celebrating 80 years

On March 10th we celebrated 80 years of life for my Grandma Betty.  This was a party collaborated and planned with lots of love, and it was great to spend time with our family that we don't get to see to often!  We were excited to see it all come together perfectly!

Happy Birthday

Grandma Betty!!

We love you!!

arizona getaway

Of course, I'm catching up once again... I'm discovering I'm a total blogger wannabe, but I stink at it!  Oh well, I do it to have some memories.... ;)  Anyways, back in March we went on a quick getaway (seems hard to plan anything this year because of Daddy's promotion "schedule", or lack thereof) to Flagstaff, Arizona.  Nothing major in the plans, just some good ol' R & R. ;)

We enjoyed some nice drives and hikes to see some ancient Native American Indian ruins.  These were amazing and the kids LOVED climbing into and around these places.  Truly breathtaking!!

We also drove down to visit a wild animal park called Out of Africa- another amazing time!! The kids got to feed animals up close and the weather couldn't have been nicer.

Can you tell Rowan was DONE??? ;)

The boys were enthralled, to say the least with the tigers... So beautiful!!

Tyler even got to feed a tiger- he was so brave!!!

A trip to a local Arizona History Museum was fun... This was an old hospital back in the 1800's.  It was so interesting to see some of the old medical equipment! 

sharing the LOVE

I must say, Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays. I don't know why... It's kinda silly, really. Maybe it's the pink... or all the flowers, or just the mushiness of love in the air (I'm a hopeless romantic). Whatever it is, I LOVE it, and we do it up big every year. Not just Matt and I, ALL of us. More recently I've focused it on the love we have for each other. The love we have from God- because He first loved us. And gave us the BEST gift EVER in Jesus. So fittingly enough, our theme for the day was John 3:16.
This year, with the kids being home we had a blast "planning" for our day. We spent the whole entire day before preparing, shopping and decorating for the next day. It was SO much fun to see the looks on the kids faces, and being SO excited to cook, create, and just spend time with each other. Totally melted my heart actually.... ;)
We started off with me making them all breakfast. Then we got dressed and gave each other cards and gifts. We watched movies, ate lunch and then started preparing our "fancy" dinner (which the kids opted for instead of our traditional heart-shaped pizzas). We ended the day with chocolate fondue and a cozy fire. All in all, a perfectly LOVING day for us all!!

partying puppy-style

We always start off the year celebrating this little guy...

We are so blessed to have Blake.  He is the strong, silent type.  He laughs when he's nervous.  He ADORES his older brother and would do anything to be like him. He loves singing and snuggling before bedtime, his stuffed animals, and ANYthing sweet (and he knows usually a soft whisper in my ear will usually get him a treat:).  He's our "moose", and one day will probably tower over us all.  And I can't wait for the best bear hugs from him...

But first- turning 5.

January 7th was his 5TH birthday.  I can't even believe it has been that long! 

As we were throwing around ideas for his birthday party months before (my kids know me and my love of anything "party"), a "puppy" theme came up and we RAN with it!  I turned out SO incredibly fun- there were rave reviews from many happy kiddos afterwards. :)

 I had the most fun with this table set-up!  There were dogbone shaped PB&J & turkey sandwiches, mini bags of "pupcorn", "water bowls" of blue Jell-O, pretzel "rawhide", and Scooby snack graham crackers.  The cake was actually the dog bowl full of "dog food"- everyone got a kick out of that (thanks to Half Baked)!  Most of these ideas were from Pinterest, of course. :)

 After the kids ate, we proceeded with the long-awaited...
PUPPY ADOPTION!!

Each child started at the Puppy Shop where they got to pick and name their puppy, sign their adoption certificate, and choose a collar. 

Next, they chose from visiting the Grooming Station, Pet Supply Store, and the Puppy Hospital (for check-ups, of course:).

 

All in all, it was such a fun day!!

Happy Birthday, Blakey!
We love you SO much!!