One cool book

I am so in love with this book. If you get a chance check it out. I ordered a copy for my kids immediately after reading it (you can read the book here). The illustrations and inventions remind me so much of Spencer's brain. He is always thinking outside the box. Actually, it reminds me of most boys I know. I'm excited to read it with the kids.

Valentine's Traditions

Yay! Valentine's Day is almost here. One thing we do to celebrate with the kids is we have what we call "The Jar of Loooove!" (Imagine me saying this in a groovy 1970's gameshow announcer voice so as to mortify Spencer and delight Ella). The week before Valentine's Day we place the empty jar in the middle of our table. Whenever somebody does an act of service or something loving for another member of the family, they get to put a marble in. If we get all the marbles in by Valentine's Day then we all go to Coldstone for some ice cream. Yay!! Coldstone is always a huge motivator over here. Some years we start this on Valentine's and do it the week after instead of before - basically whenever I remember to get the marbles down.

I had to take a picture outside today because I was losing light quickly in the house. If you look behind the marbles, you can see Spencer and his friend having a light saber fight in the woods. This is moments before an accidental bloody lip.

The other main tradition we do is a "Curtain of Hearts" for each kid. I hang dozens of hearts in their doorway that they have to walk through the morning of Valentine's Day. This is so easy and they love it so much. I don't have a picture of it completed so I'll try and describe it well. You just cut up a ton of hearts out of construction paper in all different sizes and colors and write love notes on some of them. Then you attach them to long pieces of curling ribbon (see picture below). Each piece of ribbon should be the length of the door. Then, hang about 10 of these strands in the doorway so it is full of hearts. I do this at night when they are asleep so it is something fun to wake up to.

I try to make the messages on the hearts pertain to each child. Ella's will probably have easy words and some pictures so she can read them herself. On Spencer's I usually put some Spanish phrases on for him to try and translate.



On a totally unrelated note, I didn't kill myself working out today - but I did walk 2.2 miles. Something I had to talk my tired, sore self into. Spencer's school is exactly 1.1 miles from our house. I have really been feeling lately that he needs some one on one time so I decided to surprise him and walk him home. I am so sore now but I am hoping it will get better soon!

Dear Friends

I made the mistake this past week of thinking I was a contestant on "The Biggest Loser." I found myself thinking things such as "If they can do xyz, I should be able to do so much more." Forgot completely that I also have a home, spouse, and kids to take care of. I am on the couch now and every muscle in my body is aching. Brilliant. New word for the week is MODERATION.

I'll have our family Valentine traditions up tomorrow :)

Ella in motion

Since going to the Nutcracker at Christmas Ella has been obsessed with ballet. It has been so much fun to watch her in her classes. She is such a determined little girl. They do several exercises across the length of the room to build up muscles -she takes it very seriously and works hard to do each exercise correctly so "she can become a ballerina."

Here are some pictures from the last couple of weeks:







And one from after class:

On my radar - Valentine's Edition

I've seen so many great Valentine ideas lately. Here are some of my favorites:

1. Check out these cute teacher gifts from Chris at Just a Girl. So cheap. So easy. So awesome! I think I'm going to make some for my bathrooms too.



2. I'm in love with the simplicity of this wreath Our Suburban Cottage. She has instructions over on her site.



3. How awesome are these Valentine's by vol25? I love her prints and stalk her Etsy store. I tried to talk Ella into the Valentine's but she had her heart set on cheapo Disney princess valentines. We picked them up the other day and she is so excited to hand them out.

4. I saw the cutest hair idea for Valentine's day on The Story of a Princess and her hair. Can't wait to try it on Ella.

5. Finally, a couple fun things to do with leftover candy canes from Christmas. This syrup looks so yummy! For the recipe head over to Story Book Woods


Candy Cane words - brilliant!



I just finished a marathon of real estate appraisals this week. I don't think I have ever worked so long or hard. I'm excited to have only a couple this coming week. We have some fun Valentine traditions that we do every year that I hope to have posted in the next few days. Can't go wrong with a holiday all about love!