I did wear my tiara.

Another Valentines has come and gone....

We aren't that big into the holiday at our house, but with small children all holidays are exciting. 

And Hope was especially in for a treat.

We went over to Brittany's house on Wednesday night to hang out and play, we ended up staying so late that that I just gave my kids a bath over there. Brittany is always eager to fix Hope's hair, and she offered to braid it. 

Sadly, I do not know all these fancy braids, so this was a first for Hope.

And oh me, it was cute!

I remember my mom braiding my hair and I would sleep on it for the "wave" look.

I suppose if her hair were longer it would would hold more wave, but it was very cute.

 My two little Valentines were pumped for their parties!

Now that I have two in school, I switch off on whose party I go to, and this time it was Hope's turn. Seriously, how cute is kindergarten? I die.

But you better believe I scooted down to the second grade class too.

This is Pierce's best friend, and it's really a sweet friendship. I really hope they are still at the same school next year.

Now, I know I complained about how Pinterest makes me feel inferior.

And no, I didn't make anything heart shaped, I didn't ice a cookie, or crochet a blanket made of rare bird feathers.

But I did decorate a table for the husband and kids.

As I was at the store looking around, I noticed all the men shopping for flowers and chocolates, and suddenly the romance bug hit me.

So, here's my romance.

And the two smallest Valentines enjoyed it.

As did the oldest Valentine.

Oh.

And just so you know...

I did wear my tiara.

Thanks a lot, Pinterest.

I've kind of got this love/hate relationship with Pinterest. 

Sometimes I feel like it's just fun and inspirational, and yet, other times it makes me feel inferior. You know, like I should be doing all these things I see.

And as I settle in last night for a little look-see, I found myself suddenly feeling inferior yet again, about a holiday I really don't even care about. 

I was inundated with Valentines junk...

Should I be making these things for my kids?

Or maybe a beautiful sugar cookie?

And when I finish baking, maybe I should make a wreath!

And then in my spare time I will decorate a table for my Valentine.

And to top it all off?

A special Valentines outfit.

Puh-leeze...

But maybe, just maybe, I will wear a tiara all day Thursday.....

Hope.

Today I want to discuss my little Hopie. 

As far as her performance in school, she's doing really well. 

Her teacher says she's especially excelling in reading.

I'm not sure that Hope will be as much as a perfectionist as her brother, but I guess time will tell.

But considering what we go through everyday, I'm tickled pink at how well she's doing. 

Have I mentioned lately that Hope cries every.single.day about school?

Oh yes.

Hope is all about being with her family, ehem, at all times.

And everyday she tells me how much she misses me, and what a "long day it is momma."

What can I say? I guess we are just in love.

A beautiful 24 hours

I have returned from here...

Where I enjoyed a beautiful 24 hours. 

24 hours that may have made me dream of summer

And 24 hours that I got to spend with some awesome women.

But let me back up just a little.

Brittany, our fearless leader, organized a little lake shindig.

You know a shindig where we do what we do best...

Like eat copious amounts of food.

I've always wanted to use the word copious.

I would probably never say it in real life, but it fits here.

I mean how else do you describe meringue that is taller than my hair in the 80's?

24 hours that we shopped

And walked around a sweet little town.

But let me tell you what we did for probably half of that 24 hours.

We sat around a table and didn't move, well, except for our mouths.

Actually, I was the old lady of the group and headed to bed at 2:30 a.m., which made me the wimp, but some of them stayed up until 4:30. How it is possible for women to talk so much, is even beyond me. But dang, we.can.talk.

Much of our conversations, fluff and fun.

But some of our conversations ran so deep we all had to search the internet for answers.

You know, because if it's on the internet, it must be true. Ha!

Don't worry, Google wasn't our only source.

So, lots of food and little sleep= a beautiful 24 hours, it's just a given equation.

You know what I've learned from moving? (Yes, I'm referring to moving, again.)

There are so many great people out there in the world.

When I envisioned moving, I pictured meeting great people, but I just wan't sure it would ever happen.

But as I was sitting around a table full of awesome women until 2:30 in the morning, I realized my vision had come true.

Thankful to God for those 24 hours, and for these women.

We all survived.

Before I get to my grand post, G wants to give a shout-out to working moms. 

I've worked a lot more than normal lately, and here's my conclusion: I don't know how moms do this day-in-and-day-out. Granted, I am a wimp, but I still must tip my hats to you mothers who work outside the home, along with inside the home. It's not for chumps.

Anywho.

Yesterday after I got the kids home from school I knew we just had to play outside for while. It was a nice day yesterday, with the temps right at 65 degrees and just downright beautiful!

So we pondered what we should do. 

 We, could just be cute

Or better yet, pout.

Lord knows I have some first-class pouters.

But the final decision we made was jumping rope.

The kids are crazy obsessed with this.

The first thing Hope does every morning when she gets out of bed is jump rope.  Seriously, can you imagine?

But like I said, we were there to jump rope.

And by we, I mean the kids. I was perfectly content just sitting on the sidelines watching.

But we means something different to the kids.


Oy.

IT MEANS WE ALL JUMP ROPE.

And if I'm nothing, I am usually up for doing whatever, even if does mean my son might have to practically hold me up so death wont take me. I mean have you jumped rope lately? DEATH.

But I'm happy to report, we all survived.