XOXO

Happy Valentines Day!!!
I know I'm late, but we seem to be a little late with everything these days.
Partly because Darcy has been sick and cranky for a week.
Partly because Brinkley has learned the new skill of doddling.
{she's really, really good at it too}
And partly because I can't seem to get to bed on time, and therefore can't wake up on time either.
Ah, but this was supposed to be a post about the day of love, not our daily family struggles.
:) he he.
We had a very good Valentines Day.
Preschool was at our house, so we had a good old fashioned Valentines Party!
I made breakfast for dinner.
{you're welcome, Josh}
We opened presents.
And I'll be honest, my kids got spoiled a bit.
So, two weeks ago, I cleaned out the basement. In the process I happened upon some toys I had been stocking up on when I find them on sale. Just little things like a Dora activity pack, those balloons that are huge and on a rubber band, some nail polishes and chapstick, etc.

So, we got a Valentines mailbox and each morning, Brinkley would happily run down to her mailbox to see what was inside as a countdown to Valentines Day.
Then on Valentines Day I wrapped up some Christmas presents that we never gave to the kids because we didn't want to pack them to Utah and back.
And boom. Spoiled.
They loved it! And it felt almost free to me because I didn't buy it now, I bought it all in the past. Maybe that doesn't really count.

Anyway, here's some love:

A Pre-K Valentines Day. Sweet!

We were so lucky to have preschool at our house on Valentines Day.
For those who know me well, I adore Valentines Day.
It's the day of love, heeelllooo.
What's not to love?
Anyway, this one was particularly awesome because we got to have a preschool PARTAY!
We had our little 'mailboxes' and passed them out and everything. Then we sat around eating candy for 20 minutes. It was fun.

Brinkley took great care in the weeks before to make special Valentines for her friends.
She drew a picture of each of them. And about 50 of herself. :)
She made sure that Claire had long hair. That Lexi had short hair (which is funny because Lexi has long hair too... but whatever), that Andrew had a faux hawk (no, she didn't use that word, but essentially that's what it is), that Isaac had his glasses, and that she had pigtails.
She was so excited to give them to her friends.
But I think of everyone in the whole world, I loved them best.

Because I really can't get enough of her drawing. I would post every picture she drew if I didn't think it would be annoying and redundant in later years in life.
I can just hear her now, "Mom, why in the world did you feel the need to document every single picture I drew?" My answer would be, "because I LOVE them so much and they are so wonderful and you are so talented. That's why." But alas, there is another part of me that is quite lazy and therefore I don't document every picture she draws because I simply don't get my camera out.
But I do save them all.

She also made those Valentines for her grandmas and grandpas, aunt rachael, aunt rebecca, uncle jed, cousin sawyer bean, and friend Paisley. I didn't take pictures of those, but I wish I had. :(

Self Portraits and Other Fine Art

I love and appreciate art.
Especially my daughter's.
I particularly love when she draws all over my newly made in my best handwriting to-do list.
Ahem.
No, really. She is so good at coloring and drawing.
And it is actually so much fun for me to find hidden pictures in my notebook.
Besides, I don't mind rewriting lists. It's therapeutic.

These are her most recent self portraits. Note the pigtails.

"Brinkley. A Self-Portrait"

"Brinkley. A Self-Portrait. Crying. And Smiling."

"Brinkley. A Self-Portrait. In a Box. On a Stick."

And I can't forget Darcy's recent love of art as well.
She favors plaster walls over paper. And pens over anything remotely washable.

"Welcome to our home."

"Sit and watch TV a while."

"Would you like to come upstairs?"

"Mixed media. Pen and toothpaste."

Tricks of the Trade

Darcy loves Brinkley. She even says her name (Bapi!)

