I miss my kids and husband tonight. I am in NC and they are in KC. This will be the longest time I have been away from the kiddos. The time has been fun in NC, holding Eli and getting to relax. But I look forward to my flight tomorrow and excited to hold my babies. We just might all sleep in the same bed tomorrow night!

Last night we spent the night at Nana and Papa's house because I was leaving at 6:00 a.m. to go to North Carolina. Luke, John and I set up a fort/tent so the boys could watch movies and have a sleep over. John ended up not sleeping under there but it was fun to make.

I got to meet sweet little Eli today! He is precious and a little cuddle bug. I am excited to spend the weekend getting to know him.

Valentines Day has come and gone. Cookies were made and decorated, valentines were ready to go, and love was in the air! I did find out that it is fun to have a little girl on Valentines Day because you can dress them up in hearts. (When I tried to dress John in hearts for his first Valentines day...Matt wasn't impressed.) Little presents were given in the morning to the kiddos. Matt delivered flowers, that he arranged, to school and a dinner of my choice will follow at a later day. (Pictures of the flowers will show up later.) Matt will be getting a massage from a great masseuse named Piper.

What a lovely day!

A few side notes:

Sophia is getting up on all fours and rocking...but ends up army crawling. She is also trying to pull up on everything! She is also into everything....our house will not be neat for the next 2 years. I am learning to accept it.

John complained his legs hurt all day today. He even was sitting in his bed, saying "Lotion on my legs...need lotion on my legs." (Since his skin is so dry, we always say that lotion will help his skin.) We rubbed his legs and have determined that our little man is having some growing pains. He also got a compliment at Chick-Fila tonight about his vast vocabulary and how well he talks. It made his momma proud!

Making Valentines

Getting Reading for Valentines Day!!!

We made Valentines tonight for all the kiddos at Mrs. Jewell's house.

Big decision time...who gets this valentine?

So John is really into dressing himself. His look seems to be layers...or he just can't decide what he wants to wear. Our little man has become quite the fashion man since he learned to put on his own pants and shirts. He has even tried to put on his own diaper.

The other morning he came into the living room. He had 3 pairs of underwear in his hand. He then proceeded to put on the 3 pairs of underwear over his pj pants and REFUSED to take them off.

Another day, he insisted he wear 4 shirts. He seriously could not put his arms down. I can only imagine what Mrs. Jewell was thinking when he walked into her house.

These pictures are Mr. John dressing himself for bed. I think he ended up with 4 pairs of pants and maybe 3 shirts. It makes him look even bigger than he is because the layers add up.

At the end I have a video of him dressing himself. It is kind of long, but I thought it was adorable how he really tries to do it all by himself.

Another snowday...actually 3 this week. It has been wonderful, I must admit.

Sophia is working on another tooth, possibly 2 (that makes 5 and 6). She "glided" across her toy box yesterday. John and I did a cheer and told her she was on her way to walking. In just a few days she will be 11 month. This just seems unbelievable to me.

Sophia making her way across her toy box

She made it!

Look at those cheeks!

Love this sweet picture. I imagine her saying "Look Mommy, I did it!"

John (whom does have a diaper on even though it doesn't look like it) decided to take Sophia for a wagon ride through the house. I followed along to make sure she didn't fall out. Once they got to John's bedroom door he said "Mommy, stop. John and Sophia time." and he promptly shut the door.

Classic John Story:

We had porkchops for dinner.

Matt: John do you want porkchops?

John: YEAH! Porkchops!

John runs in to the kitchen and gets chocolate chips out of the cabinet. He held them out to Matt and said "Porkchops!"

Matt: "No, those are chocolate chips. Porkchops are in the crock pot."
John:" No...porkchops" Holding up the chocolate chips to Matt.

The conversation went back and forth a few times.

John: (holding one finger up) "Open I be careful"

John proceeds to get a pair of scissors to open the bag.

Matt convinced him to eat real porkchops and have chocolate chips for dessert.

Matt also let John cut open the bag.

This led to cuts all over the bag, including both ends. They are now in a baggie.

Today we talked about the story of Jesus and how he calmed the sea. We made a paper boat and decorated it. Of course our boat had to have Hot Wheel stickers on it! We put it in water and made the waves move the boat. Then we yelled "Jesus said STOP!" The waves stopped and the sea was calm. John loved the the part where we got to yell stop.

This idea was brought on by our church's prayer blog. It was a perfect snow day activity.