Valentine’s Day 2011

We’ve had a great Valentine’s day here, Jeff and I decided that we wouldn’t do anything big and that we would go out on a weekend soon, but he never disappoints.  When we got home from dance Jeff had left us a note on the door. 

So we headed to our rooms to find out goodies =)  Landree was so excited! 

She loved her balloon and candy and her flower.  She loves fresh flowers.  And Hudson LOVED his balloon!  I haven’t given him any candy. 

 

And I loved my tulips!  I much prefer tulips to roses!  They are my favorite! 

We played this afternoon and then Landree got ready for her big date tonight with Daddy.  She and Jeff went to Cici’s and to play at Chuckie Cheese.  They had so much fun-Landree ate more candy today than I think she ever has and she even got a princess figurine at Chuckie Cheese-one that was about 300 tickets and she only had 28 tickets.  She told the lady that she wanted the Aurora and the lady said they only had Cinderella and Ariel, but she ended up with an Aurora.  You don’t argue with a 4 year old about her princess-she knows them! :)

  

Landree wanted to look very fancy tonight.  I suggested that she wear her red petti skirt and we painted her nails and she wore a fancy braclet and necklace too. 

Here she is posing for me-while waiting on her nails to dry :)

 

And before their big date:

 

They had a great night and so did Hudson and I we ate Chickfila which I loved because I didn’t have to cook and then he took a bath and we read lots of books before bed time. 

Fun with Family!

Landree is really into who is our family these days.  She’ll say Grandma is my family, Mia, Popee and Zoe (their dog) are my family, Maggie is my family, Aunt Megan is my family, etc.  And she’s been so excited that ‘our family’ Grandma and Maggie were coming to visit.  They got here on Wednesday evening and we’ve had so much fun hanging out the past few days.  We actually headed to the beach on Thursday morning and stayed at a fabulous beach house that belongs to a family in our church until yesterday.  I had lofty goals to get beautiful beach pictures of the kids, but we were having too much fun playing in the sand, napping (Hudson at least), and hanging out.  Plus I know that Stacey will be taking our beach pictures next month so I wasn’t really feeling too much pressure.  

On Thursday evening we decided to walk around and check out all that the area had to offer.  The place we were staying had places for campers to set up and tons of beach houses along with 2 playgrounds, a pool, kids splash park, grocery store, eating places, an ice cream shop, skateboard park, mini golf, laundry mat, and more.  It was such a neat place we’d love to try and go again.  We took little beach walk and stopped for ice cream.

This was Hudson’s first time to see the ocean!  Looks less than impressed, huh?

 

Landree on the other hand has been to the beach several times, but seemed to really enjoy it the most this trip!

She kept laughing and saying the sand tickled her toes and she stopped to pick up every shell she passed!

Then she proceeded to lay down and make a sand angel. 

Enjoying our ice cream:

 

Grandma picked up a new pair or shades for Hudson, which he thought were…tasty :)  

It was a little too cold to actually swim in the ocean, but this girl had the best time building sand castles with her Aunt Maggie, Grandma, and Daddy in the sand.  Everyone headed down to the beach on Friday morning while Hudson and I stayed behind at the beach house while he napped.  I made us a hot dog lunch to eat on the beach when Hudson woke up and then we all played a little longer before heading to the pool.  Grandma, Hudson and I mainly hung out in the shade while Landree, Daddy and Maggie swam in the freezing pool and then soaked up the sun (with lots of SPF for my very pale girl). 

  

We had a lot of fun cooking at the house and just hanging out.  Saturday morning was a little gloomy out.   We were going to try and go play at the playground, but when it ended up sprinkling so we just drove around on the golf cart before heading home. 

Today Jeff preached at church and we headed to lunch, Lowe’s (to get a new grill) and the grocery store.  I made the Pioneer Woman’s pizza crust and tonight we made tomato pesto pizza and this caramelized onion and prosciutto pizza.  Oh. My. Word!  It was yum!  Try it soon!  You’ll be so glad you did! 

Grandma and Maggie will be here until Tuesday morning so we have a little bit more time to spend with them. :)  I still have Easter pictures to post!  I hope to catch up soon!

Sleigh Bells Ring…Do you hear crying?

Tonight, after the Gray’s extended family Christmas gathering, Jeff’s mom, sisters, and our little family headed into Greenville to look at the Christmas lights on Park street by carriage. Most everyone had a really great time :) Hudson was getting hungry and he cried until he fell asleep. Luckily, the other family in the carriage with us had a 2 month old little girl and they were used to a crying baby. He did great until he got hungry.

Landree jumped right up into this Santa’s lap and just started chatting it up with him. I think he offered to hold her because she was cold. The piece of candy he gave her didn’t hurt either. I’m not sure what all they talked about, but was sure giggling when she talked to him. Maybe she’s excited that Mia he is going to be getting her drums after all.

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And my baby man before he got upset. Isn’t this little hat cute? Grandma got it for him at Children’s Place-it even has matching socks.

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This will definitely be on the list for future traditions. It’s in town, fun, benefits a good cause, and hot chocolate and cookies were only fifty cents each!

Life of a Youth Pastor...

Last week, one morning our neighbor called and asked if someone was playing a joke on us. We looked outside to see this...

Forks:

Surprisingly, we've lived in this house 5 years and this is only the 3rd time something like this has happened. We've scared all the kids about our homeowners association. They keep it pretty mild (and creative) and no one has fessed up to this yet. Our adult friends 'decorated' our house for Christmas one year with half burned out strands of lights, a huge blow up penguin on the roof, a naked baby doll in the bushes, and plastic candy canes and a plastic cow.

House update: The person who came to look at our house the other day is coming back today at 1:15 pray that we'll get a contract!

Surprise!

We had a little surprise party for Jeff on the night of his 30th birthday. The day was pretty uneventful (as planned) and I 'planned' for us to go to dinner with our friends the Brewers. When we arrived at their house to head out to dinner-surprise! Jeff's mom and I had already taken food over on Sunday and Jennifer prepared everything for us. It was perfect! The party was much different than a surprise party I planned for Jeff a few years ago. I think it was Jeff's 26th birthday when we had friends over after church on a Wednesday night it was like 9 pm and all adults. This party had tons of kids and was at 6 pm. What a difference a few years makes! We had a great night! Thanks to all of our friends who could come and make Jeff feel so special! We are so lucky to have you in our lives! Happy Birthday again, baby! I love you!