Happy Valentine's Day

These are pictures I took right before Christmas trying to get a good photo of the kids for our Christmas letter!

This is the one I decided on.



So it's Valentine's Day and so far so good! I got to sleep in a little this morning. The kids woke up excited for their class parties, after eating breakfast and the usual scramble to get ready Kevin checked and realized there was a two hour delay for school. The kids played quietly so they wouldn't wake up Koen and when the time came they watched diligently for the bus for about 30 minutes before I decided to check and see if school was canceled, it was!! They are all very disappointed, but I told them I was sure their parties would be held tomorrow.

Kevin of course still has to go to work, and I still have to open the scrapbook store! So I got the kiddos in the car and headed to wal-mart to pick up some behavior bribes for the day! When we get home we will try to get the house under control before Kevin comes home. Kevin and I were planning on having an evening out but unfortunately I was unable to find a babysitter so we will instead be having a quiet evening in.

I had a pretty big Stampin' Up! party a couple of weeks ago and that order came in today! It was like Christmas! I spent almost an hour sorting all the orders and figuring out who's was who's, all I can say is I wish more of it were mine!!

The first was my birthday and even though I spent the day without Kevin, it was over all a relaxing day. I was able to celebrate more with friends on Sat. and had a great time out shopping and then ending the evening with dinner out! My pregnancy goes well, I keep getting asked how far along I am and I honestly don't know. I hate keeping track of how far along I am because then it feels like time is moving so slowly, I like to instead just be surprised when the time comes!! I am still wearing my regular clothes although they are starting to get a little tight! I wish I could justify buying new maternity pants but I just can't bring myself to spend so much on a pair of jeans I will wear for less than 3 months! I almost caved and used my birthday money of some but then of course Michael's had to have a sale on paper and let's face it when it come to a choice between clothes and scrapbook supplies I will always choose scrapbook supplies!!! The paper I got is super cute and is going to make an awesome baby book for this beautiful little girl when she arrives!

Kevin has upped his running, the other day it raining "cats & dogs" but he went out anyway he came home looking a little drowned! Sat. if was freezing and he was tired, I could tell he didn't really want to go because he kept finding reasons to put it off. Finally he went and he came home looking like a popsicle. I am happy that he has set himself this goal and that he is sticking with it no matter the weather. I find it helps me to be a little more determined in my own goals.

Julianna wants to try out for a play so we will see how that goes! I really want her to, I loved being in plays when I was younger. She has been in a few and has really enjoyed them, the only downside to this play is that the production dates are the same week I am due and I am not sure how we will work that out yet. She is starting to enjoy reading more, she is on book two of the Percy Jackson series. I loved those books so I am glad that she is getting into them.

Kaiden told me the other day that he would like to start running again now that the weather is good! I am hoping that we can work that out for him. He is doing really well in school, and loving Cub Scouts. He has started reading the Artimaes Fowl series, I hope he likes them! He is my official picker upper, anything that is on the ground he picks up for me so that I don't have to bend over! He also carries all my stuff that is to heavy for me, I love that he is so willing to help me out. This morning he simply picked my shoes up off the floor and handed them to me, it was really nice.

Evelyn is such a sweetie pie, she always has kind and loving words to share. She is not really asking to do any extras right now. She spends her time scrapbooking as much as possible and is almost done with her first 12x12 album, she calls it her friendship album she is putting a ton of pictures of her friends in it. She also recently started reading the American Girl series about Molly, so far she is loving it. Evelyn will read a chapter and then have either Kevin or I or Julianna read her the next one. This system seams to really help her have the patience to read the longer chapters.

Keith is turning into quite the little jokester, he is always trying to catch me off guard and play a prank on me. He is also very helpful, when we are working on our chores he is always coming back after a task and asking me what he can do next. He loves kindergarten and he has a little crush on his teacher! He is so cute when he is getting ready for school he has to make sure he looks just right. Sometimes I catch him checking himself out in the mirror, once he was saying to himself "oh ya, I look good." it was sooo cute!

Koen has suddenly become very needed and clingy but only with me. He woke up in the middle of the night a few nights ago and climbed into bed with us, however he was not satisfied until I was holding him! He now like to sleep with me hugging on him, this is nice for a little while and then I get stiff from not being able to move. I like this phase because it gives me snuggle opportunities but I do hope it is a short phase. He is really into Curious George and I can park him in front of an episode anytime I need to get something done without him under foot.
Koen loved being in the tree!