Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day! I love Valentine's Day! 

These are my beautiful lilies that Ryan got me. There were also Iris's, 

but they died before the lilies bloomed. I LOVE LOVE the lilies!!

He also got me some chocolates and the The Lorax soundtrack, because I 

absolutely enjoy the music! :)

I got him some chocolate covered raisins, blueberry yogurt covered pretzels, and a nice watch. 

My beautiful girls in their Valentine outfits! Zoie got some Minnie Mouse

earrings from daddy and got some "Hooked on You" gummie worms from me! 

Charlotte just got her cute little outfit! (It's hard to get them both looking at the camera

at the same time)

Peek-a-boo

Peek-a-boo is Charlotte's favorite game to play! She will find whatever is close to her, grab it, and cover her eyes and face with it. She will sit there and wait for some to say "where is Charlotte." It's really cute.

Here is a short video of her doing that. I wish she wasn't distracted by the camera so much, because before I grabbed the camera she was laughing hysterically when she pulled Zoie's jacket off her face. It was funny.

Enjoy the video of Charlotte.

* remember this *

"Sisters function as safety nets in a chaotic world simply by being there for each other."

-- Carol Saline

Sister Time

I really want my family to be close to one another. I want them to enjoy spending time as a family. I want them to want to spend time as a family and with their siblings.

With that being said, I do my best each day to let the girls have some sister time alone. Alone, without Mom telling Zoie to be "careful", "gentle", "soft", etc and telling Charlotte "it's okay", "you're fine", etc. I am hoping it makes them rely on each other, to trust each other, and be closer to each other.

So, I put the girls in their CLEAN room, keep in mind the emphasis on the word CLEAN, to play. I go do the dishes and come back a bit later and this is what I find.

A Huge Blocks of a Mess! 

 They had fun together!

Zoie would build a "castle" and apparently Charlotte would reach for it and knock it over :)

I'm glad they had some "sister time." I LOVE my Girls!

14 Days of Valentines

I wanted to do something more for Valentine's Day this year. I don't want my children to think it's all about romance, boyfriends, girlfriends, etc. There is more to it than that. With that in mind I combined two ideas that I found on a friends blog and another one I read.

Thanks to The Ink & Anchor and A Few of My Favorite Things I came up with this!

I asked my loving husband to cut out some red and pink hearts. I printed off the scriptures and such, glued them to the hearts. Then I "laminated" them the old school way with packaging tape, hole punched a hole at the top and hung it with some pink ribbon. 

Every Morning at Breakfast, before Daddy leaves for work, we find the date for the day. 

Then we look up the scripture and read it together. Underneath the scripture on the heart is a challenge/application of the scripture that we are to do that day. 

This one is John 15:12

"This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you."

The challenge/application is "Think about how Jesus would act. Say only kind words today."

This has been a great way to express love to each other and others we meet. It also has been a great way to incorporate Christ in to our lives daily. There is no better way than to start the day off with a good breakfast and reading the words of the Lord. 

I have noticed a change in our attitudes and expressions. I truly believe that when we do all things in Christ we are happier and doing more to be better and do better!

Snuggles

Charlotte had a rough night a while back and after eating, all  she wanted to do was cuddle. Isn't she just precious?!

* remember this *

"Sisters function as safety nets in a chaotic world simply by being there for each other."

-- Carol Saline