new favorite

We recently discovered this little gem on Netflix watch instantly: Pocoyo! It's a cute show with simple graphics on a white background (which I think looks awesome), a few fun characters, and cute story lines. I love that each episode is only 7 minutes long, so I can put one on for the boys while I get dressed or do my hair, and 7 minutes later we can move on to something else. I think it's a little young for my boys, but they are hooked for now and can watch the same episode over and over. The best part is that Pocoyo and the narrator have lovely British accents, and so my Ky has been walking around saying words like "scootah, cah, togethah, treashah, and wot." (That's scooter, car, together, treasure and what with a British accent.) So much fun!

If you have Netflix with "watch instantly" (which we highly recommend), you are all set. Otherwise, the Pocoyo website says that it is available in some areas on PBS Kids-not ours. If you can, check it out!

family photos

A few weeks ago, these adorable sister missionaries, Sister Warner and Sister Black, came over to take some pictures of our family. Sister Warner studied photography in college, and Sister Black has a great camera so together, voila!

I can't wait for some warmer weather so I can take the boys outside and try to get some more fun shots with my new toy!

best valentine's day ever!

I know that you are probably wondering if we even survived Valentine's Day after reading this post. Not only did we survive, but we had a great day!!

The day started with Bart surprising us by bringing home breakfast for everyone. He was so excited to give us the gifts he bought that he could hardly wait, so we opened gifts right away. Now, Bart hates it when people post all the new things they get on their blog, so I won't tell you the amazing gift he totally surprised me with, but I will tell you I have been wanting one for over a year, and it rhymes with tanon shmebel. I've been having so much fun reading the owner's manual and figuring out how it works. Thanks so much Bart!

After gifts, Bart took the boys outside to shovel the driveway and play in the snow so I could shower and get ready for the day with no interruptions (a rare treat!)

In the afternoon, we went to Bart's parents house, had heart-shaped pizzas and left the boys so we could go out. We did some shopping, and ended the evening at a bookstore drinking hot cocoa and strawberry shakes.

This was by far the best Valentine's Day ever!

what have we been doing?

I've been having a really hard time thinking of things to post about lately. Usually I post about the things that we have been doing, but this past month has been so cold that we haven't done much of anything. I had to think really hard about what have we been doing the past month?

We have been playing games, a lot. I've been looking forward for a long time until the boys were old enough to really play games, and it's so fun now that they can. These pictures are of the boys playing games at our friends' house. The games that they like to play at home are Candyland, Crazy Eights, the matching game (a.k.a Memory), and the Butterfly Game (which I made, after the boys played a similar game at a New Years Eve party). Luckily, they aren't too competitive (yet) and don't care at all who wins. In fact, sometimes they get mad when they win because that means the game is over.

One Friday night Bart went to a basketball game, so the boys and I went on a date to Fazoli's. It was the perfect place to eat, because Ky asks for noodles for lunch all the time, and since Kade won't eat any noodles, I rarely make them for Ky. So, at Fazoli's, Ky could have noodles, and Kade had pizza. Of course, they liked the Strawberry Italian Ice the best.

Also, when it's really cold outside, what's better than staying in, baking some yummy treats and licking the beaters?

Today we got out the playdough. The boys are at a great stage right now where they can really be creative with the playdough by themselves, and play with it for quite a while. Today, I gave in and finally let them mix the colors. Usually I am so paranoid about them mixing the colors that no one has any fun. I'm not sure where this compulsion comes from but I've never (as far as I can remember) liked the colors to mix. But today, I gave in...and it all looked really cool! The boys got so excited when they put in a few different colors into the press, and they came out all swirled on the other end. Yes, the playdough will eventually all be gray and brown, but for today, I think it was good to give in to their creativity. I wonder what other things I should stop worrying about and just let them have some fun?

the valentine's day curse

Growing up, I always thought Valentine's day was a great holiday. I loved making my Valentine's box in elementary school (some of which won awards!). Even after I became boy-crazy, I never stressed about it the way some girls do. I just thought it was a cute holiday and a good excuse to eat pink candy! However, since we've been married, I have come to realize that Valentine's Day is cursed. Let me give a recap of each of our Valentine's Days to illustrate:

1) The first Valentine's Day we had together was six days after we got engaged. So, we had just had a very romantic evening, and Bart had to work till after 9 anyway. So, he came over to my apartment at about 9:30, I had baked a heart-shaped pizza. We ate, we laughed, I'm sure we kissed, and he was home by 11:00. I'm not complaining, this was the best Valentine's Day we've had!

2) The next year was our first Valentine's Day married. And for our date, Bart took me to the student health center for a strep test, because I was sick, sick, sick. I was so disappointed.

3) The next year we went out to eat the weekend before Valentine's Day, so the actual day, was totally unmemorable. I know Bart met me at work on my lunch break and we went to Subway. Other than that, I can't remember anything. Which, given our luck means it was a better than average Valentine's Day.

4) The next year we had six week old twins. This means that we were both totally sleep deprived, cranky, etc. There was no way we could go out, so we had planned to pick up some food from a restaurant and eat at home. We spent nearly an hour arguing about where we wanted food from. When we finally decided, I went to pick it up and Bart called several times to ask what was taking so long, to please hurry because both the babies were hungry and there was nothing he could do for them. The rest of the night was spent holding crying babies, trying to get them to sleep, eating cold take-out with one hand and crawling into bed completely exhausted when we finally got babies to sleep.

5) The next year, Bart's mom was visiting us in Florida, so we were able to go out to eat with a group of friends. We went to one of those Japanese restaurants where they cook your meal in front of you. We waited an hour for a table, and then, 45 minutes after we sat down, they still hadn't taken our drink order, much less our food order, and some of the couples we were with were worried they wouldn't be able to get their food before they had to leave to get their babysitters home. So, we all walked out and ate at a fast-food place across the street. When we got home, I remember staying up late talking to Bart's mom, while Bart went to bed. Which, I'm sure was lots of fun for me, just not very Valentine's dayish. So, this wasn't a terrible Valentine's day, just didn't go how we wanted, and not terribly romantic.

6) Last year I had planned a romantic candle-lit dinner for two. I had bought some fun decorations and glittery heart plates. Both of which I got out for the first time this year, unused. We both had bronchitis (and I had pneumonia too) on Valentine's Day. We watched a movie in bed, but we were both too weak to even keep our heads up to see most of the movie. We had planned on celebrating later, but by the time we both got feeling better, it was way past Valentine's Day, and we gave up. Worst Valentine's Day ever!

So this year, I'm not sure if I should try to plan something special, get Bart a nice gift, and try to finally have a good Valentine's Day, or if I should pretend there is no such thing so I'm not disappointed. Or worse yet, if I plan to celebrate, maybe something worse than bronchitis and pneumonia will happen.

Wish us luck!