Contest Genes

I love a good contest. I get that from my dear mother. As a kid, she entered us in lots of contests. Some we won. Others...we had no shot! (Modeling, mom?) My sweet little daughter decided to enter the American Girl Bully Poster Contest. She spent a lot of time planning and executing her design. She keeps asking me if they've called to tell her she's won. Bless her heart! I finally told her that she's probably not going to win. Yes, I'm a dream killer! I do think she did an amazing job though.

It's Official!

Here are some non-related, "official" declarations...

My baby will officially graduate to the title of "toddler" when he turns one on Saturday. I'm so sad and so happy. It has gone too fast!!!
We officially removed the last of the sexy, 80s wallpaper on Monday. This lovely pattern adorned the main bathroom walls. I started to remove it nearly four years ago (the tiniest piece) and never got around to finishing it. I know, that's really sad. In all, we removed wallpaper in six rooms!
It's official! My kids have inherited my love of Peeps! I LOOOOOOOOVE Peeps. I will only eat them at Easter time though. The other holiday marshmallow shapes hold no appeal. I bought the first box of the season over the weekend and we've been eating them ever since. R especially has no "Peep willpower." He can eat an entire box in the time it takes me to put clothes in the dryer. Can someone invent a child lock that kid can't figure out? PLEASE?

The Weekend

We had a very full weekend! S was baptized on Valentine's Day! What a fun, special day. It was an intimate group, her family and closest friends. The brunch was so beautiful and yummy! Thank you, Mom, Bev and Deb!

I regret that I didn't get more pictures of the day, but I can say I really enjoyed it.
The rest of the day was spent with grandparents. We "mailed" each other love notes (we each have one of these mailboxes; some kids were more cooperative/capable than others) and enjoyed a nice dinner (California Pizza Kitchen).

Ten Years Later...

Our tenth wedding anniversary is Thursday, February 12! Wow, it's gone fast!!!

We started thinking about how things have changed. We laughed about how we could fit everything we owned in our car the first time we moved. It was a 1985 metallic gold hatchback Toyota named Flash.

So, what do we still own after ten years? Not much, folks.

Here's what I found:
These blue dishes were a shower gift. There aren't many left, but we still use them.
This alarm clock is ancient. It was brought to the marriage by my husband. His brother (who is eight years older) used it in high school. It still works and we've never thought about replacing it.

This clock was a wedding gift. We've always had it hanging up. It stops working every few months, but then it comes back to life.

We also have some books, serving dishes, one spoon and two forks. That seems to be it.

What do you have left?

Our Valentines

Last night the older kids and I embarked on a little adventure. One we won't be taking again anytime soon. We made homemade Valentine cards. I thought it would be super fun to make them and maybe save some money. Plus, who doesn't love something homemade?

They did turn out cute, but they took WAAAYYYY longer than I thought since I was committed to actually letting the kids do some of it. And there wasn't any money savings involved. In fact, it was probably double the cost of the premade candy ones. (Don't tell my husband.) Did you know they only sell Pixie Sticks during Halloween? I did not know that! I had to find a generic substitute this morning since I had all the Valentines made to fit Pixie Sticks.

When will I learn? Probably never.

Odds and Ends

I'm OK with baby's haircut now. In fact (gulp), I think it looks much better now that I look back. Yes, I was wrong. Again. Sigh.

I've had very little contact with the outside world recently. I've been swallowed up by all the reorganization projects in my house. We're taking every closet/cupboard/room and implementing better systems. My pantry door finally closes and doesn't threaten to pop back open.

I got a new refrigerator this morning. It's surprising the amount of joy one can find in the acquisition of a new appliance. It's so clean and bright. It does smell a little plastic-y, but that's part of the fun. The boys were very excited to "help" me wipe it out this morning.

February is the hardest month for me. I can handle winter up until February. We're all sick of being inside and, frankly, a little sick of each other. That has been compounded by the fact that R only wants to play one thing. That one thing is Star Wars. Ugh. Give me a board game. Give me an art project. Give me baking. ANYTHING but Star Wars. We've been at odds with each other for a couple weeks. I don't play it right and he gets very upset. He asks about every five minutes when his dad will be home. I feel like I've lost my little buddy.For the kids' birthdays we had a little party with their cousins and Nana and Bompa. I set up a concessions stand (S made the sign) and we made a "movie theater" downstairs. They had admission tickets and tickets to buy whatever treats they wanted. They were all "sugared up" by the end of the movie (A Bug's Life).

GROSSEST THING EVER!

We were at church today and hubby had the baby. From a distance I could tell that he had something in his mouth (baby, that is). He was chewing on something. So, I walked over and asked what the baby had in his mouth. Maybe he was eating a "father approved snack." I wish. When I pried open his mouth, to my dismay he was chewing on a FINGERNAIL. Some creepy stranger's FINGERNAIL was in his mouth. Did you all catch that? WHO CLIPS THEIR FINGERNAILS AT CHURCH? I don't know how or when he picked up the little gem. To whoever clips their fingernails at church: STOP THE MADNESS! CLIP AT HOME!