Happy Valentine's Day

On Valentine's Day the kids and I loaded up and took a day trip to Bloomington to meet Kristina, Stephanie, and their kids. We were planning to go to a neat place called Make A Mess, but after much looking we discovered it was closed! This was a bummer, but we decided to take the kids to Chuck E. Cheese instead. They had fun and it was pretty quite. That is a good thing because we are finding it harder and harder to keep track of our group and visit!

Titus loved trying out the rides with his big sisters.

I can't believe how grown up he looks here.
Titus dumped an entire bottle of water on himself in the car while we were trying to navigate. He was soaked by the time we arrived. But, luckily Stephanie snapped a quick picture of us before we took off his "Valentine" shirt.
This visit the mouse came out to meet & greet. Grace is usually afraid, but got a bit braver with Hannah & Sadie.



By the time we got home (it was a lot of driving!!) it was dinner time. Luckily I had left some dinner in the crockpot. Since Jeremy and I had just gotten back from our special weekend away we hadn't made any plans. We do however usually do something special as a family. I had planned to make and decorate a big cookie with the kids. But, they were so worn out from the day we just had dinner and then it was about time for bed. We gave the kids a Max Lucado book about adoption I had picked up for $1 at a used book sale in the mall. A very simple celebration this year, hopefully we can do something a bit more fancy next year.

Take me away!

This year Jeremy turned 30, so I wanted to do something extra special for his birthday. I knew he wouldn't want a party. His only request was a weekend away without the kids. While I thought he wouldn't enjoy a surprise party I thought he might enjoy it if we shared our weekend away with other couples. So, after Christmas I contacted the wives of the two best men, Joe & Brian, from our wedding to see if I could conspire with them to surprise our husbands. Joe turned 30 the day before Jeremy so Deidra thought this was a great idea. Hannah ended up having to let Brian in on the secret, but they were in too. It was a bit of a feat getting a weekend that all 3 couples could be gone and find childcare, but we did it!! Jeremy knew we were going away for the weekend, but had no idea where we were going (or that we weren't going along). We all met up in Peoria, IL. Jeremy was very surprised when we walked into the restaurant Friday night to find Joe & was even more surprised to find out that Brian would be joining us as well.

Friday night we went to Alexander's Steakhouse. Its been so long since I've been to a fancy restaurant I forgot we should probably have a reservation. We had to wait over an hour for a table. But, when you don't have your kids along this doesn't seem like a big deal. This is a total "man" restaurant. You choose a steak from a cooler and then grill your own steak at a big grill. The guys were able to grill their steaks and visit. They also made baked potatoes & texas toast. Us girls enjoyed the salad bar while they grilled.

In order to make our trip affordable I tried my hand at bidding on Priceline for the first time. With some tips from Stephanie I was able to get our room for $55 a night. We stayed at a Courtyard by Mariott (a business hotel). It was very nice. When we arrived to check in there were students everywhere! The state chess finals and Jr. High Believe were both in town. How ironic! Not exactly super romantic but when you can only get away once a year you don't care!

On Saturday we all met up at a place called Jillians. It had pool tables & an arcade.



After Jillian's we had to say goodbye to Brian & Hannah. Then the rest of us headed to the mall. After shopping for a little while we decided to meet back up that night for pizza and cards. Luckily, all the students had cleared out and the lobby was quiet and it worked out great! On Sunday Jeremy and I enjoyed a day all to ourselves until we picked up our kids that afternoon. We ate at a buffet and did some "window" shopping. It was a great trip and I think our favorite part was being able to talk without all the interruptions of our life with small children. I was excited to see our kids but, I always find myself looking forward to the next weekend away/date night as soon as we get home.

A New Skill

Faith and her sticker chart with her nightgown backwards & inside out. (and spaghetti on her face:)

As of late getting Faith dressed in the morning had become a quite unlovely experience. She was uncooperative and whiny. Her attitude was such that I would end up leaving her in the bathroom with the instructions she needed to get herself dressed. This wasn't really working either as she would just cry on the bathroom floor until she apologized and begged me to help her. So everyone else would be at the breakfast table and she still wouldn't be dressed!

I had tried letting her pick out her clothes, but she still had no interest in learning this task. So.... I decided to try something different. We talked about how that dressing yourself is a job you need to learn when you turn 3. I made her a sticker chart. If her sticker chart is full by the time we go to Chicago she gets to purchase something for her baby at the American Girl store. Each day she dresses herself/puts on her own pjs she gets a sticker. I was very generous in the beginning giving stickers for effort and have gradually expected more as we go along. The first week she wore her shirt backwards 3 days in a row. Even though I informed her it was on backwards she had no interest in turning it around. She even wore her shirt inside out a couple of times. So, I let her wear it like that. I laughed when I was having to check the backs of her shirts for stains when doing laundry. Eventually she was open to being taught how to do it correctly.

She is doing great and we are definitely making progress!

Grace also requested her own sticker chart. Since she already dresses herself my mom suggested we practice her zipping her own coat. I thought this was a great suggestion. I'm sure she could have learned this skill earlier if we had taken the time to practice it, but it worked out well for both girls to work on a new skill at the same time. When I took these pictures the girls were actually in their pjs but Grace ran and got her coat to zip up for the picture! Grace helped choose her reward, a family dinner at Burger King, so they can play on the indoor play place. Look at how proud she looks.

I'm know both of these new skills will come in handy as we transition to having a kindergarten student next year. (AGH!)