We had a visit from the Valentine Cupid on Valentine’s Day. He left some candy and window markers in our Valentine Bags. We had a lot of fun writing on our sliding glass door with the markers. Jake kept writing who the pictures were to and who they were from. Since it was Sunday we had a relaxing Valentine day at home eating a good dinner and watching the Olympics.

Jake got to be the VIP (Very Important Person) last week at school. We got to gather things that he wanted to share and take it into his class. He picked everything on his own. He wanted to share a picture when he was a baby and of his family. Then he shared his goggles for liking to swim and go boating. Then he talked about his vacation to Dinseyland and SeaWorld. He told them his favorite book, movie, color, food, and lots more. His class got to ask him some questions about himself. He loved calling on the kids to ask the question. his teacher asked what we liked about him and we said that he makes us laugh and gives the best hugs and kisses. Video and pictures to the right.

This week we celebrated my birthday. Kurt bought me a mill grinder. I am so excited! I have been making our bread for the past year for us to eat. But, I had to grind the wheat by hand and it took me a couple of hours. I usually watched a movie or did some reading while grinding. It says that it will do 20 cups in 5 minutes. We are going to test it out this weekend. I also bought with birthday money a tortilla press to learn how to make homemade tortillas and I am looking at a mirror to go in my living room.
We decided for dinner to try out The Melting Pot. It was so good but a little bit more than we were planning on spending. It was a once (maybe twice if I am lucky) in a lifetime experience. I actually have a fondue pot but never really knew what to do besides just frying in oil. Now I have lots of ideas that we can do at home. Jake was so sweet all day long. He told me in the morning that he was going to try really hard to be good and not whine or complain for my birthday. And he gave me so many hugs and kisses all day. My gift from Josh was a really long nap that he took in the afternoon. I had a great day!

It seemed like I didn’t have very many Valentine decorations so I spent some time searching for craft or sewing projects that I could do. There are hundreds of blogs out there that it is a little overwhelming. But I did find a few projects I was able to do. I made some flower topiaries to put on a shelf. Then I sewed the Valentine countdown. I made one for my niece and nephew. We love getting our candy out everyday. Then I did the Valentine mailbags. Jake looks every morning to see if he got something. Little kids make holidays so much fun.

Josh turned 18 months recently. He is now 35 inches tall which was off the charts and 25 pounds 14 ounces which is 50th percentile. So he is a tall, skinny boy. He can go up and down the stairs all by himself, kick a ball, throw things overhand, walk backwards, and say about 10 words. But mostly he wants to do whatever Jake is doing. He loves it when he can go downstairs and play with Jake or wrestle with him on the floor. We find them laughing and playing a lot together. Josh did have his first time out though the other day when he was throwing a fit and throwing toys. He was so good to sit there until his 1 1/2 minutes were up. Josh decided that over Christmas break he no longer needed to take two naps. There were too many things going on and his morning nap just got missed. So we are down to one nap in the afternoon. It makes for a little bear just before lunch but then gets made up with a really long afternoon nap. We are currently trying to get rid of the pacifier. He is only suppose to have it in his bed at naps or night time and once in a while at church during Sacrament. He seems to find them all over the house and sneaks them into his mouth once in a while. Then we have to walk to his bed and put it in there. He has shown an interest lately in books and we spend lots of time reading and looking at pictures. One of his favorite things to do is give kisses and blow kisses good bye. It is so cute! He is getting so big and doing new things all the time. I can’t believe how fast the time has gone.