Pa turns 60!

Pa turned the big 60 this month and we got together on Saturday to celebrate. We took Pa out for a special birthday dinner at the Banana Leaf and then went back to the house for cake and ice cream. These kids sure love their Pa!! We are so thankful to have such a wonderful Dad and Grandpa!

 We made sure he had 60 candles on his cake! The German flag we put in the middle of the cake didn't even last us lighting the candles. 

 He was amazing and got all 60 in one big blow!!

Happy, Happy Birthday, Pa!!

Valentine's Day 2014

We had another fun countdown to Valentine's day this year. I just did a lousy job of documenting it. 

The first day of our countdown, we had an early Valentine's breakfast, complete with strawberry milk, strawberries, heart toast, heart eggs, hash browns and sausage. A true labor of love for this sick Mommy. But, they gobbled it up!

 We also made delicious heart tarts. I have some good little bakers. 

 We make pink rice krispie treats. Tess went a bit crazy with the sprinkles!

 I let the kids write love notes on the bathroom mirrors. I loved what they wrote!

 We made Valentine's hats.

 We spent an afternoon getting all of their Valentine's ready for their classmates. We also played Valentine's matching with kisses, made kiss rings, played Don't Eat Pete (the Valentine's version) made love bugs, and did a few other fun projects. 

 I tried my best to make Valentine's Day special for everyone, but by the evening, I had given all I had and it ended up being a pretty boring night. Good thing there's next year. 

I got a heart in Tessa's hair and then promptly had to take it out. She only wanted a boring ponytail.

 We started our day with our favorite heart cinnamon rolls. 

This cute little girl was my Valentine buddy all day as we got grocery shopping done and did some babysitting for friends and neighbors. I spent the afternoon cooking and cleaning out the pantry. She kept me very entertained! Her little personality is so fun!!

Adam and Tessa both had fun class parties and came home with tons of Valentine's!

 They were so excited to get some mail on Valentine's Day! A special card from Ma and Pa with a $2 bill!! 

 We had a nice candlelight dinner together as a family-minus our china because I couldn't get my hutch open. Dinner was delicious and we had a fun just being together. 

 Dessert was our traditional Valentine's brownie trifles. Gwen didn't feel the need for a spoon. 

We watched a bit of the Olympics and sent the kids to bed on time for the first time this week. Mommy and Daddy enjoyed some quiet time, snuggling on the couch and watching Sherlock. It was the perfect way to end a very busy day! Another good Valentine's Day with the people I love the most!!

2014 Sochi Winter Olympics

I am so behind in my blogging! We have been so excited about the Winter Olympics starting this month! The first night they were on, Adam came running down stairs and exclaimed, "I've waited 2 whole years for this!!" I'm glad the Olympic spirit is abundant in our home! We put up our rings and flags, made our torches and have had a wonderful time watching the events every evening. 

Daddy had school the night of Opening Ceremonies, so we crashed Ma and Pa's party. We had quiet the spread this year, with food representing countries from all over the world! My contribution was gold medal cookies. 

 Adam is doing a good job of keeping track of our medal count. I let him watch "Cool Runnings" last week. He added Jamaica to our list and is anxious to see them bobsled! 

Go USA!!

Jazz vs Heat

We wanted to get Adam to a Jazz game this season, and when we saw the Heat were coming to town, we knew that was the game!! Eric bought tickets for the 2 boys and they had a blast at the game!! They were way up in the nose bleed section, but Adam could have cared less. They had fun cheering the Jazz on to victory and Adam loved seeing LeBron James. 

They were even on TV during the half time show! They called to tell us girls to watch for them and sure enough, we saw them waving like crazy!

Uncle Matt and Aunt Gillian were at the game too-in the 10th row! They were nice enough to give Adam and Eric their tickets during the 3rd quarter so Adam could have a closer view. He even got a free Jazz blanket! He loved every minute of  being at the game and hasn't stopped talking about it! I'm so glad he was able to go make some fun memories with his Daddy. 

Family Update

I feel like there are a million things I could write about. I guess I better just start at the beginning of the week.
Eric had school last weekend, so we postponed our Chinese New Year feast until he was home Saturday night. It was yummy and I forgot to take pictures. Because I felt like I needed to cook for an army, we ate Chinese food for days. Someday I will learn....

