valentine's blessing.

Cole really blew us away on Valentine's Day. She came home from school and asked if she could go to "the place where they can't live by themselves" aka, the assisted living facility near our house; and give them the valentines we made. She wanted them to feel "loved" on that special day, even if that meant she wouldn't have time to go bowling like our original plans!
Talk about making these parents smile!

The crew was headed in...


Our sweet girl meeting her new friends...

...and the final step in our snow day craft has come to pass :)!!!

You'll notice in this video that Cole seems to be not quite attentive to the Activities Director. She was VERY concerned that she didn't have enough valentines. There are way more residents than we realized...won't make that mistake twice! Poor thing.

Mommy with her crazy crew!

When we walked out to the car, I was telling Cole how proud of her her Daddy and I were and how proud God is of the love she showed! She said, "Mommy, it makes me feel really happy, when I do nice things for other people."

Doesn't it though?! Thank you God, for the gift of love and service to others! May we be people of sacrificial service, giving you all the glory!!!

festive.

So Brian thought I was ridiculous, but hey, what can I say, I like being festive :)

A Valentine's lunch...



This is the second step of our snow day crafts...we enjoyed a festive kitchen! (Perhaps it's the Pre-k teacher in me that loves this :)

pre-k valentine's party.

Next on the schedule for Valentine's Day--Pre-K party!
We had some fun stuff planned for the kiddos...

Cole spent the majority of her time however, coloring this bracelet!




Meanwhile, some of the other kids were enjoying a special game of bingo. (Brian made these REALLY cute cards with the kids' pictures as the squares.) They were SO proud of this!


One of Cole's friends, Carmendy, showing off her crafts for the day :)

That was supposed to be a picture of Cole eating her heart cupcake, but as you can see, I was a little late. It didn't take long to get this one down!

At least I got to see this smile!!!

The matching game we made was a hit!

Cole finally got to work on her crafts.

And last but not least...these adorable glasses ;)

Fun day in Pre-k!!!

valentine's morning.

Happy Valentine's Day! Doesn't take much to get these kiddos excited!

Happy, happy, happy girl on this special day! She always appreciates my efforts! :)

Cam on the other hand, just devoured the pancake...heart or not.

Case enjoyed his FIRST pancake! He sure went after it!

a foot under.

The first week of February brought tons of snow and frigid conditions but this crew sure made the most of it! We LOVED the time off of school and time with friends and family.

The neighborhood kids on the huge mound in front of the house...aka the sledding slope. You have to use what you can out here in the the flat Midwest ;)

And check out who was LOVING the snow! Go get 'em Cam!

And our sweet little eskimo was of course having a ball!

And check out the fun guy in the background...that's right, Nana and Papaw came to visit and join us in the fun!

These kids LOVED sledding!

Even this guy!!!

Woohoo!!!! Faster Papaw, faster :)

Cole was getting to work on the frozen tundra we call home.

Finally, a picture of Daddy and son in the SNOW! I still can't believe this happened!

on the move.

We took this video about a month ago also, so he's progressed tremendously even from this, but it's pretty exciting!

oh the faces.

We took this video of Case about a month ago...he's pretty animated these days ;)

And he's an EXTREMELY picky eater!

father daughter dance.

I know I use the word "special" in a lot of settings, but this surpasses so many of those times! A couple of weeks ago, Cole had the opportunity to go with her Daddy to her first ever dance. It was a special evening for fathers and daughters of dinner and dancing, so of course, we did it up!

Mommy and Cole spent lots of time, primping...as any young lady does before a dance. Nails to be painted, hair to be curled, and of course make-up to be applied (a tiny bit of course;)!
The look on her face when she saw herself in the mirror...she KNEW she was beautiful and she KNEW her Daddy thought so too :)

I've decided these pictures will be saved and handed to the fine young man that one day has the opportunity to take our sweet princess to a dance...seems like a great idea anyway!

This progression of pictures is totally priceless!!! She was so excited!

As you can see...this formal evening was complete with corn dogs and sugar cookies :) They know how to make little girls happy!

This girl LOVES to dance!

Cole has recently discovered Justin "Beaver" (as she calls him) and was SO excited about this song and dance! Check out the moves on this girl!

This girl loves to spin...


Daddy's brown-eyed girl!


The girls (and dads) definitely had fun that night! (...now enough video Daddy, let's dance!)