Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day from our sweet little boys!

I am pretty sure you can't look at this picture without smiling :)

Such a handsome little valentine

Sweet with Yiayia!

Hope your Valentine's day was filled with lots of love...and sugar of course!

#dailydimples2014 - Week 6

(February 2nd- 8th)

Day 33: Superbowl Sunday

Day 34: Sharing a ride with Dusty

Day 35: Sweet little boys getting ready for bed!

Day 36: Walking out of school  holding hands - sweetness

Day 37: Snow Day!

Day 38: Baking & decorating cookies!

Day 40: Love this little squishy face!

Snow Day!

Today's snow day was so much better than Icemagedon (back in December)! Really the main difference was that we didn't lose power and really that's all that matters. We had a nice warm house so we were able to take the boys out and enjoy the snow! The boys were so excited to go outside this morning.  Ryan wanted to make a snowman but once we explained there wasn't enough snow he settled on eating some falling snow.

And of course Grayson got in on that action as well!

Running around the yard...

After some snow time we headed inside for some hot chocolate! yum!

Grayson loved watching the snow fall

We played a lot inside and when daddy came home he took the boys outside to build a snowman...

Kevin couldn't find his other glove so he is sporting a kitchen glove here...didn't quite do the trick.

Grayson kept wanting to stomp on the snowman balls. 

Kevin put him on the opposite side of the yard (while he gathered snow for the head) and he charged over to try and stomp on the snowman...Ryan was not pleased. Fortunately I was able to stop him. 

Carrot for its nose!

Sadly the carrot wouldn't stay on...

Yes, it was a sad sad little snowman. But at least we tried. Ryan was happy. 

We headed inside for dinner! My mom made some yummy potato soup - seriously, the best I have ever had. We adapted it from the Pioneer Woman Recipe...soooooo yum!!!

This is what we did:

Package of Bacon

8 Green Onions (chopped)

1 cup Cheddar cheese

4 Medium yukon potatoes

8 cups of chicken broth

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 cup milk

1/2 cup half-and-half

Salt & Pepper

Cook bacon in pan and set it aside. 

Peel and cube potatoes and place them in large pot. Pour in broth and bring to a gentle boil. Cook for 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are starting to get tender. (We also added 4 chopped green onions at this point- the rest will be for garnish) Whisk together the flour and the milk, then pour into the soup and allow the soup to cook for another 5 minutes.

Remove half to 2/3 the soup and blend in a blender/food process until completely smooth. Pour it back into the soup pot and stir to combine. Let it heat back up as you taste for seasonings, adding more of what it needs. Stir in half-and-half. Cook 10 more minutes. 

Serve in bowls garnished with green onions, grated cheese and crisp bacon pieces.

So yeah, it's really not like hers at all...much more simple. It's delicious though!!!

Art Appreciation Month

January was Art Appreciation month at Ryan's school.  I loved walking though the hall to see everyone's work! Ryan's class did activities influenced by Pollock, Picasso, Seurat and Van Gogh.

They did Jackson Pollock inspired splatter painting:

I guess Ryan was done with his a little earlier than the rest...

This little guy ended up with paint on his nose! Looks a little suspicious....

And his final masterpiece...

Grayson (17 months)

So little G is 17 months now - woah!
He is so much fun and full of the best expressions! When he smiles, his entire face lights up. He has started to make these silly faces when he is upset and they just make me laugh. He is such a ham and I am constantly getting comments on how darn cute he is! Here is a little bit of what we have been up to the past couple of months.

Was pleased as a peach when he discovered apples. He thought they were balls....and then found out you could eat them! Two of his favorite things!!!

This little man loves The Little Gym! His favorite things are the uneven bars and the balance beam. He loves doing it all by himself too - it's so darn cute to see him so pleased with himself!

Always a big fan of meal time - loves to use utensils as well. 

He loves to hang out with his older brother and his friends. He wants to do whatever they are doing. Everything.

Love to throw trash away and so dedicated to it. In fact, the other morning we were still all upstairs in our bedroom and I asked him to throw his diaper away in the trash can - thinking he would just throw it away in the bathroom trash that was the closest. However, he had different plans. He jetted out of the room and down the long hallway. I found him at the gate (thank goodness we finally got those installed). He was ready to make the long journey downstairs to the kitchen trash! That man loves to throw things away...I know its only a matter of time before I find non trash items in there.

He had been known to bite and hit...mainly just his brother. In fact, poor Ryan tells me that he wants a baby sister because his baby brother bites just like his dog. oh dear.

Grayson has learned his body parts and is as pleased as punch when he can show them off to you...especially his belly button. He can also identify animals and make some animal noises...

One of the biggest changes that we have seen is his new LOVE for books. I am not kidding...I have never seen a kid (mind you I only have one other) go from absolutely no interest in sitting down to read a book to being obsessed with them. It's kinda crazy! I love it though...now he will actually let me read and he checks out the pages so carefully. His favorite books are the superman and batman books that we have. He also loves the very hungry caterpillar. I love reading it to him because when we get to the pages with food he pretends to take big bites out of them! Ugh, his sound effects are so adorable - I can't get enough!

Over the past couple of months (December & January) all four of his molars came in. We definitely knew they were coming as we had a handful of sleepless nights - poor little guy! I think he is now working on his pointy teeth...not nearly as bad as his molars but something is def not quite normal with him.

Words:
Mama
Dada
Ball
Bubbles
Up
Milk
Ba - paci? Not sure why
Duck
Back pack

There really are new words everyday...and I am sure a bunch that I am forgetting. Love this little bug to pieces!

#dailydimples2014 Week 5

Day 26: Woody helped mommy make eggs for breakfast! 

Day 27: Working on some Valentine's Cards

Day 28: After music Grayson and I made a quick trip to PBK to pick up some carts that I had ordered. We arrived just in time for story time so we hung out for one.... 

Day 29: Smoothies for breakfast - this little man always joins me on the steps!

Day 30: Making silly faces with oranges!

Day 31: After dinner with friends we headed over to Wilshire for Preschool Family game night! Face painting too! Ryan was deciding between a butterfly and a dog...Kevin made that decision for him :)

Day 32: Just chillin' in his baby sunglasses! I am pretty sure he keeps his eyes closed when he has them on...goof ball!

It's February!

So long January! January is my least favorite month (sorry January lovers)...it's just so darn long and cold! I do love me some February - Valentine's Day is always fun plus it's extra short and sweet...which just means we are that much closer to warmer weather! Wohoo!

I busted out  my "real" camera today to snap some cute Valentine pics of the boys. I am hoping to make some cute Valentine's cards for them to give to their friends...but just incase it doesn't happen Ryan has some Dusty Crophopper cards he picked out at Target :) He is so darn excited about them I will probably just let him give those as well.  Anyhow, I got a few cute pictures but Ryan was so cold he looks like a frozen snowman in most of them...we will try again another day.

This is a short and sweet post but I am hoping to blog a lot more this month...so I am just trying to get in the groove. We are excited for February - the Superbowl (well the social aspect and of course the commercials!), the Olympics, Valentine's Day, my girls Vegas trip, AND lots of family fun!!!