind so Briella enjoyed herself a lot more.  

 Connor helped me shovel the driveway while daddy was at the youth temple trip.  

(We wanted to surprise him!)

The snow has been a lot of fun!!!  And it's still around, not going away anytime soon.  Connor keeps saying this is what Colorado is going to be like.  He may be right.  :) 

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

Christmas Eve

 This is our beautiful Briella first thing in the morning.  She has the best hair in the morning, it reminds us of that Pampers commercial of all the babies waking up with awesome hair.  (I think it's called "Beautiful Mornings"  with the song "I feel pretty")  Every time we see that commercial we think of Briella and chuckle.  :) 

Here's the commercial

 This is Connor and I breaking the wish bone.  Yes, we forgot about it.  So it was VERY dry.  :) 

 He knew exactly what to do and knew he needed to make a wish. 

 Guess who won??!!!  

Our dear friend, who we claim as family, Linda Kuck joined us for the evening festivities. We had our traditional Italian Christmas dinner of manicotti, Christmas jello (red, white and green), homemade rolls, broccoli and homemade apple pie for dessert.  (Yum!!)  Then we read the Christmas story and acted out the Nativity.   Connor was a wise man, Linda was a shepard, Matt was Joseph, I was Mary, and Briella was an angel.  It was fun!  Then we each opened one gift.   

Christmas morning

 Briella LOVED her baby she got from Santa.  It makes sounds and everything - I don't think Santa realized that beforehand.  :)  

 The kids got a fort making set from Santa.  It's pretty big - it will be great in our new (spacious) house!

 Connor and Briella playing with Noah's ark Briella got from Grandma Jan and Papa Steve.  They both love it!

Briella and Daddy taking a morning nap.  

All that fun tuckered them out!  :)

Later that day we went over to the Kingery's house for some games and to let the kids play.  They have a great backyard for the kids to run around in.   It was fun getting together with friends especially since we are so far away from family.  :(   I missed our extended families this year. 

Merry Christmas!!!

Briella's quest to walk!

Briella is not quite walking yet at 17 months old.  At her last doctor appointment the doctor really wanted her to get into physical therapy to see if that would help. Honestly, she has the strength she just doesn't seem to want to walk.  We're trying all different kinds of techniques, per the physical therapist (who is fantastic!), to help her but she is just taking her time. I really need her to walk because with my belly getting bigger, I can't carry her for very long (my back is letting me know!).

In late November she took her first steps by herself (as you'll see in the video) and we thought she would just take off from there but she's doing her own thing.  :)  (Connor was our fabulous camera man!)  :)

Then she had a walker (from physical therapy) that gave her more independence and the therapist thought this would jump start her.  Not quite.    She and Connor both thought it was pretty cool though.

So we've put the walker away for now and we're on to another technique.  It reminds us of 'walking the dog' - you'll see in the pics.  This is suppose to help her with her balance and get the feel for walking without holding on to something or someone's hand.

She's getting stronger and better each day!  She's doing great.  It's interesting how different every child is.  :)  

Good Job Briella!!!