Dear Spring,

Please stop teasing me and just come to stay!

In the meantime, with these very rainy Northwest winters . . .

Jace will just keep puddle jumpin'

Warning:

If you send your kids over to my house to be babysat or just to play - I'm probably going to pull out the camera and practice on them. We had lots of fun when Andrew came over to spend the morning with us.

Doesn't he have the most beautiful blue eyes!

Buddies!

Everyday Attire

My kids like to dress themselves and instead of fighting them on it, I just let them be . . . as long as we're staying in. I think if someone saw my kids like this in public they might call the police - the fashion police - and site me for being a negligent parent. Really this is just everyday attire . . .

Expressions . . .

Today is a lazy day . . I'm still in my robe, glasses on, with bedhead hair. . .it's 'only' 2:00 P.M. The joys of being a stay at home mom! Jace is still in his jammies and Brooke is wearing outfit number 3 (she likes to change clothes a LOT).. pants on backwards & inside out BUT on, none the less. She managed to get her shirt on 'just' right. Anyways, as we were going about our lazy morning some good lighting appeared out of nowhere and the kids were in the mood to just be silly and let me take some pictures . . .so this is what we got. I really thought it captured what they are really like. I love my little sweethearts. Enjoy!

Lucky!

So even though we already celebrated my birthday on Monday . . . Craig did a wonderful job of making yesterday just as special. He brought me a bouquet of pink tulips on his lunch break and when he got home he had more flowers . . . 12 long stemmed white roses. What a sweetheart! He also ordered take-out from BlackStone (our fav. restaurant) so I didn't have to cook. We had a relaxing dinner & a movie night. We watched Miracle in honor of the Olympics and how good does this sound:

To start: Smoked Wisconsin Cheddar Fondue with char grilled asparagus, sliced granny smith apples, and rustic bread to dip.

Next, Basil Artichoke Chicken Linguine with a house salad of baby greens, dried cranberries, spiced hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, Chevre and citrus vinaigrette.

Craig had the Brandied Peppercorn USDA "Prime" Top Sirlion Steak charbroiled, finished with a blue cheese mushroom demi along with steak fries and seasonal vegetables.

To top it off . . . he picked me up some Ben & Jerry's birthday ice cream. YUM!!

I LOVE YOU, BABE!! I had a fabulous birthday. The flowers are gorgeous!

Double Birthday Bash!

With Robert visiting we decided to do a double birthday bash this yr. His was back in January but he was traveling with work and didn't really get to celebrate. I remember the kids talking to him on the phone eager to hear about what kind of cake he was having. When he told them that he wasn't having a cake - Jace was really sad. He thought it would be a great idea to have a party for him here. . .so that's what we did. Since I'm still trying to be 'good' with my healthy livin' challenge that ends at the end of the month I really didn't want 2 cakes around so we just combined the two parties.

I can't believe I'm 26. I feel old. I've noticed that I can no longer just eat whatever I want anymore . .and if I don't do lots of exercise - I see the end results on my butt. . . it sucks! I was planning on running a half marathon with my siblings and dad in April but do to a pulled muscle and shin splints . . it has been canceled. Hopefully we will all still be able to do the 5K. We'll see . . . I took 2 weeks off of running but I'm ready to get started up again. Anyways, I LOVE being a mommy and a wife. Life is pretty darn good. I'm a lucky lady.

Here are some pics from our party:

We did blue and white candles on Grandpa's side and pink and white ones on my side.

Yum yum . . triple chocolate cake!

It was funny because Brooke was very impatient and ready for the party to start. She even put herself in her 'eating' chair herself and was like

"IT'S CAKE TIME . . . COME ON!!!"

Valentine

We were lucky enough to have Grandpa Brammer come up for a visit this weekend. Jace & Brooke were super excited. Jace asked me every 10min. when he was going to get here. Earlier on Friday evening we picked up an addition to our entertainment center at IKEA for my birthday. We got back home just before Grandpa arrived.. . with some delicious cupcakes. It was lots of fun to watch the opening ceremonies together eating cupcakes. It was NOT so fun to try and put the dvd holder together with the kids awake. They were a bit too much help . . if you know what I mean. After assembling it . . and realizing it was too tall, I dissembled it, took it to a lumber store to have it cut down, and assembled it again.

After the tweaking- it turned out great.

On Saturday, Grandpa watched the kids while Craig took me on a Valentine's date. He started the night out by giving me a big bouquet of flowers and he opened all my doors - what a gentleman (he always does that though, not just for dates). Then we headed over to the stake Sweetheart's ball. It had a Caribbean theme and it reminded me of being at a high school dance with a bunch of old people. The food was good and the tropical drinks were awesome. While I regretted not joining in on the limbo I did get Craig to slow dance for one song with me . . making progress! We had to leave early so we could catch the movie we wanted to see.

We went to When in Rome co-starring Craig's cousin Jon Heder. We loved all the secondary characters and thought they made the movie funny. Next up Dear John & The Last Song . . .I'm a huge Nicholas Sparks fan. My date with Craig was fantastic.

Thanks for a fun night and for dancing with me sweetie!

The next day, after attending church and taking a nap, I helped the kids make some valentines for Grandpa & Daddy. Jace painted his and Brooke liked coloring hers with markers . . she doesn't get to play with them very often. The valentines turned out very adorable and the kids were both very excited to give them away.

Brooke busy coloring her Valentines. Jace was too busy to sit still for 2 seconds.

The rest of the day was filled with The Olympics, and "The Body Book". While shopping on Saturday with Grandpa, Jace picked out a book at Borders all about the Body. He's been so fascinated lately about how everything works. Usually we just 'google up' whatever he's thinking about at that moment but this way he can just look at his body book.. . and he's been doing just that since he picked it out. Finally he got tuckered out and fell asleep on Grandpa's lap with the page still open to "How the Body Vomits". He's such a nut. With all the extra sugar he's been a huge ball of energy. We all sighed a sigh relief when he fell asleep.

. . . and of course I had to take some special Valentine's pictures. Enjoy!

My beautiful little Brooke Bean

A kiss for daddy!

The girls: Brooke & Mommy

Grandpa & Jace = Best Buddies!

Brooke had a never ending supply of Luvies for Grandpa.

My Valentine and love of my life. . . Craig.

Jace was tired of taking pictures and having to stand still . . until I offered to let him help me with the camera. He's my little mini photographer.

The following pictures are courtesy of Jace:

These are the flowers that Craig bought me . .pretty, huh!

Pretty good for a four yr old.

A much happier Jace.

He was much more cooperative to stand still after he had his turn.

What a handsome boy I have!

I hope you had much fun as we did on Valentine's Day!

Love, The Brammers