New school and a Valentine's Day party

I am just crazy about Luke's new preschool.  Right now, he is only there MWF, but in the fall he will be there everyday!

 

We took him to his Valentine's Day party last Thursday (even though he is not normally there that day).  This is first time I've gotten to take pictures because normally we just drop him and run (to avoid any crying ... and he still cries sometimes).  And I still don't know any of the kids in his class, but I did get to meet a few parents at the party.

 

I was worried about my other 2 kids being with me (I couldn't find anyone else to watch them ... believe me, I tried), but they were fine.  Except for David was LESS THAN THRILLED to be at Luke's party!

 

 

Finally!  A picture of Luke with his teachers.  Ms. Michelle ...

 

and Ms. Wendy.

 

 

We are just crazy about these ladies!  And Luke was crazy about the heart cookies.  I'll bet he ate 4 of them during the 30 minutes we were there!

Happy Valentine's Day

We had a fun day Valentine's Day this year.

 

The kids got a big box of Valentine's Day treats from their grandparents in the mail.

 

 

I got some beautiful flowers from my sweet boy.

 

Cupcakes for breakfast on Valentine's Day!  A special treat!

 

 

Everyone in their pink and red before school.

 

Me and my boys!

 

Will was in charge of dinner and I picked up some yummy sweet treats for dessert.  I also bought 6 individual cupcakes to take to the boys' teachers at school.

 

Will made dinner while I ran Claire to/from art camp that afternoon.

 

Will set up this lovely candlelight dinner for us.

 

My sweet Claire bear.

 

Will and I watched "To Rome With Love" and enjoyed remembering our trip to Rome last summer.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of Will and I. 

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Photoshop Fun

The weather was nice and Claire looked extra-cute one day, so we had a quick 5-minute photo shoot before we picked the boys up a preschool.  I got some cute shots!  I took my favorite and played around a little in Photoshop with different actions from the Pioneer Woman.  These are pre-made edits that give your photo a certain "look".

 

Here is the original photo.  (I shot this in manual which is a stretch for me.)

 

And here are some variations.

 

I think the first one and the last one are my favorites.  It's fun to see the different looks in each photo.  I really need to spend a little more time in Photoshop editing my photos before I print them!

 

Which one is your favorite?

Menu Plan Monday: February 18-24

  

For breakfast: Quinoa and Kale mini quiches (I never made these last week ... hopefully my kale is still good)

For lunch: leftover Pasta with sausage, tomatoes and cream (this was really good and very simple) and Pan-fried pork tenderloin with mustard sauce and steamed brussel sprouts, and Jerk Pineapple pork chops and cilantro lime rice.

Here is the dinner plan for the week:

Monday: Amy's amazing white chicken chili, tortilla chips

Tuesday:  Slow cooker salsa chicken, black beans & rice

Wednesday: Pizza night, salad

I will be out of town from Thursday until Sunday night on a scrabpooking retreat.  My in-laws are coming to help Will with the kids.  They will have to fend for themselves as far as food is concerned.  Ha!
 

Check out Laura's blog for more Menu Plan Monday.

Snow Much Fun x2

 At the end of January , we had a couple of snow days.  The kids were super-pumped to play outside.  And, as usual, I was ill-equipped to dress them for it! 

 

On Friday, we just got a little dusting.  David said it snowed because he "wish-ed" for it the night before.  The snow was gone by around 10AM, but Claire and David played outside for a good long while and I watched from the warmth of the dining room.  (Fortunately, Luke had school.)

 

 

There was still plenty of sledding despite the lack of snow!

 

On Saturday, I woke up at the crack of down (3AM to be exact) and went downstairs to catch up on a little DVR'd TV watching (and hoping to fall back asleep).  Around 6AM it started snowing hard and we got a nice little accumulation of snow.  Fortunately, Will was home to help with the snow play this time and I just went outside to take a few pictures!

 

There was a lot of sledding.

 

 

Luke got to join in on the fun this time!

 

More sledding ...

 

A little snow sweeping.  Not sure what this was?  Luke just wanted to pull everything out of our garage and play with all of our outside toys since we were outside.

 

 

Pictures with Mommy ... just to prove I was there.

 

And then, Will and the kids built a ginormous snowman!

 

 

As much as the kids love the snow, I am so ready for spring.  (These may be famous last words!)