Breakfast in Bed and Pirates Who Don't Do Anything...

I guess a lot of you know that Monday wasn't all about Abe and George this year! My birthday was on President's Day and it was...the perfect day.
The kids had off school for the holiday so we planned fun stuff as a family to celebrate Mommy! I slept in...Happy Birthday to me!!! What more could I want? This is me!
Well, there was more. Q and the kids woke me up with breakfast in bed, and cards and a gift. It was very sweet! ...and, funny...Eden was standing by my bedside with the tray of food and a big smile and Truman beside her with the gift. Then, Q said, "what do you say?" Then, Truman, with a very confused look on his face and sound in his voice says, "Thank you?" ...We all burst out laughing--and he realized his mistake--and they all wished me a happy birthday!
After Briar's nap, we were off to the movies! This is one of my most favorite family activities. I love to see movies on the big screen. We always eat popcorn until we're sick to our stomachs...(?) We saw the new Veggie Tales movie "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything". It was really good...I cried...as usual. This was Briar's first movie theater experience...she loved it! After the movie, we went shopping at Pottery Barn...did you doubt me when I said it was the perfect day?
That evening, we all went out to Macaroni Grill for dinner so I wouldn't have to cook on my birthday. Dessert definitely decided that one! If you haven't had the Lemon Passion at Macaroni Grill...go tonight! AMAZING! Our really good friend, John Warder, from Minnesota, was in town just for the night and he stayed with us, so it was fun to hang out with him and to have him join us for dinner.
It's been a great week, I must say turning 34 has been fun! I went out on Wednesday night with my girlfriends, Lindsay, Barb, Lauren and Olya, and they showered me with Pottery Barn gift cards and fun stuff. And, thanks to my special friends, Dawn and Kim, for taking me out to The Cheesecake Factory and shopping at the King of Prussia Mall the week before my birthday. I truly feel so blessed with wonderful friends and family. I've received many cards, phone calls and emails with sweet Birthday Wishes!

Sunday Supper?...er...Sundae Supper?

Are we bad parents if we serve our kids waffles with ice cream and chocolate sauce and blueberries and bananas for supper?
Well, they loved it! Daddy made some fluffy waffles on Sunday, and the kids really enjoyed embellishing them with all the tasty toppings provided! Briar was especially in all her glory! She'd eat candy all day if we let her! She never passes up dessert, so this meal was a dream come true for her!
Her favorite right now is chocolate milk. She doesn't say much, but she's figured out how to ask for that one!

Happy Valentine's Day!

From the Martys to all of our loved ones!
When Q and I fell in love, it was MADLY! Our first date was Valentine's day and it has always been such a special day for us to celebrate our love for each other.
When we were dating, Q was over-the-top romantic! It didn't matter that my birthday was four days later, he always went all out for Valentine's Day. He swept me off my feet!
When we were first married, our tradition was to have a romantic candle-light dinner at home. As the kids have gotten older, it seems more necessary to get a babysitter and go out. We will be doing dinner and a movie tonight! I'm so looking forward to it! Celebrate love today!!!
Happy Valentine's Day to my Sweetheart for life, I love you!

Valentine, You Make My Heart Swim!

Well, the kids have all their Valentines ready for the class parties! Truman did Transformers and Eden chose the High School Musical Valentines this year. She had hers all filled out and at school last week! It's so fun to watch the different personalities of our kids. This is very typical of Eden, she has pretty much all the usual traits of a firstborn...then there's Truman, "Mr. Laid Back" he finished his about 1 minute before he had to go up to bed the night before the party!
I'm leading the craft for Truman's class and I'm so excited! I love to help out with parties and field trips every chance I get. I decided to do the same craft I did when Eden was in Kindergarten. It's a fish made out of hearts. Simple, yet so adorable. Truman has 23 kids in his class, so I've been spending my evenings this week cutting out hearts! This is the "example" that I made to show the kids. I have stickers and glitter glue that they can decorate them with too! I think it will be a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to dropping in on the 2nd graders too to help out at Eden's party!

VALENTINE'S SUNDAY

So, you already know about my obsession with love and anything associated with it and February and Valentine's Day...Well, Valentine's Sunday is right up there with Easter when it comes to the dressin' up! I always have to get a special outfit for the kids (thanks again to Grampa and Gramma for covering that one for me this year)and Q and I always have to wear something pink or red of course...and by that I mean, I strongly encourage Q to wear something "lovely" and he is very compliant! We took a few pictures before church this morning, so, I thought I would share them with you!
It was a great day! We love our church and fully believe this is where God has us right now. It's been fun getting plugged into the exciting ministries there. I love helping out in Truman's class two Sundays every month and he equally enjoys having Mommy there! Q is on the teaching team in our Adult Bible Fellowship, which is comparable to an adult Sunday School Class. Ours has 35 -40 couples and has really become our church family [within the church of 5,000+].

Praise God for good health!

Last week was quite the long week!
Truman woke up with a fever Monday morning. Then, Eden started complaining of a sore throat as well as Truman, Monday evening?! So, I kept them both home on Tuesday from School, and I made a Dr. appointment! I hauled all three kids off to clean one house quick before the appointment! My kids NEVER get sick, so going to the doctor is a rare occurrence. I can count on one hand how many times they've been on antibiotics in the last 8 years! And then, when we got there they couldn't find Truman's records...turns out they were in storage!? He hadn't been to the dr. since his 5 yr. well-check in 2006! I was totally laughing!
So, we finally get in the room and the nurse asked some questions, swabbed both of their throats and left. Meanwhile, as we were waiting for the doctor to come back with the results, I threw Briar up on the table and proceeded to put lotion on her belly to kill some time...she has had a "rash" for about 3 weeks that I just assumed was dry skin because it was super cold and dry when we were in the midwest for the holidays...makes sense. Right?
So, the Doctor comes in and says, "both tests came back negative for strep" I was somewhat surprised, but relieved. She continues with the rest of the checkup, listening to heart and lungs and asking all the questions...then she looks at Truman's cheeks and says "does he always have this rash on his cheeks?" and I said "no, it started with the fever" and she was like, "oh, well he has a couple spots on his tummy too" and I go, "That's nothin' you should see this!!!" and I lifted Briar's shirt...She GASPED, "THAT LOOKS LIKE STREP RASH"!!!
Flustered, I said, "I don't have an appointment for her!" and she was like, "It's okay, we'll get her in!" She immediately swabbed Briar's throat and sent for her records to be pulled! Sure enough! Briar was the one with Strep!?! So, she put them all on antibiotics!
Truman was out of school the entire week, and Eden missed Tuesday through Thursday.
So, there were a couple houses I had to clean with all three kids! Fortunately they were really good and helpful! They are all doing well, just three more days of bubble-gum flavored medicine left!
...and now I'm sick.