Sweethearts

my honey +2kids = a wonderful day of thanking God for the things I love most.

I told L2 that it was Valentine's Day and that it was a day to remember all the things we love most and thank God for them. I asked her to think of some things she loves and is thankful for her answer was surprising and it melted my heart! Her reply? "Ummm, Jesus!"

(Lord, I pray you will always be her first Love.)

Valentine's isn't a real thriller around here and most of the time C has surprised me with something special on a random day of the week Valentine's falls on which is fun... but this year was a little different... an AWESOME different... we decided that L2 was old enough for her first date... with Daddy. I had the pleasure of staying home with a handsome date myself!

This little man and I made daddy's Valentines gift

(with a little mess to top of the evening of coarse! Flying jar of powdered sugar! Blah!)

Made daddy Mexican chocolate pralines:-)

First photo with her first date.... LOVE it!

Precious memories....

C took her to the Build a bear store and let her pick out her gift and dress it to her taste... I am thrilled at the results! C recorded a sweet message in it for her to always remember.

These are the sweet memories I love most! Thank you God for my family!

Love,

L1

Ear protection and BlendTec

We always made fun of those cautious people who took the time to protect their ears from possible harmful noises. Well... we invested in a few of these bad boys while in the sport of target play. They have been a life saver or shall I say EAR saver!

In the FIELD...

AND at HOME!

Making Almond butter is fun and always has been... but with my 3 horse power engine in my BlendTec Blender... it gets alittle noisy... so while L2 is trained to cover her ears with her hands when she sees me even touch the thing... and instead of trying to temporarily move the kids to another county while blending to protect their ears... I decided to try these bad boys at home!

BRILLANT!

Now the kids don't have to move and they can "help" me in the kitchen for those many noisy projects! Why didn't I think of this a year ago! haha

Tired of trying to STIR that "NO STIR" butter? Well this recipe is awesome and keeps in the fridge spreadable as the moment it was made! Seriously... "NO STIR" required!

3c raw then roasted almonds

1 t. canola oil (optional)

1 pinch salt

Blend for about 10-15min till desired consistency with occasional stopping to scrap down sides.

(will look like dry nut crumbs for the first half of blending don't fret and don't add liquids)

The Perfect Almond Butter EVER!

have a little let over in the blender??? Don't wash it out yet!

Add: 1 hefty scoop of ice-cream

a little milk of choice

1 banana

and Blend... then you have a ....

Happy Husband

With a DELICIOUS Almond butter milkshake! :-D

Have a great day!

Love,

L1

6mo and a haircut

My baby boy desperately needed a haircut... it's been growing out of control and along with his growling... I felt like I had birthed a bear instead of a tender-hearted and determined little boy... SO he turned 6 months this week and I thought it due time he got his first haircut!

First attempt with daddy... but momma couldn't bring herself to cut it... you know how that is, right?

Yep that's how we grow 'em around here:-D

cutting a 6mo old's hair can be a challenge...

You can just hear what's running through his little head..."mom really... come on it's not THAT bad!"

Ah! a toy! BRILLANT!

So one last BEFORE picture and...

my LOVELY little assistant... She's seriously the BEST helper EVER!

My little man! He looks so old now!

Enjoy your weekend!

Love,

L1

So 1 inch weather man? Don't think so!

My little Mbaby favorite past time? doing push ups... he'd out do most grown men! Really... this is his favorite thing to do and he growls while doing it... I think I"m gonna change his nickname to BrotherBear.

If you're a grandma to this little sweetie you're most likely gonna receive one of these little beauties for Valentines.

and a few to hang on our tree:-)

Enjoy the blizzard!

Love,

L1

Love to see these two play together... it's such a joy and I am so thankful!

L2 thought she'd let M baby wear her hat this morning...

Little bug... we'll see how this will go over when your teenagers:-)

Highly doubt this boy will let his sister dress him!

What a cutie! Can't get enough!

Hope you've had a great week so far!

Love,

L1

Am I crazy? taking a 2yr old and a 5 mo old to a pottery place???

Nope... they were troopers and did quite well... we met our friends there and shared the day painting and playing. Thanks for letting us join you B!

Little man O... he's such a cutie:-)

Well hello there... how do you do? my Mr. and Mrs Bowl. (Those are my lips... I painted my lips and kissed my bowl. Romantic? No... dull and chalky would be the word.)

We had a variety of things we painted and all turned out absolutely adorable!

M baby where'd you go?

Crawling backwards...

Under the bed. My little goonberries... I love you so much!

L2 is growing so much! Can't believe how time flies... she's such a big helper and such a sweetie... Love you L2!

And for Auntie C here's her "chicken run" silly face:-)

Have a wonderful day!

Love,

L1

LONG post:-)

So it's been awhile... TX then home, Indy and B-town then home, S Christmas then home... our Christmas then off to IL now home... and I'm gonna be on DETOX this week... I'm gonna enjoy all the memories that were made these past few weeks, I'm gonna enjoy my little family, and I'm gonna thank God for the blessings He's given us in the year 2011...

with no further ado here are a few photos from out last week...

Doing a much needed cleaning of Papa's nose... he had boogies but no hands to blow it with so the girlies thought they'd help him out... see we do LOVE you papa Joe!

Papa Joe... L2's favorite man of the week:-) (he has really nice ear lobes... haha) Aw seriously ... grandpa and the little girls... so sweet!

Mom really? hanging with just the girlies?? they giggle and wiggle all the time!

3 silly girls in a tub... rub-a-dub-dub:-)

All the great grand-girlies:-)

Christmas at home was nice a Peace-filled:-)

We had a big group over to celebrate Christ's birth... watched the Nativity and drank hot cocoa and decorated ornaments.. BIG thanks to S and G for supervising the kiddos painting:-)

Christmas at my sisters... M&D K flew home and we had a wonderful couple of days hanging around with good food and fun. L2 LOVES her new kitchen and all the goodies that have been given to go with it:-)

M baby is growing growing and GROWING! He was such a joy to have this year! He was definitely the greatest gift this year:-)

ALMOST crawling... seriously... he just turned 5mo and he's scooting backwards at a crazy fast pace... now he gets on all 4s and rocks and lunges forward and face plants in the carpet... it'll be soon enough my life is going to change and I'll be chasing around this little nugget!

SO I'll cherish the quite times when he is still my sweet baby boy:-) what a smushy squishy little dude he is!

He's a GROWING boy and is now eating anything I give him... and then some as you'll see on An's blog...(homemade jerky ) Mmm.

Next on my to-do list to start the year??? an appointment with Michael Buble' and a warm drink of some sort:-) Relaxation... get ready here I come a running... I need you!!!! haha

God bless!

Love,

L2 and Family