Happy Love Day

I had to be "awesome Mom" again this year so we made our own valentines for the two little ones to take to their classes.  Thank goodness for the internet.  I don't have to tap into my creative juices anymore, I can just use someone else's instead.  Saves a lot of brain power!  I can tell you that I will never do the glow sticks again though.  You have to be so careful with them to keep them from cracking and using up all the glow before your little friend actually gets it.  Actually I don't think the bubbles was online so I guess I did a little thinking for myself.  Luckily the kids are young enough that  they couldn't start thinking of inappropriate things about the blow me away statement.  I hate how you have to think about things so much to be sure something cannot accidentally sound vulgar.  On valentines day Emma had to go in to school, which was an extra day for her, so I hurried and covered some strawberries in chocolate for her to take to school for her and her friends to help make it through the day.  That is her hand in the picture sneaking into them before they were set up.  They were a big hit at school.  Truth be told, homemade choc covered strawberries is probably my favorite treat of all time.

Jared Turns 14

It's hard to believe that my little Jarbear is 14 already.  We had a pretty low key birthday for him which is just his style.  Every time I try to get him to do something his response is always, "why, people will be there, I don't like to be around people."  As I mentioned, he got a new suit and a bow tie and tie.  I also got him a new white shirt in an adult size for him to wear and luckily they make slim fitting shirts that fit is trim little frame much better than a regular fit does.  I also mentioned the red pant fiasco, but I took those back and luckily he liked everything else I got for him.  He got a pair of pants, sweats, a couple shirts and a new hoodie and a game for the computer that he has been wanting.  He really wanted an italian cream cake that the two big box stores usually carry in the summer but sadly they didn't not have them this time of year.  So sad.  Luckily valentines day is the day after his birthday so there is always red velvet around which is his next favorite so we had that.  We took him to dinner on Monday because Nate has been on call all week and he wasn't sure if he would be home on his actual birthday or not.  Jared was pretty mad at me that I tried to discretely tell the lady who seated us that it was his birthday.  Luckily the waiter got so distracted by our overdone steaks that they forgot all about the singing so he breathed a sigh of relief.  I just have a couple years left to turn him into a gentleman and get him ready to serve a mission and then it's off to school to be a neurosurgeon, at least that's what he wants to be as of right now.  Four years is in just the blink of an eye.

Cooking with Pressure

As you know, I have been on a canning kick as of late.  I did not, however, own a pressure cooker until Christmas.  I know, I know, I am only just now pulling the poor thing out to use it.  What led to my need for the cooker was trying to make black bean soup in my crockpot.  It did not work at all!  The beans never got soft!  I was determined to try again because this is one of my favorite soups at the deli.  As with a canner you have to babysit it until the weight begins to rock evenly.  What to do while I'm waiting?  Watch my newest obsession.  We decided about 3 weeks ago to turn off our direct tv and go all live streaming.  It was a bit of a scary leap but I was ready to be unchained from the beast.  It was a hideous amount of money every month and I want the tv on less in our home.  Sometimes you run into the problem where you want to watch the current season of a show and the carrier that provides that service doesn't own the rights to the show yet.  No worries, that's what my mini is for.  I have had to give up some of my favorite shows, but I find that I really haven't minded and I have much more time for projects and reading.  One of my projects was using my new toy and I was able to watch my show, downton abby, while I babysat my most delish pot of black bean soup.  Cooking with pressure is amazing! :0)

Bow tie

We decided that for Jared's 14th birthday he needed a real suit.  One from a nice store where it has to be altered to fit him just right.  Jared is also obsessed with a show about a Dr that times travels by the name of Who.  Bow ties are big in that show.   He already owned one from about a year ago but he didn't like the color and it really hadn't become main stream popular yet so he stopped wearing it.  This time he bought a more tame color and gave Dad his old one.  The cute thing was that Jared actually had to show his Dad how to tie a bow tie.  They are pretty hard to get just right but he was a very patient teacher.  Jared also likes to watch videos on how to tie more extravagant knots in his ties.  It was a fun moment.  Don't my boys look handsome?  The suit should be done tomorrow so I will be posting a picture of him in all his handsome glory then.

Seeing Red

Before I begin, I must clarify the color of these pants.  They are really a rust color and not crayon red like they appear.  It is Jared's birthday on Wed and his least favorite thing is to shop for clothes.  He thinks he is too old to try and find a style and so he doesn't want to put any effort into the clothes selection process.  He does like to wear brown denim and a khaki every now and then along with the standard jean.  The only thing he is sure about is that it needs to be a slim leg, but not super skinny....which he did for a short time.  Well, other than brown you don't have a lot of choices of color for pants.  This season though they have all kinds of colors in mens pants.  I thought I would mix things up a bit for him and brought these home.  They wouldn't sell something that people wont wear would they? :0)  Remember they are rust!  Well, I got a look like I was spawned from some demon planet because I thought he would wear something like that.  Apparently you have to be either weird or gay to own such a color of pants.  My bad.  I thought Jared was just being picky but when Emma saw them I got the same look from her that Jared gave me.  They both bombarded me with questions like, "do you want me/him to get beat up?" When Nate walked in he said absolutely never would any boy of his wear colored pants.  Well, a big miss from Mom.   Lesson learned.  Colored jeans = no bueno! ps, they are back hanging on the rack at the store if anyone is interested in them :0)

Bandits

I apparently have some silly face bandits hiding out in my house.  These two little munchkins took 100 pictures of themselves on my mini.  I had no idea until I was looking for a picture in my photo stream and I happened upon the mayhem.  They were having themselves a good ole time and left the evidence for me to find.  

Pink Mustache

The kids and I were making their valentines for their class when we decided to play with some pink mustaches that I bought.  Mustaches can really brighten a day and make a tedious task more exciting.  My two little ham bones love to pose for the camera so we documented the silliness.  I wonder how long this mustache craze will go on.  We are enjoying ever minute of it until it is no longer cool.

Something Super about a Bowl

Normally we don't do anything for this super day.  In fact, I believe we have celebrated 1 other time in the 18 years we have been married.  Our friends invited us over and bribed us with food, so how could we say no?  We ate and chatted and kinda watched football, but mostly just the commercials.  For dessert we had ice cream sandwiches.  I didn't want my cookie to get soggy so i just dipped it in my super yummy ice cream and made myself sick.  It was a fun night and it reminded us that we really need to make an effort to be social.

P and P

I took the kids to see another play.  When I bought the tickets I had no intention of taking Ethan and Jordyn to this particular show, however, Emma and Jared both had too much work to do.  I couldn't very well let all the tickets go to waste so I dragged my friend, Kim, along because she shares my love of pride mixed with some prejudice and loaded up the little ones.  I had no idea what to expect.  The school matinees are reduced to 1 hour productions.  This one however they decided not to reduce the time.....Uh oh.  AND it was a radio production.  This meant that they would each play several characters and it was all speaking behind a microphone.  I thought it would be kinda fun since I'd never seen anything performed in that way before.  I guess you can hear these productions on the radio just like old times before television.  Well, that was my second 'Uh Oh."  I was with 2 wee little ones that were going to have a hard time staying entertained.  There was lots of squirming and Jordyn telling me she was confused as to who was supposed to be who because some of them played 3 characters.  When intermission came I asked my friend if she would mind terribly if we called it a day so that I could rescue my children from their boredom.  Live and learn, I say.  I was enjoying myself but couldn't stand to see the kids suffer. To make up for it we went and got some yummy lunch and ice cream cones and then the kids managed to con me into not taking them back to school.  I guess their day turned out to be not so bad after all.