Valentine's Day

I felt very special on Valentine's Day. The boys (and Daddy) surprised me with these flower boxes. They had gone to Home Depot a few weeks earlier and made and painted then on their own. Then they each picked out candy to give me. Dad had them write (or dictate) what they loved about Mommy on these hearts. Aren't they cute? I feel very loved.

Later that night, we had a night out planned with my Mops group. We went to a Murder Mystery Dinner downtown. It was a 20's theme. I had never been to one so I was really excited. The actors were very animated and it turned out to be a lot of fun. I was even pulled into the show as a "character". 

It was a fun night and a great day!

Weekend Project

Now that the holidays are over and we plan on being in town for a while, I thought it was time to finish Josh's new room. The boys had a four day weekend and Dad had an off Friday so we got to work. We had the room emptied Friday and picked out and purchased the paint to hit the ground running on Saturday.

The boys wanted to help out with the painting. 

Then they got bored and found other fun things to do. After the paint, we built the bed and brought in the dresser. We needed to buy a mattress, bedding and decorations. We went with a sports theme since that is Josh's interest at the moment. I tried to keep the paint and bedding theme neutral so all we have to do is change the decor when he (or one of the other boys) is done with sports. I think it turned out pretty well. 

We still need to finish up a few things, like a reading nook under the bed and a desk to the left of the dresser for homework, but it works well for now.

My favorite parts of the room are the things I found on Pinterest. The curtain hold backs and the valences. I think they turned out really well. 

Josh said he enjoyed his first night.

And since it was Josh's first night in his own room, it was also Patrick's first night in his new room. He's still not quite sure this is his room, but I think he will figure it out pretty soon.

Side note: when Josh and Daniel first started sleeping in the same room, we learned pretty quickly they needed to go to bed at staggered times so Daniel would fall asleep first or they would stay up to all hours of the night playing around with each other. Patrick and Daniel are the exact opposite. We started with staggered bedtimes and found Patrick would not sleep without Daniel in the room. Which meant, he would still be up at 9:30 at night making for a not so good day the next day. But if we put them to bed at the same time, they both fall asleep within ten minutes. Who knew? So far it is working out well.

Christmas with the Weldons

We were fortunate enough to spend two weeks in Iowa over the boys' winter break this year. That meant we got to see a lot of people and do a lot of things around Des Moines. 

It started with taking in an Iowa State game at Wells Fargo Arena. The seats were way up at the top but we got to see them play live. So that was fun. Most of the Weldon crew joined us even though I'm pretty sure Joe and I were the only ones interested in the game. They just wanted to do an activity as a family. How cool is that? They even dressed the part.

The boys did a lot of playing with their cousins. They love spending time with them. They spent most of the time in Iowa in costume.....

....or nothing at all. (Sorry Jeni. I just love this picture). 

Daniel convinced us to let him bring his Erector set to Iowa. He also got a few sets of Legos and a model Saturn V so he spent a lot of time building while we were there. He was always able to get a willing helper.

Is this the perfect gift for him or what?

For Monday night football (Broncos v. Bengals), we got in our Broncos finest and headed over the Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the game on the big screen. It was a fun time (not a good game) but the highlight was watching Adam order and eat 30 wings by himself. Eating with him is always entertaining. 

(This is the best picture I took of the group the whole evening. I will have to get a better group shot from someone else).

And one of the main reasons we came out, Christmas morning!!!! We all gathered at Grandma and Grandpa's house for the main event and got busy opening presents. It turns into quite a show with 18 people. The kids love it.

This guy loves to take pictures. This time I got smart and brought the little camera for him. He loved walking around taking pictures. 

These two little ones were inseparable. They are about seven months apart and love playing with each other. It was fun to watch.

(Don't mind the one arm sticking out of his top. He kept doing this to his clothes the whole time we were there.)

A current addiction for the Weldons (mainly me) is playing Ticket to Ride. We got it for Christmas and played it just about every day. 

Josh even learned to play so he could join in.

The Van Wyk's have a Friday night tradition of making their own pizzas at home. We joined in on the tradition while we were in town. Charlotte is quite the pizza maker. She has it down to a science.

All the kids helped out.

Even the big kids.

We also made it out to a breakfast staple, The Iowa Machine Shed, for their breakfast buffet. (Aaron, next time we should try for the buffet). 

In addition to seeing all the family, we got to spend some quality time with some old friends as well (not old in age but we have known them a long time). And the kids got to go bowling while the adults chatted. Win-win!

We also played at the mall indoor play area and ate out at Godfather's (one of the top places we visit while in Iowa). It was awesome. We had the whole place to ourselves so the kids didn't bother anyone. That meant more conversation time for the adults. Yeah!

Grandma also came up with the idea of an indoor play area where the kids could let off some steam from being stuck inside in the cold temperatures. It had a ton of bouncy houses and slides. The kids love it. They were all over the place. 

What a great way to spend two weeks in Iowa. We should do this every year!