Thursday, February 11, 2016

Friday Favorites on Thursday: Valentine's Week!

Our baby boy turns 2 tomorrow (how can it be?!?) so I'll be posting about our littlest birthday boy in the morning, which means this week it's another early edition of Friday Favorites. =)

Valentine's week is a crazy one around here. We're in the middle of celebrating birthdays and lots of party prep, while also assembling Valentines and planning for the fun holiday... plus I like to throw in a few fun Valentine activities too. Phew. Mama is tired. But it's a fun week and we're almost to Winter Break! I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.

Here's a peek at my favorites from our week...

*Our sweet littlest love is doing a great job with adjusting to not having his paci anymore. While nap time has taken the hardest hit, bedtime is going surprisingly well. The bedtime routine definitely takes longer because he doesn't want to get in his bed and he stalls and sometimes cries a little, but once I can get him in the bed he's usually good and goes right to sleep without us ever having to go back in his room. Woohoo!! Nap time is a different story and has me a little discouraged because I seem to be held hostage in his room, then once I leave it takes him a long time to fall asleep, then he only stays asleep 30 minutes to an hour. Boo. However, I'm not complaining given how well things have gone overall with the transition. We're really proud of our baby boy. 

*It's been super cold here this week so we're wearing our robes lots. Austin came downstairs after his bath the other night and saw that I had changed into my pjs and robe and requested we get a picture. =) 

*The big boys finished Garrison's lego set! Daddy helped lots too. It turned out super cool and we were all impressed!

*I assembled Valentines over the weekend with a little help from Terrell and the boys and they turned out really cute. I love doing Valentines that are different from just the store bought cards you sign. I definitely know how to make things harder on myself. Ha! I just like making things special and the boys always love what we come up with together so it's a win-win. Hopefully all my babies will have fond memories of their special little Valentines. =) For Austin's we went with animal crackers because he has a small class and we had them left over from Garrison's party.   

*Garrison picked out Lego Valentines and we decided to to go with starburst for the candy. It was the closest thing we could think of that somewhat resembles legos. =)  

*Garrison's even has 1 Corinthians 13:13 on the back which I LOVE. Both of the boys' Valentines plus several others can be found here

*Austin and I completed 2 handwriting pages this week! He's got letter recognition and sounds down perfectly so now we're just trying to master writing the letters. He's doing great!

*We tackled the handwriting pages during nap time so we wouldn't have interference from Layton and Baby A, and apparently it wore him out! He fell asleep while watching Georgia's gymdogs defeat the #1 Florida Gators. We love all sports in this household. =) 

*Another Valentine tradition we do every year is something we call Project: I Love You Because. Every family member picks a color for their hearts to be and then I cut out the same amount of hearts for all of us. During the week leading up to Valentine's Day we all write down "I love you because" notes on each family member's heart. Terrell's hearts are the blue ones so whenever we're ready to write an I love you because note to daddy, we jot it down on a blue heart and put it in the jar. Then on Valentine's Day we let the kids pass them out to everybody and we go around the table and read them aloud. It is the SWEETEST tradition ever. Our love tanks are so full afterwards.

*To keep things even I always plan for everybody to write a specific number of notes and we all know how many we get to write so things don't turn out uneven or unfair to anyone. This year we're all writing 3 I love you because notes to each family member (I transcribe Austin's for him and then he signs it and I do Layton's for him too... except my own, which is up to Terrell). The big boys are sooo excited to share them on Valentine's Day. It's such a simple, special way to tell every member of the family why you love them. I highly recommend it. Everyone around our table just beams as they read what's been written on their hearts to them. And everyone is just as proud to have everyone else read what they've written. I'm telling you it's one of the sweetest things ever. You should do it!

*Tuesday afternoon we got to watch it SNOW! A lot!!! The picture doesn't do it justice but we had snow showers for over an hour. Soo pretty!! We were bummed it didn't stick but thankful to see huge, thick snowflakes falling from the sky for most of the afternoon!

*Family game night!! We played Garrison's new card game I Spy Snap and it was so fun! I had played with the big boys once before but having that extra member made it more fast paced and exciting. It was huge hit!

Favorite Read of the Week: 7 ways to give our children a Fierce Love for Jesus. I love all 7 of these practical ideas. Some we're doing great with, others we need work on. I think all Christian parents want their children to have a fierce love for Jesus and for others and these ideas are just simple ways to instill and guide that love. 

We are so ready for the long weekend and Winter Break! I am WORN OUT from all the fun and celebrations we've had going on and need that extra time and push to get me ready for Layton's party coming up next weekend. We're excited to celebrate our baby boy tomorrow, looking forward to a laid back day on Saturday plus some extra time with Piper, a special Valentine's Day on Sunday, and then an extra day home with daddy to kick off our break! Happy Thursday!!

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