Snow Day

This past Saturday, we woke up to unexpected snow!! It's really only snowed one other time this season and neither time was more than an inch or so, but it was enough to have some sledding fun with a bunch of our neighbors. The park that is just right around the corner from our house (it's within walking distance) has the perfect hill for sledding and its a favorite sledding spot for our whole neighborhood. I brought my camera along because this may be the last snow we get before Spring... you never know. I'm glad I did because I got a lot of really cute pictures of the kids sledding. By noon most of the snow was gone, so I'm glad we were able to take advantage of it while it was here.

 

Avery always requests we pull her back up the big hill so she doesn't have to walk. Ha. She's got it made.

Avery attempting to make a snow angel.

Avery and our next-door neighbor Thomas attempting to make a snow-man. 

There is a creek that runs along the bottom of the hill. It's actually the same creek that runs along our back-yard. It was looking ever so pretty with all the snow.

Avery next to the Snow-Man her and Thomas built. They did such a great job.

It was such a fun morning!



Valentines Day 2018

We had a great Valentines Day this year. Before I get into how we celebrated, I want to first post a few of my favorites from the little Mini Valentines Day photo session the kids and I did a few weeks ago.

I took Valentines Day off work this year so that I could attend both the kids parties at school. We started out with heart-shaped toast and pancakes for breakfast. Then I went to Avery's school party that morning. It was really cute and the kids had a lot of fun. Avery had the cutest Princess Castle Box that I found as a kit at Target this year. She loved it and was very proud to take it to school. She had "Frozen" valentines to pass out to her class this year.

Then after Avery's party, I brought her home and fixed her lunch, then she stayed with MawMaw while I went up to Jackson's school for his party. They each got a cup full of treats along with several games, a craft and a color sheet. They had a great time!! Jackson's class decorated Valentines bags in class to collect their valentines day cards. Jackson had "Cars 3" Valentines for everyone!

After school, the kids played outside for a while and while they were outside, Cupid came to our house. He left a note on our front door to find 14 hearts around the house. Each heart was numbered and had a different letter on it. Once they found all of them, they put them in order to spell a message. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of this, but they found them all and the message was "Valentines Day!" For getting the message right, Cupid left them each a little gift. ;-) They had a lot of fun with the hunt.

Then after dinner we dropped the kids off at Grandma's house so that Jake and I could go to the Ash Wednesday service at church. Grandma (Jake's Mom) had a whole night of Valentines fun planned for them. They made heart-shaped brownies, drank milkshakes, watched a little bit of the Emoji movie and also put some little valentines day boxes and valentines together.

Jake and I celebrated this past Saturday with dinner, a little shopping and a movie, but Jake also had a bouquet of beautiful flowers sent to my office yesterday (he forgot I wasn't going to be at work, ha!) They are beautiful and I've enjoyed them at my desk today.

It was a great day for all of us! I love Valentines Day!



Weekend Happenings

We started off the weekend with an 8:30 a.m. basketball game for Jackson.



After the basketball game I took Jackson to get a much-needed hair cut.

Then I dropped Jackson off at my Mother-In-Law's house while I took Avery to see Pinkalicious, the Musical. It was super cute and Avery loved it!!

Then, after the show, I dropped Avery off at my Mother-in-Law's house and both kids spent the night there so that Jake and I could go out for Valentines Day. We went to dinner and a movie. :-) It was a nice night out.

Then Sunday, we got up and got ready for church. We picked up the kids from my Mother-In-Law's house on the way. As always, they had a lot of fun at Grandma's house.

At church Sunday morning, we had a Valentines Day Breakfast and we all decorated a box and brought Valentines for everyone. It was so cute and so much fun! Everyone really got into it.

After church we went home and later that afternoon, the kids and I made some Valentines Day Cookies. We had a lot of fun making them. Both Jackson and Avery love to help bake in the kitchen. It's becoming a favorite activity at our house.

Then last night the kids decided that Avery should sleep in Jackson's room. We've tried this a few times and sometimes it works great and other times it doesn't. Last night was a success. We always end up moving Avery to her bed once they're both asleep because Jackson has to get up earlier in the morning, but it's always sweet to see them sleeping so peacefully.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend too!

Five on Friday

Happy Friday!
Today I'm linking up with Christina, April and Natasha for Five on Friday!

One

Jackson made this sweet little pinch pot in art class at school. He painted the inside blue like the ocean, the sides green like the grass and the bottom yellow like the sun. He brought it home Wednesday and while I was at work, he wrapped it up, put it in a bag and then wrote me this note that he even put in an envelope and taped up for me. It was SO sweet that I even got a little teary-eyed. He put so much thought and effort into it. I love him and his sweet little gift so much. It's perfect to put my wedding ring in at night. ♥

Two

Avery and I are going to see Pinkalicious the Musical tomorrow afternoon and we're both so excited. It's her favorite book series.  We have checked out almost all of the different Pinkalicious books at the library and she owns Pinkalicious and Purplicious. We usually read one or the other of them just about every night before bed. It should be a fun afternoon and we are both going to wear pink of course. ;-)

Three

After seeing Natasha from Hello Happiness share these shoes, I ordered a pair while they are on sale!! They are so darn cute and at 40% off, they were hard to pass up. They should be perfect for Spring and Summer.

Four

The other night Avery had her Elsa dress on with her Elsa shoes and was singing "Let it Go" into her Frozen Microphone. Obviously I had to get a picture. Ha. She cracks me up. I absolutely love this age. I tell her all the time that I want her to stay 3 forever, and unlike her brother who can't wait to grow up, she says, "okay!" She knows being little has it's benefits. ;-)

Five

Jackson has been bringing home books from school to read every night. They started this much earlier in the year, but I'm just so impressed with how well he's doing that I wanted to document it here on the blog. When Jackson first started Kindergarten, he knew a little over half of his letters and that was it. He was a wiz with numbers and knew them all and could count to 100 with no problem, but when it came to his letters, he just wasn't interested in learning them. I tried and tried but he just didn't like writing or learning his letters. In just the 6 months he's been at school, he's mastered his letters and has gone from level 1 to level 6 of his sight-words so far (there are 7 levels so he is right where he should be.) He's even reading books and has been for quite some time, which is just amazing to me. There are different levels to the books he's reading and he just recently moved up a level. I'm so proud of him for all the hard work and effort he's put in at school.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.



Simply Enchanting Princess Ball

I took Avery to the Simply Enchanting Princess Ball this past Saturday and it was so much fun. It was at the St. Louis Carousel at Faust Park. It was the perfect location and Avery loved getting to ride the carousel multiple times. We got the VIP package so that she could get her hair and make-up done beforehand by the princesses. Sleeping Beauty did her make-up and Cinderella did her hair. She was in heaven. She even got a tiara to wear!

After getting her make-up and hair done, she went over and listened to Belle reading a story.

Then we went for several rides on the carousel, had a few snacks, did some dancing and listened to a few of the princesses sing songs.

I love this picture of Avery so much, I just wish she would have been looking at the camera. :-(



Can you tell her favorite princess is Belle? Ha. We had such a fun night together!