Sunday was Groundhog Day. I whipped up our favorite Groundhog pancakes before we headed off to church. 

 Adam and Tessa both celebrated the 100th day of school with their classes this week. Adam got to dress up like an old man. He loved his dollar store glasses from Daddy. Adam thought he looked like Pa, which he loved! Tessa got to make a shirt with 100 things on it. She decided to do 100 googly eyes. She also made a necklace with 100 beads. She said she couldn't wait to tell her class, "I've got my eyes on you!!"

 Tess is also reading so well! I love finding her reading to herself. 

Don't let this picture fool you....it's very rare occurrence. Gwen hardly naps anymore and always ends up in our bed at night. I love her to death, but I feel like I never have a break from her. When she does happen to fall asleep in the afternoon, I do love to just snuggle her. 

 If you come to our house, you will either find Gwen running through the house stark naked or completely decked out in her dress up clothes. There is no happy medium. This week she started ripping off her diapers and hiding from me behind the curtains.

 She lives in her high heels.

 She is also our cookie thief. I often find her sneaking cookies. Her favorite snack is chips and salsa. Once her chips are gone, she literally drinks the salsa out of the bowl. 

Eric has been very busy and gone a lot if feels like. He is right in the middle of his capstone project, which he is the team leader on, so he is feeling  a lot of pressure right now. I feel like we both have senioritis. He is so close to finishing his program and we are both so ready for it to be over!

I am having a rough time-gonna keep it real here. I had another doctor appt this week and sort of heard the baby's heartbeat. It was hard to hear over my own heartbeat which seems to be out of control. My heart is constantly pounding and racing. Not sure what's going on, but I've been told to just drink more water. I feel like a walking lake. But, the baby is alive and hopefully well.

I have been so emotional and anxious with this pregnancy. That is not normal for me. I can't seem to snap out of it. We also found a house that we fell in love with this week and almost bought until we prayed hard about it and knew that although the house was perfect for us, the timing wasn't. I spent most of Wednesday crying over that one. After 9 1/2 years of living in limbo, not knowing where we will end up, I am beyond ready to plant some roots and just be. With our luck, that will never happen like I want it to. 

Overall, I can't complain-we have been very blessed and I know we will continue to be blessed. Waiting can be difficult though. 

I am starting to feel better in the mornings, but am still really sick in the afternoons and evenings. I am ashamed to admit how much TV my kids have watched in the last month, but I feel like I am still in survival mode. I am making it through this with lots of praying and Josh Groban. I swear that man was put on the earth for me. His voice and music calm me down like nothing else can. I am hoping in the next 3 weeks or so I will start to feel like myself again. 

We are excited to watch the Olympics the next couple of weeks! Those will for sure make me cry, but in a good way:)

Adam's Note

The other night, I was snuggling Gwen on the couch, when Eric came downstairs laughing. I asked him what was so funny and he asked me if I had seen this note from Adam to Tessa. Eric found it under Tessa's pillow. I read the note and was in hysterics!

"Dear Tessa,

Here's your walkie-talkie back. What's the point of having 2 walkie-talkies?

Adam"

Adam got a set of walkie-talkies for Christmas from Ma and Pa. He and Tessa have a blast playing with them, but the other day when I was helping Tessa clean her room, I told her to go put the walkie-talkie she had been playing with, back in Adam's room. Hence the note. It wasn't written to be rude or mean, but purely innocent and a sweet gesture from a big brother. That's why we laughed literally for hours every time we looked at it. "What's the point of having 2 walkie-talkies". Well, he does have a point!

Saturday Was Our Special Day

We packed a lot into our Saturday. Eric and I finally made it to the temple and were there for over 4 hours! We had planned to make the 11:00am session, but the temple was so busy, that we waited for over an hour and a half and finally got in the 12:20 session. It was nice to be at the temple though and to just be still for so long. Sometimes I need to be forced to do that. 

We got home, packed the kids up and headed out to Midway to see the Ice Castles. Tessa was so excited to see her 2 favorite Princesses were there!! Right now, Jasmine and Elsa are her favorite. Gwen wasn't quite as excited. She does not like to be cold.

 Sadly, the line to get into the ice castles were over an hour long and we knew Gwen would never last that long. We walked around the outside for a bit and promised the kids we would be going back on a week day when it's not as crowded. It was still fun to get out and do something fun as a family!