A Royal Valentines

We absolutely love Valentines day at our house; a holiday that is all about love?  Sign me up!

London has been making preparations for the last four weeks; one cold month, plus lots of time inside, equals a lot of red paper hearts. ;)

 James surprised us with the globe lights in the morning, it was so pretty!

Then off to two school parties.

London's was a royal engagement, complete with velvet curtains, a castle and a royal introduction of all the princesses and knights.

Cutest. party. ever. 

Even though there was a bit of the unexpected (lock down for armed burglar in Andover) Mrs. Braynock kept the happiness going.

I love this little girl, (who spent a large amount of time picking out the perfect royal attire the night before), and the really little girl on my lap. She joins us on Thursdays and helps satisfy my baby cravings. ;)

And then we were off to Noble's Valentines party.  He couldn't keep still, and hopped up from the circle twice to show me all the goodies we were going to eat.

His happiness is contagious.

Love, love, love him.

Priorities

Discussions about marriage and future spouses have been frequent at our house.
Noble's concerned about finding a girl to marry and will randomly approach the subject, say, when we are driving down the road.  "MOM, WHO am I going to marry????"
I've even over heard him singing about his future wife while cleaning his room, apparently he wants her to be "pretty, but not too fancy".  I guess he's not into the high maintenance type.
He's a smart kid.

And then there is London who, just this evening, told me her criteria for her future husband (she actually said that he must be like her in a lot of ways, and when I asked her in what ways, this was her response):
1.) He must sing praises to Jesus every night like she does.
2.) He must love God as much as she does.
3.) And he must speak with a British accent.

So there you have it.  We are all officially praying for a future husband/wife in this house, whether homegrown, or across the world.

Christmas 2012

I have to say, that as far as holidays go, this one rocked.  We all took a deep breath, kept to-do's and expectations at a reasonable level, and just enjoyed the company of those we love.

We loved, laughed, played, gave, snuggled and took poor quality pictures to catch some of it.  When your truly in the moment, who has the wherewithal to make sure your camera is on the right settings, if you have it on you at all? ;)

We made it out to our town's annual hometown Christmas celebration where the kids saw Santa, rode on a barrel train, roasted marshmallows and took a starlit carriage ride.

Don't let Noble's picture avoidance fool you...he loved it.:)

James and I made a puppet stage for the kid's Christmas present, well, he made it, I actually asked him to make it (and put on the finishing touches with paint and curtains- me and my domestic abilities).;) They loved it.  It was so much fun watching them run in, unwrap their puppets and put on an impromptu puppet show right then and there, bed-head included.

We have since then, thoroughly enjoyed our family puppet show nights.

Noble had been asking for these superman pajamas with the zipper since October.  I think he wore them for the duration on Christmas break.

Chillin' at Honey and Papas, where we, well, chilled, 

and built Lincoln log towers, Lego guys, watched Christmas movies and chilled some more.

 One of my favorite days, complete with sunshine, snow, chocolate chip cookies, 

and these wonderful babies.

Her first DIY

I couldn't be more proud.

Thankful

Six

 My baby just turned six. Just one more thing I can't comprehend.  I think I'm going to have to get used to this whole 'my children are growing up and there's nothing I can do to stop it' thing.

 We had ourselves an intimate little family celebration this year, complete with a quaint, homemade horse shaped cake, that may or may not have had the rear legs eaten off by the dog, while I was shuttling children to school.  Is that sort of thing that really builds memories.

 All this girl wanted for her sixth b-day was a scooter and a pony.
L was thrilled with the scooter (for all of two minutes), then her brother took over.  Now I'll let you guess which child rides the scooter up and down the cul-de-sac daily.
When will I learn to buy gender neutral colors?

 The other part of her present was an official horseback riding lesson, with a friend (a girl's got to share these important life-changing moments with a bud).
They start giving lessons at, you guessed it, age six.  So she barely made the cut-off.
It was perfect.

 Eagerly anticipating getting her horse to groom and saddle up.

 Look at that confidence.  To say L was excited would be a gross understatement.  She even did Noble's hallmark arm flapping when they were bringing the horse out.

 She was definitely in her element.
During her first lesson, L learned how to make the horse start and stop, reverse, learn a barrel pattern and carry it out, and even trot.  She did amazing.

Happy six birthday to my gorgeous, brilliant, daring, adventurous, loving, sweet-hearted girl.  You fill our lives with all things wonderful; we love you London Elizabeth!

The school years have officially begun

 London, being my ever willing child,  eagerly posed for her 'first day of school' pic.  She was so excited about starting school.  I can't believe my first born has entered this new season of her life.  

 Then there was the second born........

 He was really pumped too.  He has been talking about playing on the CCA playground for the past two years.

Letting go is hard.  I love these babies.