Valentine's Day 2009!

Last year I tried taking a cute picture of the kids on Valentine's Day. Well, I took a lot of pictures, but the kids didn't have the same idea of "cute" as I did. This year, I thought I'd give it another try, but this time the camera is to blame. It died. For the past few months, it has been acting up, but it would mostly work. Now it is really dead, so I have no pictures for this post.

This is how the kid's day went:

Andersen got a special present from Mommy. I bought him a Lightening McQueen car a few weeks ago, but Charl didn't want me to just give it to him for no reason, so I used Valentine's Day as my reason. I love this little boy and I knew the car would make him so happy and Valentine's Day is for making the special people in your life happy. We should have bought him one at Christmas, and for whatever reason, we didn't. (He got a set that had Doc, Sally, Chick, Mater, Filmore, & Guido.) He's been obsessing about the McQueen car ever since because 2 of his cousins have the car and he was always so sad when he had to leave it behind when he went home. Now he has real races between McQueen, Chick, and The King.

Holly spent the day miserable suffering from a bad cold. Her nose was non-stop dripping. She started running away from us as we'd chase her with a tissue. She didn't have an appetite and was really fussy, however Motrin did give her a little relief. On a positive note, one of her top teeth broke through. A few days shy of fourteen months...and now 2 1/4 teeth...doesn't make for easy eating. The other 3 top teeth should hopefully pop through any day. Oh, I did get Holly a little gift, too; some cute hair barrettes.

This is how Charl and my day went:

In the morning, Charl decided to make us all some waffles, but we were out of pancake mix. He looked in a cookbook and found a recipe and made some delicious waffles. I don't think I'll ever buy pancake mix again...these were sooooo much better. After breakfast, I had a basketball game at the church. Charl stayed home with the kids...if Holly wasn't sick, they probably would have come to watch. It was the first round of the Stake Tournament and we won. Next week, we will have a much tougher opponent...the team we lost to in the finals of the Regional Tournament last year. Then we just had a lazy day...I think everyone napped except me, but I should have napped. I think we were starting to catch Holly's cold. We decided to get take out, so we went to Chili's. I had Monterey Chicken (my favorite) and Charl got a steak, but we shared and got the best of both. Andersen got pizza and chocolate milk while Holly wasn't really interested in eating. I was going to make some cinnamon rolls or mint brownies to go with our take-out, but that never happened. I can't believe we had a Valentine's Day dinner without dessert, specifically chocolate...I think that is a sin! (I'm typing this a few days after Valentine's and I definitely have Holly's cold. When I'm better, I'm going to get my chocolate!!!) Charl got me flowers...red, pink, and white tulips. They are very pretty today now that they have all opened up. I always tell Charl not to spend money on flowers, but he loves giving them to me, so I'm happy to enjoy the beauty they bring into our home. Thanks! I love you, Charl.

A Day in the Snow.

It snowed last night/early this morning, so I decided to get Andersen out of the house in my attempt to divert him from his latest obsession...watching CARS all day long. I put his hat and gloves on (the coat remained on the steps in the garage) and he made his way out of the garage and down the driveway...
but he didn't get very far before he slipped and landed on his bum. Converse probably aren't the best snow shoes. He said, "It's icy." The gloves are too big, so he eventually ditched those.
He actually slipped twice, but then he got the hang of it. After I shoveled the driveway, I attempted to build him a snowman. I've never made one before, so I figured the smaller, the better.
Here he his looking at the snowman...not totally sure what to think of it.
Then he decides to befriend the snowman,
and pick it up,
but his head falls off. He's still content on carrying the remains, but...
he only gets to the garage before the body falls off and crashes to the floor. This sent him into hysterics, so I quickly rebuilt "Frosty". The newly repaired Frosty found a new home on the back deck so Daddy could see it when he got home from work. (didn't take a picture of that.)
He was soaking wet from his falls, so when we came inside I stripped him of the wet clothes and he warmed himself up under some blankets. I went and made him a sandwich and when I returned to get him, he was...
sound asleep!

Holly loves...

...clapping,

...being sweet and cute,

...standing on chairs,

...sitting in chairs (especially ones that rock),

...reading books,

...sucking on her binki,

...rummaging through the garbage,

and eating what she finds.

These were just some random pictures I had taken over the last week, mostly because I thought she was wearing cute outfits, but they really depict all the things that Holly loves right now.

Holly in Blessing Dress 1 Year Later

One year ago today, we blessed our little Holly Ann in our living room because there was a massive snow storm and we weren't sure everyone would be able to make it to the church on time. (Some wards, like Layne's, canceled church because they couldn't keep the parking lots cleared.) By afternoon time, the skies cleared and the temperature rose, the roads cleared, and everyone who was supposed to make it, did. I didn't want to reschedule the blessing because my mom was here visiting and I had a ton of food prepared. In the end, it was a beautiful, happy day.

So today, being one year later, I decided to dress Holly in her blessing dress and take pictures. It was a little tight across the chest, but other than that, it fit pretty well.

February 2, 2008

February 2, 2009

Holly loves to sit and spin in the rocking chair. Look how mad she got when I tried to make her stand.