I love moth-er; she loves me. We love dad-dy, yes sir-ree! He loves us, and so you see, We are a happy fam-i-ly!

Can't you just hear the song in your head? I haven't heard the primary children sing that song in FOREVER but I have begun singing it at home because I believe that singing it, much like singing Families Can Be Together Forever, will remind my children that we're in this together. Perhaps I will encourage Sister Leininger (our primary chorister) to dust off some of the oldies but goodies.

Anyway, despite Andrew's proclamation that February is black love month, we have decided that at our house it is going to be family love month. We are taking advantage of every opportunity to do things together as a family---which I guess is pretty much how we live every day already, but there is something about consciously deciding to take advantage of every moment. Justin and I are all too aware that we are living our glory days right now. Before we know it our kids will be old enough to choose whether or not to spend time with us, so we are taking full advantage.

i l-o-v-e you!

i was on kindergarten cupcake duty but that was in addition to all of the sugar cookies and heart-shaped cakes i had been making all weekend. i'm hoping we all come off the sugar high before easter!

bracken addressed his valentine's himself, when i looked through to be sure he hadn't missed anyone in his class i saw that he had dotted the i's and written the a's as hearts---even on the boys names

he gave out these super-hero bracken valentine's but he spruced his teachers up a bit

these are the Valentine's that Abbie passed out to her class

it's good to be a girl!

there wasn't a great way to get a shot of these darling pettiskirt outfits my mother-in-law got for the girls, this was as good as i could get.

abbie's teacher set ruby up at the reading center where the kids can listen to books on tape and follow along, ruby LOVED it! take note grandparents, stories with cd's to follow along would be a big hit in this house.

abbie at her class party making her valentine mailbox

more of the same

ruby felt quite at home at this little craft table, maybe she could skip the next two years of preschool and just go straight to kindergarten next year. i'm sure tate would love having his little sister in his class!

after abbie's class party we headed up to the preschool for tate's party.

itchy foot i guess...

strawberry ice cream sundaes! i guess the moms in charge of the party felt the need to mix it up a little because this is ALWAYS the sugar cookie decorating station. good thing my kids have already gotten their sugar cookie fix at home.

i love that tate is completely off the ground in this shot,

his balloon is carrying him away!

hot date!

we told our kids we were going out on a date---a family date--- on valentine's. so, we made a reservation at a semi-fancy restaurant (as fancy as our kids could handle) at a reasonable hour for small children and had the time of our lives...well, the time of their lives anyway.

(i guess it was a little sunny)

best dates in town

uh, i am just now noticing that abbie is leaning away in this picture.

i'm only mildly offended.

mr. personality

lexie was in a high chair next to me. she was especially snuggly and giggly that night,

she's at such a fun age.

for the past two months it has been very difficult to get lexie to eat anything other than welch's fruit snacks or nature valley granola bars. last weekend we discovered that she can be persuaded to eat ham and cheese crepe's, and now i am pleased to announce she also LOVES linguine with pesto and chicken! perhaps i should put maggiano's number into my speed dial.

yes, that is ruby playing a game on justin's cell phone. she wasn't her most pleasant self at that dinner. is there such a thing as the terrible three's?

we've been really great about teaching our kids manners

the linguine was a hit with all kids

after dinner we decided to go for a little stroll around the shopping center and stopped to play a while on the giant turtle

we had packed three bottles of martinelli's to use for toasts at our special dinner because it is tate's favorite thing in the whole world. he thinks that every occasion with sparkling cider is extra special. unfortunately, we had forgotten to break it out at the restaurant but tate remembered as soon as his busy climbing made him thirsty. we totally looked like crazy wine-o parents, drinking straight from the bottle and allowing our kids to do the same. we did get a few strange looks.

this pose coming soon to a piano top and lounge near you

like father, like son

my kids always jump into their siblings picture, you've gotta vie for the spotlight in this family!!

the gun show

girls after their mother's heart.

"someday lexie, someday we will be able to buy all the shoes we want"

i noticed after putting up these pictures that the skirt ruby is wearing on the valentine's for her class is strikingly similar to the one she received from gigi---perfect for her personality!!

At the end of the day Valentine's was exactly what it should have been. We had a fabulous day celebrating with our kids the love we have for one another...plus, there was no shortage of treats, jewelry, and lipstick messages on the mirror! I hope your holiday was as love-ly as ours!!!

mary and her little lamb go to a sock hop

friday was kindergarten nursery rhyme day. each kindergartner chose a nursery rhyme and came to school dressed as a character from their rhyme ready to recite it for the class.

mary and her little lamb during the kinder parade. abbie giggled the whole time and clearly loved the attention!

most kids wimped out and were too scared to actually share their rhyme but abbie was happy to volunteer

here she is with the other two girls who had been too scared to go but had also planned to be mary's. abbie volunteered to lead the crew and the other girls reluctantly agreed. somehow when they all were reciting together it turned into a song. oh well.

i think abbie's mary costume was the best, she was even willing to let me put sponge curlers in her hair the night before (though once they were in she was like, "wait, i have to sleep in these?)

...later that evening we headed back over to the elementary school for the annual River Ridge Valentine's Sock Hop school fundraiser

six cool cats ready to cut a rug

(the school somehow got five retro cars to park outside the school for families to get their pictures with....don't judge me for my boys white shirts, the only plain white t-shirts they have are their undershirts which are meant to be small)

there were balloons everywhere at the dance and the kids were clamoring to get their hands on them all night. next year i hope the decorating committee can come up with another idea because as the night wore on every kid at the dance became obsessed with getting his/her own balloon. there were fights, tears, and drama.

getting some calories in before getting their groove on

with that ponytail she could have been a fifties girl for sure

i was holding lexie on my lap but not monitoring what she was doing, i was too busy chatting. when i did finally glance down i realized she had helped herself to almost an entire slice of pizza!

jitterbug dance lessons with mom

perfectly paired dance partners

really getting into it

they were pretty good, maybe i should rent them out for parties...

ruby was one of the lucky kids who ended-up with a balloon but she had to keep running through the crowd or else other kids would steal it

dance lexie dance!

clapping for the band

comparing treats, push pop vs. ring pop...bracken chose the ring...hmm...

one tough guy

(he was not too happy that i kept wanting to roll his sleeves but once he had his push pop he was more willing to allow costume adjustments)

a dancing daddy dip

abbie and her girlfriends doing the cha-cha slide

(i guess the electric slide is out)

lexie flying past. she was a blur all night long, running, dancing, and on-the-go!

once lexie discovered these decorations all she cared about for the rest of the night was getting them taken down, one piece at a time

why must you always ruin my fun mom? i'm sure the clean-up committee won't mind me taking some decorations down

the bunny hop

the girls weren't too happy about stopping their fun to have their picture taken but I really wanted some shots of the girls in their poodle skirts that i spent all afternoon making

i had to grab ruby as she ran past and pull her down to be in this picture, if only she had been facing towards the camera i could have gotten all of my pink ladies together

lexie getting a lecture from me on why she can NOT go on the stage with the live band. i think she wanted to be the back-up dancer (she definitely has the moves for it).

it's hard to tell in this picture but the girls are crying...it was a long fun night but basketball games and team pictures were slotted to start early the next morning, tears mean it's time for bed!