Brinkley loves Darcy too.
But, they still are older sister - younger sister.
As a result, Brinkley gets annoyed when Darcy wants her things.
She has quickly learned to play with toys at the table where Darcy can't reach them.
(though, that's not a good tactic anymore because Darcy learned how to climb up on the table)
Brinkley has all kinds of little tricks to get Darcy away from her.
This one made me giggle.
Brinkley had pretzels. Darcy wanted pretzels too. They both wanted to hold the snack cup.
So, to distract her, Brinkley lined up a bunch of pretzels in a trail.
While Darcy was busy picking up all the trail-blazed pretzels, Brinkley sat on the couch and ate her pretzels in peace. At least for a little while.

Family Home Evening with the McBrides

Yup. We read from the Friend and then played with Photobooth.

Hope you get as big of a kick out of these as we did.

DeLucas

DeLucas.
Can't believe we've almost been here 4 years and have never been to DeLucas.
Well, better late than never.
There are two famous breakfast places in Pittsburgh. Pamela's and DeLucas.
I've been to Pamelas (josh hasn't).
But neither of us had been to DeLucas!
As far as I know Pamelas is famous for pancakes and DeLucas is the greasy spoon. Both are usually very busy.
I'm not into breakfast (except cereal), so I didn't really care where we went.
But, given Josh's love of breakfast food, I thought it would be fun to take him there.
It was part of our Friday night date. Apparently our date would last 3 days.
Friday night: we made the best popcorn on the planet and watched Super 8. We planned on going to DeLucas on Saturday morning.
Saturday Morning: we called DeLucas to see how long their line was. It was snowing pretty bad, so they told us it wasn't busy. So we rushed around getting ready... two hours later I said "we'd better call them again." And they said their line was outside. Yeah right. I'm not standing out in the snow with 2 kids.
So, that didn't happen.
Sunday: Josh realizes the next day is is a holiday and he has the day off of work! Woot!
Monday: we get up early, get to the strip and eat at DeLucas. Finally!
Every bite we took we were nodding our heads at each other like 'yep, this is good.'
Then we didn't have enough cash to tip our waitress. We felt bad. So we mailed it to her later.
AND THEN we had to do our daily workout.
Our greasy, heavy breakfast was still sitting in our tummies. I thought I was going to die. I was sweating bacon grease.
I remembered why I don't really care for breakfast foods. Josh finally realized why I am the way I am. We both wished we had eaten Go Lean that morning.
Nah. I'd do it again.

Snow much fun

(This post is so old. I guess I forgot to post it. Just so ya know)

Oh, the snow.
Remember how magical it was when you were a kid?
I used to stare at the snow coming down out the back door. I would pretend I was in a spaceship flying through space.
Try it one day. If you blur your eyes a little bit, it totally looks like stars.
The next morning I would bundle up and play like all day. We would make trails through the big back yard and play tag in them, and make a snow slide off of the deck.
Oh, and when we were really little we would make these tiny little 1 foot high hills and ride our 3 foot sled down them. Ha ha haha .
My sister used to pull me around in the sled. I would try to pull her too, but she was five years older than me. So, I never got very far. Sorry Rebecca. I'll pull you now!! I know I can totally do it.

Well, it finally snowed here. Enough to play in. I have been so excited. Not for me, for my kids!
We borrowed the neighbors tube and hooked up a rope to the handle
(the rope Josh made in Nauvoo! it came in handy after all!)
So we bundled them up. Josh showed Brinkley the correct technique of tucking your snowsuit into your boots so no snow gets up in there (josh was a professional kid).
I put Darcy in her marshmallow suit. Totally reminded me of 'A Christmas Story.'
("I can't put my arms down!")
And we headed outside.
Josh pulled the girls around; back and forth in our tiny yard for an hour and a half.
He even made a 1 foot high hill to pull them over.
Nothing beats seeing your kid smile that big. Or giggle that loud.
I just handled the camera. Oh, and giggled a lot too.
Didn't even know Darcy was having fun until we tried to take her inside. She threw a fit!
I guess she does like the snow. Even though she hardly cracked a smile.
(I did pick out all of the smiling pictures though)
Call me crazy, but I hope it snows more! There just hasn't been enough this winter.
Not to mention we live in Pittsburgh, so already the rain has washed the snow away.