Holiday of Love

As you know, Valentine's Day was on Sunday this year. To celebrate, I decided to make everyone pajamas. My kids like to come home from church and put on pajamas. It doesn't matter what time we have church, they wear pajamas most of the day. I thought it would be a fitting gift for the holiday. As I was working on them, I decided I'm glad that Valentine's only falls on Sunday about every seven years. I don't plan to make it a yearly tradition. The kids did like it though. Unfortunately, I didn't quite get the sizing right for Luke's and James'. Let's just say, if they had a pair of suspenders they'd fit great! I guess I'm not quite done with project because I have to fix theirs.

James and I celebrated the holiday on Saturday with our friends. We are very blessed to have good friends. They are the kind of friends that you are comfortable with and can just pick up where you left off, no matter how often you get together. We don't see each other as much as we used to because of ward splits but we still have fun when we do. We went to a movie in Salt Lake and then drove up to Park City for dinner. At dinner, James surprised me with a new ring. He had taken the girls with him to help pick it out. It is stunning and I'm still getting used to it. What a sweetheart he is.

We had our traditional Valentine dinner where everyone gets to pick what they want. I had to do some advance preparations because it was falling on Sunday but it all came together. My mom came up so I prepared meatloaf for her. My kids couldn't believe that she would pick meatloaf but I informed them I had been to restaurants with her and she'd order meatloaf. We went around the table sharing reasons why we loved each other. Matthew's reasons got a little lengthy and unintelligible but his heart was in the right place. It's always fun to hear what the kids come up with and it was nice to include grandma.

We hope you all had a great holiday and know that we love you.

Poo Poo Party!

We are happy to announce that Matthew has mastered the potty!! He was so close for so long but was unwilling to clear the last hurdle. I finally promised him a party with cake, balloons, etc. if he would face his potty fears. Once Heather and Savannah heard the word "party" they jumped on the encouragement bandwagon. I think that's finally what did the trick. The girls wanted a party as bad as Matthew did so they kept asking him if he needed to use the potty and would try to take him. I think he didn't want to disappoint them (I guess he doesn't care about disappointing me.) He finally fulfilled his end of the bargain so I fulfilled mine. We had a poo poo party, sang happy poo day, and even had a chocolate cake (I'm sure you can guess the significance of that). We're keeping our fingers crossed that he is potty-trained. He has gone nearly a week without an accident. This is the first time in 12 years we have not had someone in diapers, I think James and I deserve a party too!

Valentine Tea Party

Savannah had a Valentine Tea Party with her friends a few days before the holiday. They got together and made heart necklaces and frosted cupcakes. They went downstairs and dressed up for the big event. As they were dressing up, I was busy making heart-shaped peanut butter and honey sandwhiches and other lunchtime goodies. When they came upstairs, they were all dressed up as princesses. Matthew had also found an outfit that suited him. There were four princesses and one dinosaur at the party!

The same day as the tea party, Savannah passed off her final reading book. Her kindergarten class has a program of 63 reading books. Savannah passed off the last one and received her reading medal. Her teacher actually came to our home to award it to her. The new shipment of medals had come in right after school had let out that day. Savannah definitely has a teacher that goes above and beyond. We are very proud of Savannah and all of her hard work!

Luke goes to Georgia

Luke started the year of trips off by going to Georgia with his dad. Aside from spending time together, one of the benefits of the trip was getting to see Luke's cousin, Micah, get baptized. Luke was excited to see his cousins on the other side of the country. I will get Luke to write a few words about his trip...

Valentine Treats

One of our traditions at the Valentine season is to make treats for the kids' Primary teachers. For family home evening this week, that is exactly what we did. We had sugar cookies and cream-filled cupcakes (I found a great recipe for cream filling!) The kids made cards for their teachers and then decorated cookies. We loaded up the car and got ready to go.

Our first stop was for Matthew's teachers. I wasn't sure if he would do it but he was excited to give it a try. He carried the plate up to the teacher's home and when they answered the door he would yell, "Happy Balentine's." It was so cute


When we got to Savannah's teacher she told me she had Brother and Sister Wood. Because I'm still not entirely familiar with everyone in the ward, I didn't question her. I pulled out the ward directory and told her there was no Wood in the ward. She said she was sure it was Wood because it was just like Robin. . .Hood. We kind of laughed but I knew there was a Hood family in the ward. Unfortunately, when I heard Hood, I pictured a different family. I drove to their house and dropped Savannah off. As she was ringing the doorbell, I realized my mistake. We were not at the Hood home but another family in the ward. I tried to call her back before they answered the door but I was too late. My two other girls continued screaming out the car that she was at the wrong house. I quickly told them to be quiet before we made the situation even more embarassing. Savannah came back to the car a little bewildered. I apologized to her as I told her this was the wrong house. We went back home and made up another plate and delivered to the right family. We didn't have time to make up another card but at least Savannah was able to deliver a treat to the right people. I have to wonder what the other family thought receiving a plate of goodies from Savannah and a card to a non-existent family.

President Hinckley's Be's

I Will Poop in 40 Days

I know the title sounds a little crass but if you bear with me, it will make sense.

Right now, the biggest challenge in my life is potty training Matthew. We have gone the rounds trying to get him to use the potty. This week, I finally managed to get him to pee in the potty most of the time but I have not been successful with the waste that comes from around the corner. I know it is not because he doesn't know it's coming. He runs and hides when it is time to make a deposit, unfortunately the deposit is not at the bank I want it to be. One day, after changing some unsightly underwear, and being quite exasperated, I asked Matthew when he would poop in the potty. I happened to be eye level with him as I presented the query. He reached out with both hands, cupped my face and pulled me close. He then said to me, in quite a serious tone, "Mom, I will poop in the potty in 40 days." I guess I had my answer.