Valentine's Day, SNOW, and Ping Pong~ February 1st - 17th 2013

After taking down my Christmas decorations my house was truly bare! We haven't really collected many pictures and furnishings to decorate the house in general since I don't want to invest in them until we buy our own house.  But, I don't mind making decorations for the holidays.  Its really only been the last 2 years that I've started to make them.  So with February here I found some great ideas on Pinterest and enjoyed making them. The frame with the hearts cut from maps was a present I gave to Aaron for Valentine's Day.  It is most of the places we have lived and visited since we have been married. 

 Miniature air hockey anyone? AJ bought this for Daddy for Christmas and they had a good game going on a Sunday afternoon!

Enjoying a Saturday filled with tennis in the street, bicycling, Frisbee and a basketball game earlier in the morning. AJ had a good basketball season even though they didn't win much.  He has improved since last year and I'm thankful for that at least.

Audrey had her 3 year old check-up with the Doctor.  She was so cute in her paper cover that was definitely too big for her.  She had a great check-up and we didn't have to get any shots this time! Yah! Always thankful for a healthy girl.

I made pink and regular sugar cookies this year. Instead of covering the whole cookie with icing I just made some fun designs with frosting.  Aaron is eating a heart sandwich cookie I

 made for the ones who like a lot of cookie in every bite!

I also made some heart cookies for Audrey's preschool class. The teachers helped them decorate the cookies but they got to choose which sprinkles they wanted. All the kids were very excited especially since they had just handed out valentines to each other by placing them in each others' Valentine shoe boxes that they had decorated.

Audrey and AJ are making a Valentine's Day card for Daddy. They wrote what they loved about him on the hearts and then glued them all by themselves.  I asked Audrey what she loved to do with daddy and then I wrote it down for her.  Here are some of my favorites: AJ- Going to 7/11 and getting an Icee, Going to Carowinds and riding roller coasters. Audrey- Daddy tickles me on the floor, Daddy takes me to a vacation, Airplane in the sky (Aaron lifts her up in the air and sings an airplane song before dropping her on the couch or bed). On Valentine's Day I surprised Aaron by taking him out to dinner to a restaurant he'd never been to before. We had a great meal and the white chocolate Godiva Souffle for dessert was AMAZING!! 

These beautiful flowers are blooming in February!! Look at the stash of Valentines that AJ got from his friends at school. One of his favorites is the Fun Dip. And Audrey requested blue heart pancakes. She still loves painting!

 

"ITS A MIRACLE!" says AJ repeatedly while the snow fell around 4pm on a Saturday afternoon for the first time since 2011.  The snow lasted 2 days and church was cancelled Sunday.  It is a rare occasion here in Charlotte.  2 years ago it snowed 2 different days and that was a very big deal! The kids were beyond excited and especially Audrey who has never played in the snow.  Her face tells it all in the first  picture.  We played until we were frozen and then after warming up a bit we played even more.  

Day 2 of snow was even more fun since Daddy was with us. The snowball fight never stopped and Audrey was so cute throwing them from a foot away. AJ couldn't be happier with his power wheels to make tracks all over the snow and build up as much snow on his tires as possible.  He even tried to cover it completely in snow!

 We set up the portable ping pong set on the dining room table.  We need some practice, except Daddy who had one growing up, but it was fun. AJ wants to play constantly and its fun to see him getting better each time he plays.