Short and Sweet
I love St. Valentine’s Day. I love having an excuse to lavish my family with love. I don’t mind them doing it in return for me either. I was the grateful recipient of roses and handmade cards.
We didn’t do anything extravagant. Dave and I were able to sneak away for a quick dinner. We came home, and I sipped some crisp and sweet Riesling that was easy on the wallet. (Thank you for the recommendation, A.P.!)
The girls and I made Daddy Chubby Hubby Bars. He likes to have a few unhealthy snacks on hand for his late-night snacking. His mutant metabolism allows him to eat like every day is Valentine’s Day. For the rest of us, it’s a big treat to nosh on so many sugary delights. We all had a Chubby Hubby Bar for dessert. Oh my goodness. These ooey-gooey slabs of deliciousness made me swoon, especially when I dipped them in my coffee. Yes, I ate them for breakfast yesterday, too. It was a holiday – a delicious one at that.
I read Saint Valentine by Robert Sabuda
For lunch there were heart-shaped fried eggs in whole wheat bread slices.
We shared the Valentine’s Day sugar cookies we made with our elderly, sweet-loving neighbor.
And this love bug with her big-girl haircut made me laugh.
It was a LOVE-ly, sweet day.
100 Blessings
I took Let’s Take the Metro’s Gratitude Challenge and made a list of 100 things I’m grateful for in honor of Thanksgiving. I didn’t self-edit. I just allowed whatever popped into my head to come out and listed the blessings in that order. So here’s my list, uncut and authentic. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. Know that I’m very grateful for each and every reader who stops by my little corner of cyberspace. Why not drop me a line and share what you’re thankful for this Thanksgiving?
- Baby feet
- Little girls’ voices
- Happy, wet dog noses
- Fuzzy, sweet peaches
- How my 2-year-old pronounces “toothpaste” like “poopaste,” and asks me to put “poopaste” on her toothbrush
- Old-fashioned notes, gifts of time, and thoughtfulness
- Coffee
- Birthday celebrations
- Pumpkin Crunch (the girls and I made this dessert to bring to Nana and Pop’s, where we will be celebrating Thanksgiving this year)
- Toasted bagels topped with peanut butter melting into creamy pools
- Friendship
- Empty hampers and laundry baskets
- The smell of a new book
- Solitude
- The funny things my kids say
- Manchego cheese
- The fact that nearly every night my 4-year-old says she’s thankful for “picking flowers for Mommy.”
- This dress from Shabby Apple, which I’ll be wearing to my husband’s Christmas party for work, thanks to a gift card:
Delicious rolls (the kinds on babies, not the kind that comes out of an oven, although those are good, too)- The smell of lavender
- The color blue
- A hot shower
- At-home date nights
- Matching socks
- Breaking a sweat
- Pen pals (Angela! Ava! Enzo! Miriam!)
- Dark chocolate
- Baking with my girls
- Spontaneous hugs
- Nursing and my generous milk supply
- Quiet
- My husband’s jawline
- Evening walks
- The season of Advent
- Tea time
- Babies, fresh out of the bath
- My Kitchen Aid Mixer
- My Ergo
- The snuggly baby that fits so nicely into the Ergo
- Story time with my girls
- Words
- Holding hands with my toddler
- Pigtails and pony tails
- The de-tangling spray that makes pigtails and pony tails possible
- Good health
- One amazing husband
- All our extended family
- Lazy mornings
- Creativity
- Granola Read more
Princess Ballerina Party Details
I recently wrote a letter to my 4-year-old birthday girl, and we actually had her family party a little over a week ago, but I’m just getting around to sharing party details.
When I told Rae we’d be having a little family birthday shindig and that she could pick a theme for it, she immediately requested a ballerina party. But when she saw a tiara pinata at Hobby Lobby, we decided to combine a princess and ballerina theme. (My girls are really into pinatas.) She asked her Gaba to wear pink to her party like her, but she wanted a pink and purple cupcake. Birthday princesses can get away with being persnickety. 
