Valentines Day- or that one day in February

You've all seen the story, it is a situational sitcom favorite. Middle aged woman hates Valentine's Day and refuses to recognize it. Usually these women are single, occasionally they are married, sometimes they find the joy and love in the holiday, other times they are shown moping by themselves not enjoying anything- and usually pigging out on chocolate.  I used to be one of those. I have never liked Valentine's Day. There might have been a time prekindergarten that this statement was not true but I am not so sure. My husband has tried for three years to change my mind, it has become a personal mission and though he has moved me a bit on the subject I still am not a huge fan of the holiday.

Now just because I am not a fan does not mean that my kids should suffer from the same dislike so I try every year to make Valentine's day the best I can and it seems to be working. Laine informed me that she no longer wants to grow up, her reason- there are no Valentine's Day parties in middle school. 

We made our boxes the night before. I am of the belief that kids make their own boxes so I gave them the supplies and let them go for it. 

 Laine decided to create a Valentine Eating Monster- with mustache and all.

 Eve revisited the Harry Potter Theme and drew pictures of all the couples in HP on the sides of her box.

James was James and just covered his box with a lot of silly. Dogs wearing mustaches was his favorite. 

 The kids did candy valentines this year- does anyone remember when you were excited to get a sucker or a few conversation hearts in the envelope. Now it seems like all the cards come with candy.
Anyway the kids filled the cards out and I noticed that Eve was taking extra care to let the boys know how she felt about them...

 Yes those romantic messages of - hope you have a wonkafilled day, or Happy Valentines day have been crossed out on every valentine going to a boy. We had a talk on how we should be nice to everyone and just because you wish them a Happy Valentine's day or worse a Wonkafilled day does not mean that you like them.

The next morning the kids work up to Valentine gifts from mom and dad. This year it was a sock monkey and a small box of chocolates.

Growing up my mom was always big on making food holiday appropriate. I find myself doing the same thing. This year for breakfast we had overnight stuffed french toast topped with strawberries and whip cream. We stuffed this with chocolate cream cheese it was so good.

 Then the rest of the meals were full of heart shaped meals. There were heart shaped sandwiches both closed and open style. And heart shaped pink mashed potatoes with dinner.

That was this years forary into the battle of Valentines day and I have to admit I found myself even slightly excited for the holiday this year. Maybe I am finally thawing towards the candy and card company holiday, then again maybe not.

We bought a house!!!

Wow, it has been ages since I posted which my husband kindly pointed out to me just last night. I promise I have a very, very, very good excuse.  We bought a house!!! In late November we were finally able to find a house. From that point on I felt I was on a high speed track that was rocketing me at speeds faster than I thought possible. I had always heard finding a home you like was difficult. I was prepared to spend months finding what I wanted  but we found it on the fourth house.  We were in love with a 1919 five bedroom, three bathroom farm house and next thing we knew our offer was accepted and we were set to close in six weeks. 

 We bought this home from a lovely woman who had lived here for 38 years. She let us come in the week before closing and tear up her basement so it was ready for when we moved in. We ripped out wallpaper and the carpet. Matty loved carrying around the water bottle and finding odd bits of carpet to sit on.

 We were so happy that so many people were willing to come help. Christian's brothers, friends, parents and even our niece Sophie got into it.

Due to a scheduling error...don't even get me started..our carpet install was delayed a week all our downstairs furniture, plus a lot of upstairs furniture was all crammed into our front room.

I spent the first week in our new house getting the upstairs unpacked. I am loving the space in this house. I have empty cupboards and closets and drawers and all my boxes are now empty.

The day the carpet came every one was happy and Matty could finally go downstairs. He celebrated by rolling around and we celebrated by having a couple guys from the neighborhood come help us move the funiture. 

So the boys did not get new paint or new carpet so they had the first room unpacked and they got to pick wall decals for their room. Matty went with Mickey. 


 And James went with Star Wars.

When we bought the house we asked James if he wanted his own room but he told us that he wanted to share with Matty. Those two have a ton of fun together. It is not uncommon to hear peals of laughter coming from their room bright and early in the morning. 

We have a small kitchen downstairs. With new tiling and fridge! It is fabulous. 

We also have a food storage room so I can get serious about that Zombie Apocalypse that others keep reminding me is coming.

 Eve's room was stripped of wall paper and painted an agreed upon shade of blue. She seems to like it and keeps the room super clean.

 I love having a playroom. We painted a chalkboard wall and the kids have loved it. It was also a lot of fun to paint.

Laine wanted a green room. it was hard to find a green that we both agreed on but she liked the way this one turned out.

 Look an upstairs room no longer covered in a whole lot of boxes and furniture

 The master room is a bit big. We don't know what to do with all space but it is nice to have a big room with an awesome built in closet.

 Our formal dining room. We really haven't had a family dinner in this room yet. I don't trust the kids with the carpeted floor.

 one of our favorite features of the house is the huge attic. They had a woodshop up their before and we now have storage and a play area. The kids love running around up their and showing friends. I love that it has a staircase so it is easy to get things up and down.

 My huge kitchen with more storage than I girl could ask for. Also a laundry chute!!! Yes!

 Our family room.

 The back yard. It is so big and has so many trees! We can't wait for spring and summer so we can see it in all its splendor.

So that is it. Our new little home, nestled on the top of a circle. Since living here 12 days we have already had two parties and it was just great to have a place for everyone to spread out and not feel crowded. Yup, I think we're going to like it here.