Valentine's Day

I'll admit I'm a total geek when it comes to birthdays and holidays, as the evidence will show...(It looks like Cupid came in and puked all over my house making it look all cutesy)



My flowers :-)



The kids Valentines and treats



I couldn't just do the dining room



Heart shaped everything food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. (so dorky, I know. Luckily Jay and the kids have a sense of humor)

Hayden is 4!!

My baby boy turned 4 and it all seems to be going too fast..
At least he still has some chubbiness in the face, has some blonde hair to go with the big brown eyes, and likes to snuggle me and tell me he loves me. :-)

Christmas

So, here are a FEW photos from Christmas. For some reason my camera and my computer are not seeing eye to eye, so this is a bit delayed. Also, I've been busy doing some stuff to help Jay with business (advertising, etc).

We had a very quiet and nice Christmas this year. We did get together with friends in Portland (photos are on FB and not my blog yet due to the camera vs. computer issue). We had Grandma Jackie over early (since she was gracing my siblings with her presence for Christmas), we hung around the house and ate and played and baked and generally relaxed. We are truly blessed!

A penny saved...

I'm not sure if anyone else has tried this (or any other) website, but my sister told me about it and how much she's been saving over the last few weeks.

www.thegrocerygame.com

I signed up for the 4 week free trial. It took a bit of time to figure things out and also figure out how to work it into my lifestyle, but my sister was helpful and I'm optimistic. I saved 30% off of last week's grocery bill. It's actually pretty simple AND organized once you get going. (It helps that my sister and her SIL had some helpful tips)

I'll post my (hopeful) progress. I've decided I need to save as much as possible in this tough economy, so here goes nothin.

**BTW, if you decide to try it, please enter my email as a referral. steph.s.adams@gmail.com

Baby, It's cold outside!!

It's been freezing outside!! We spent the entire day, Sunday, holed up in the house.

We drank warm drinks, had the fireplace going, watched Christmas movies, napped(my personal favorite), and the kids spent the afternoon making puppets. The girls then put on a puppet show for us after dinner. We spent the rest of the night cracking up at home videos.

...Not a bad day. :-)

A few of my favorite things....

The Christmas decorations are up. After 14 years (and the last few Christmases having my stuff in storage), I really want to update some of it. After cleaning much of it out, here are some of my fav's that made the cut:




...Still trying to convince Jay to hang more lights along the roof line. :)
I loooove Christmas lights!




This Santa is my very favorite! (and who doesn't love a fireplace?)




The pickle ornament is an old German tradition we started when Blythe and Oliver were babies. It's hidden in the tree and the first child to find it gets a gift. We always make it a treat that can be shared so that whoever finds it can share it with everyone. (just to be fair and not start any unnecessary arguments between 5 kids)




The kid's tree in the playroom that they decorated themselves. (and I used all of my self restraint to not move ornaments to where I wanted them)




The big Christmas tree!

Thanksgiving

In a nutshell...I fell behind, then I had no internet connection at home (except for my beloved iphone), then we had service again (the tower by our house was being serviced), then we had family in town, THEN came Thanksgiving.

Jay's sister, Tina, and her kids were with us last week for the holiday. I couldn't have pulled Thanksgiving dinner for 14 people off without Tina. We also had my mom and friends of ours from Portland over for dinner and fun over the weekend. We all had a great time. So much so that I have only a few pictures to show for it. Really pathetic! I'll post some later, once someone else who is a better photographer/parent sends us some.