Valentine's Day and Cousins!

We had a very eventful weekend around here! Noelle called me up and asked if they could visit for the long weekend, and we were thrilled to have them stay for 3 whole nights! We don't often get to spend that much time together. 

Of course it was also Valentine's Day and we did lots of celebrating for that too. 

Maddie made this cute Valentine for us at school.

Ty made this one at preschool. Such a fun idea by our preschool mom!

This is the Valentine we made for the kids to take to school. They were super excited about it at home, although the girls expressed some second thoughts about it later when a few kids commented about not wanting it. Well, I am proud of them for being willing to be different. Of course they ate loads of candy and treats for Valentine's anyway (Maddie actually threw up that night because she had been eating sugar until it reached her eyeballs... a cookie at lunch, brownies at her party, a chocolate fountain at a fancy friend party she was invited to, and all of her Valentine's on top of that.... yikes!) but anyway, at least we represented a healthy option!

The day before Valentine's Day we made homemade graham crackers, which are yummy if you don't think of them as cookies. They aren't as sweet but are still full of molasses, honey, and tasty spices.

We topped them with strawberries and coconut cream.

There's some Valentine love!

I helped with Maddie's class party as co-room mom. We had great mom helpers and were able to run some fun stations. This was Minute-to-Win-It, trying to get M&M's from one cup to another with a straw. They also stacked candy hearts, and threw heart marshmallows into cups.

Another station was Healthy Heart Exercises. This one got their blood pumping!

Then they made Valentine kabobs with  heart shaped strawberries and brownie bites. They were a hit.

The next station was a heart craft with pipe cleaners and beads. Ella was my side kick and was happy to make one too.

The last station was Valentine Headbanz with my friend Erin. I sent this picture to her but cropped Maddie out... oh jeez. :)

And when we got home, guess who came?!?! COUSINS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Noelle was so sweet and offered to babysit for us while we went to our ward party, and she and the kids ate heart shaped pizzas and had a movie night.

Valentine's Day was full of love! Ella got out all her homemade Valentine's that she had worked so hard on.

I gave my little loves each a book. We spend a lot of time with books around here and can always use some refreshers. Ty is my superhero.

Jake is my train and tractor lover.

Ella is my princess, all the way.

Maddie has been very interested in spy/detective stuff lately, so this was the perfect find!

Cupid gave Mike some new darts for his nerf guns, and he gave me a new rug! We are still deciding on color and size, but it's the thought that counts. ;)

We had a nice lazy morning, and then finally got ready and dressed to go on an outing to the Aquarium! We had never been so we were excited... until we saw that everyone else in Utah had the same idea that day. We fought the crowds bravely and still enjoyed ourselves.

Shark attack!

The kids look like they're underwater, but it's a cool cave lookout.

This was my favorite part. The shark tank is built around a huge tunnel so everything looks like it's swimming over you!

Wow, those guys were sure scary looking.

We all loved the turtles the most.

The penguins were huge hit with the kids. They could have stayed there forever waiting for another one to dive in.

 

I should have taken a picture from the outside but Maddie couldn't wait to get in the big ship on the second floor and take it for a spin.

The South American side was pretty cool (actually very warm and humid) with toucans, parrots, frogs, anacondas (thankfully I didn't see that) and huge fish.

 I didn't get a good picture but the otters were entertaining swimming in circles.

We stopped to play on the whales, but didn't stay long because we were famished!

That afternoon at home was so nice. Noelle and I relaxed in the sunshine on the deck, pretending to read books but really enjoying time to talk about deep things, while the dads practiced their golf swings in the backyard. I had to snap this moment because Noelle loved Jake's softs ear and cheeks. She really got him to warm up to her and got some good snuggles.

I forgot to take a picture but Noelle and I cooked a yummy dinner compete with candlelight and sparkling cider. She made breadsticks and I made pasta milano and a greek salad.

After dinner we split up and we had a Mommy & Son date! I asked Tyler where he would want to go if he could pick anything, and he said have a game night. So we stayed in and played Valentine Headbanz, had a dance party, and dipped strawberries in chocolate. Those are some sweet little boys!

The other half had a Daddy Daughter date to Rita's Ice Custard. I think they had a blast!

On Sunday we got up and went to church, and then had a BBQ with Dana and Landon and boys, who had just returned from Cancun. We caught up on their adventures and then ate chocolate raspberry cake and played Telestrations. The kids played their hearts out and made great messes. Such a fun night.

The highlight of it all was how much the cousins love each other. They are all growing up so much and play more independently. The older girls would disappear for hours on end, dressing up and playing some kind of pretend. The younger kids were often in dress-ups too, and especially loved to jump on the tramp downstairs.

