Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to all my sweethearts ~ Michaela, Katherine, Eric, Joshie, Annika, Dom, Nickles, Maximo and, last but certainly not least, Shannon!

Shannon and I used to go on a date for Valentine's Day.  A quiet dinner out alone has been replaced with a fancy dinner together with all our sweethearts ~ the fruit of our love for one another.  
I love it.
It's so much more fulfilling than going out to a restaurant with every other couple that may or may not be all that "in love."  

Joshie made a poster to decorate the dining room wall as a surprise for all of us.

Eric hanging with Max while some danced and others made dinner ~

Dinner is served ~ shrimp, steak, salad, Katherine's twice-baked potatoes, and Italian sodas,

accompanied by Shannon's romantic iTunes playlist. 

And the pièce de résistance ~

Annika's chocolate cake and raspberries....mmmmm.

My favorite making a Sunday morning latte for me.

This guy hates coffee.  

He'd rather drink mud and could care less about a fancy schmancy latte.

But he had Katherine teach him how to make them, froth and all, just for me.

I must confess, I walked in on "the lesson" one morning while I was supposed to be sleeping in.

It was absolutely priceless!

One more reason to love him ~

Newsie Catch Up

Holy buckets.  During the day I often think about what I want to record here on this little ole blog, but by the time the kiddos are in bed, I'm headed that direction too.  The nights I don't head to bed, Shannon and I have been youtubing Chris Stefanik and Fr. Mike Schmitz.  Following Michaela's return from the SEEK conference, we have been enjoying these two speakers immensely.
Wow!
All I can say is WOW!
I know they are targeting the youth, but it has stirred something in my soul that definitely needed a reawakening.  Besides, I still consider myself a youth ;o)

Now that I've gotten excuses out of the way here are a few pics from the past weeks.

Michaela's gonna love me for this one!

She wanted her hair low lighted, so we tried it.

It actually turned out pretty darn good and for waaaay less than the salon!

Dom's first tooth ~ he and I were heading to town when he noticed it was loose.

He wiggled it throughout each and every errand we did ~

Then, YANK! out it came on our drive home.  

 Max's nemesis is our Roomba vacuum ~

He watches it spin around, but only from a safe distance and through a cracked door.  

One of my favorite ever baby poses ~

He is into Everything. Always. 

I'm not entirely certain how we are going to keep the house 

clean enough to show when we list it this summer.

Shopping for dresses with the girls ~

"I think you would look good in that one, Michaela."

The child that they warned was at risk of having coordination issues ~

For Dom's math he set up a store ~ in my pantry of course.

He named it Dom's Grocery and practiced selling us food. 

His best customer ~ Max. 

Actually, "customer" may be a stretch.

He was more of a burglar.

An afternoon with Anya & Colette.

We introduced them to redneck hot tubbin' ~

We had to whip up a batch of cookies too.  

And finally, Max again, because I just find this so hilarious.

Once, the Roomba escaped the confines of the laundry room,

caught his highchair, and bounced around the room, carrying the highchair along with it. 

Max was trapped in the kitchen at the time.

It may have scarred him for life if his blood curdling scream was any indication.    

    

Ski Pics ~

Our skiing seems to have fizzled for the year.  With 60 degree days and all, the slopes are icy and not super enjoyable to ski on, not to mention a little dangerous.  We're hoping for a couple good dumps in the upcoming weeks, but may need to take a trip to higher elevations to at least get a few more runs in before spring.  

That being said, the few times we have been out have been fun. Maximo even piggy backed with me for a few runs, although he was happier running around the lodge.