Valentine's Day/Week

Well as you already know...our actual Valentine's day consisted of most of us being sick but there were good days leading up to it! Early in the week I made Josh a special treat, German Chocolate Cake, which he loves! I also made him real meatloaf as he calls it. I typically make mini ones that don't take as much time etc. And then I made him a cake to take to work for a desert contest, which is the only reason he went to work on Thursday because he has started to not feel well. The cake itself didn't win us any prizes. Apparently everyone he works with is more into chocolate,caramel type things. I made a note of that for next time :) 

Here is my creation(a Pioneer Woman recipe)

I was also in charge of planning Isla's preschool Valentine's party. I looked all over pinterest and found the perfect craft that I haven't seen done before. Paper plate hats! In the shape of a heart! I cut the paper plates the night before and bought foam stickers and pom pom balls to decorate with. The kids seemed to enjoy it and we even got a picture with all the kids and their beautifully decorated hats!

On Valentine's day I made the kids strawberry heart pancakes with sprinkles! They love strawberries so I thought these would be a hit. Aiden loved them but Isla prefers her strawberries cold, not cooked :) It's the effort that counts right? They also received new teddy bears that said "I love you" and a cookie. They sleep with their bears every night and Isla continues to tell me she does not like cooked strawberries :) She never forgets things like that!

Happy belated Valentine's Day!

The last couple weeks

I apologize for the delay in posts! It's been a little crazy around here. We've been battling the flu and I've been trying to get Isla's old clothes ready to sell at a local consignment sale.

Josh may disagree, but he started the round of sickness a couple days before Valentine's Day. He went to the Minute Clinic and they diagnosed him with the flu...so I sent him downstairs and shut the door for a whole day! I was desperately trying to prevent the sickness from spreading and I'm not sure why because it's really inevitable once it enters the house! That night Aiden got sick in his crib and he and I were up most of the night. It was so hard not to laugh a little when he was getting sick because I had to hold his head in the bowl because he just kept waving his hands saying "No,no,no,no,no!" Poor guy :( Besides being pretty tired the next day, he seemed to be feeling better and Josh was on the mend too but we stayed home and had a low key day.

The next day we ventured out to Nebraska furniture mart to buy the boys' new bedroom furniture! I was very excited to complete this task. It made me feel like we are actually moving forward with some kind of plan. We are planning to paint the room in two weeks and then hopefully set up all the furniture. I'm also planning to make new bedding for the room so I bought some fabric this weekend and I'm hoping to get started this week.

Here is my sick little man :(

Duck, Duck, Goose and Dinner

This winter, no thanks to Duck Dynasty in my opinion, Josh took up a new hobby. You guessed it, duck hunting! And from that right into goose hunting. Naturally, it made more sense to rope someone else in to the fun so Robbie also got hooked and now they consider themselves regular ole waterfowl hunters :) The amount of prep that goes into this is intense. They had to start by learning to use the duck and goose calls to call the birds in. Josh actually practices in the car on the way to work....... which is much better than in the house! Aiden and Isla love to blow on the calls as well. I'm betting that Aiden will be better at calling the birds than Josh or Robbie one day! They have scouted sale ads and craigslist for decoys. They get up at the crack of dawn to go out and set up all the decoys and cover themselves when they lay down on the ground to wait and call the birds in. It's a lot of work! But they're hooked! On Friday, the last day of goose season another of their friends came down to go out with them and see what this is all about. After they hunted we had an impromptu dinner party with everyone. We had lasagna and cupcakes and a good visit with friends! The kids ran and ran and ran and they were exhausted by the time the night was over which means we even got to sleep in a little on Saturday morning! Win!

I didn't get any pictures of the dinner portion but here are some pictures of Josh's hunting adventures over the last couple months

And as Isla says "Daddy FINALLY shot a bird" Her words...not mine :)

Now we have a couple months until Turkey season begins and baby boy is here. His "honey-do" list will be growing! Who am I kidding.... my to-do list is growing too! 

Happy Birthday Isla

My baby girl is 4 years old. Where did 4 years go?! Josh and I were talking just a couple nights ago about time and how you really don't realize how fast it goes until you have kids. It happens so fast and next thing you know we'll be sending her off to college baffled at where the last 18 years went! I have to stop now or I'll start crying uncontrollably. And it's not the pregnancy, that's just a side effect of having kids :) 

On Isla's birthday we decided to take her to a "restaurant" as she says to eat. She loves to eat out but Aiden.....not so much so we rarely go anymore. Remind me to tell you about the last couple of experiences another time and you'll understand why we eat at home 98% of the time! 

Isla's birthday was on a Tuesday so she got to bring Grandma Downing cookies to school as a treat and we had some left over to bring to dance class and share with her friends there! After dance we met Josh at Red Robin and had dinner. She enjoyed dinner, got to play some games, they sang happy birthday and she had some ice cream! 

We always tell Isla not to grow up too fast and she does it anyway! She tells us that she wants to be a big girl and go to big girl school and even ride the bus. Ride the school bus! Look how much she has grown in the last 4 years...

 At the hospital in 2010

 1st birthday party 2011

 2nd birthday party 2012

 3rd birthday party 2013

4th birthday party 2014

Nicolle