Uncle Zak joined them in the basement for some fun as a robot named "Stinky," which they thought was hilarious. Then he taught my kids chubby bunny with marshmallows. He is always good for a laugh! We made lots of great memories, and Noelle and I tried hard to relax and not let the messes bother us. We did better than usual!

Kitchen Table Re-do

Our kitchen table had seen better days. In fact, it has seen over 11 years of days filled with sunlight, laughter, markers, glue, paint, sticky honey, family dinners, and everything else that happens at a family table. I love our table and didn't want to get rid of it, but it was time for a fresh new look.

The old paint was a buttercream yellow with antiquing, and I decided to change it to ivory.

The tabletop finishing had suffered the most wear and tear, so we decided to sand it all the way down to raw wood and stain it the color of our kitchen cabinets.

Mike came along kicking and screaming, knowing that it would be a lot of work. He was a good sport to sand most of the table on the first Saturday, and warned me not to be alarmed if it took us three weeks to finish. I vowed it wouldn't let it take that long!

I spent the next two weeks sanding. The back wouldn't come off our chairs so I had to hand sand around each piece.

I tried staining a chair, but ended up using a brush which applied way too much stain. Mike patiently sanded the whole thing again. We also realized that the stain was showing all of our electric sander's motions in the wood, so I went back over everything again with a 220 grit sandpaper, being careful to follow the grain, and also hand sanded all the nooks and crannies again!

He took the legs off of everything for me so I could spray paint it all ivory. The paint I used was Rustoleum Heirloom White satin.

In the meantime, I stained the wood with MiniWax Expresso stain from Home Depot, using a cloth instead of a brush, and it turned out the perfect color! I had to stain the chair seats first, then tape them off to paint the backs.

I was hoping that once the legs were put back on and everything was painted, I could just spray each piece with a clear enamel spray paint to protect it, but it started making the ivory wrinkle and crack. I was so frustrated because that meant more sanding, taping, and spray painting.

I was so tired of going without our table, I actually just did the clear coat on the stain only and put it in the dining room without clear coating the ivory.

Our first dinner on the new table!

After a few days of rest, I tried another type of spray clear coat and lightly sanding all of the ivory before spraying, and it went much better. I have yet to do the last three chairs... just ran out of steam. (And guess who was right... it has been three weeks!)

In any case, you get the idea! The (mostly) finished product!

I thought about antiquing the ivory like it was before, but I am loving the cleaner look so I think I'll just leave it ivory for now! It looks so pretty in our dining room and goes much better with our kitchen, so I am very happy with it, despite the blood, sweat, and tears.

Now I need new curtains! I always laugh because you think you'll be happy with one change, but it snowballs into more.

Weird Winter

It's the talk of the town right now... the weather is so warm!!! People are either worried that we'll get snow in May, or that we'll be in extreme drought by summer and have brown grass in August. I tend to join the latter group, and wish we could have brown grass in winter and green grass in summer! But for now we are just trying to enjoy it.

Much of the time play dates dominate our afternoons. Ella almost always has make-up and dress-ups on at home.

One afternoon when the girls were away at a friend's Ty and I had some bonding time. We put together a puzzle of the United States and I couldn't believe how much he learned. I would tell him what fit next, but he put each piece in himself. We talked about where Daddy was born, went on a mission, and lived when he was older, and also where Grandma's, Grandpa's, and cousins lived, and when everyone got home that evening he regurgitated it all to them! He's a little sponge. 

It's fun to spend time one on one with my kids when I get a chance. It's hard to come by in a large family, but I savor it when it happens (also because there is nobody to fight with!). Another day Jake and I got some baking time together while the older kids played upstairs.

Another thing the kids have been loving is a wood marble track we got from Aunt Rebecca. She gives us the best hand me downs. It has provided literally hours of fun.

This is how we spent Superbowl Sunday, snuggling on the couch and reading books. We kept it chill in our jammies, and had broccoli soup and biscuits instead of any fancy spread.

One of our favorite evening traditions in winter is a dance party/musical chairs. We turn on Daddy's old 80's rock and have a blast. Our favorites are Eye of the Tiger (Survivor, not Katy Perry like the Halftime show), I Love Rock n' Roll, Mr. Roboto, the Popcorn song, etc.

And then all of a sudden it was spring in February! We have spent much of the last week outside enjoying 50's and even 60's! (Ty was a King from his preschool craft.)

 

 

Yesterday we had a picnic on our Sunday best because it was so nice outside we couldn't wait until we had changed!

Later we went on an evening walk and the girls wore my roller blades and my maxi skirts rolled up to fit them. Kids definitely make life interesting.