Valentine's Day with the Patrick's

On Saturday night, my parents offered to watch the boys so Ryan and I could go out for a romantic date! haha
None the less, we were excited to go out alone!  It doesn't happen often, so when we get to go out, it is very exciting!! 
We went to the Big Bowl in Roseville, one of our favorites.  The wait was an hour, so we enjoyed a beverage and appetizer at the bar while we waited.  It was so fun for us to get to chat and connect.  We did a lot of talking about our hopes and dreams of where we see our family in 1 year, 3 years and 5 years and 35 years.  The joys of being young and having big dreams for our family.  Best Valentine's date-  At the end of our conversation, we decided, we may not (OK, we don't) do things the same way as other families, but we do things our way and could be happier with our lives! :D 
On that note, I called my mom and got the report that Stephen was pretty fussy....  We got our left-overs boxed up and headed home.  Ryan put John down to bed and I rocked Stephen.  JOY <3
My mom brought V-Day goodies for the boys.  John got a little Elmo doll, a few new shirts and shorts for this summer.  Stephen got Sophie the Giraffe! Sophie is a teether, a fancy one at that!  Lucky boys!

On Sunday morning I got to sleep in while Ryan tended to John.  :) (Love this!)  Then we headed to Jana and Steve's.  It was a beautiful, beautiful day!! We hung out and talked about Alana's hockey game the night before, Steve played with John and little Stephen was quite fussy.  It was fun for Ryan and I to chat with Jana about our plans to head south to Florida next winter.  Yay! We are super excited (!!!)
Jana knows her Valentine's: ;)
She got John got a book about animals, Ryan got protein bars and I got chocolate hearts!  haha, Absolutely perfect!  :D  Thank you Nana Jana for thinking of us!
I had to cut our visit short because I was not able to console Stephen, I knew in my gut he must have an ear infection.  When he is fussy, I know he loves to snuggle in our bed with blankets and nurse.  So, that is just what I did with him when we got home. 

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I took Stephen to the Dr this afternoon, and he has a double ear infection... his eighth!!!  We have been referred to an ENT.  SJ's primary Dr thinks tubes may be in our future....

We came home to pot roast and veggies in the crock pot.  Yummy.  For dessert, we had more heart shaped cookies.  Dad frosted his and I did mine and the boy's.  Many laughs at dinner-  Oh, I love my family!! XO

Hey Ry, can you tip the cookies up so I can get a better picture of them?

Sure!!   Hahahaha

John showing off our cookies.  Stephen eyeing them up.

Nummy!!!! 



Where in the world is my cookie?!?!!



Heart Shaped Cookies, Frosting, and Sprinkles

Today I hosted a play date for my mom's group.  I have been a member of Meetup: Moms and Munchkins  since May 2010.  It has been so much fun to get to know a bunch (92 members in total!!) of moms that are currently walking in the same shoes I am! haha  We are all taking life one day at a time, enjoying our new title (MOM) and our new babies.  The best part is having an adult to talk to while the tykes play.

Back to the play date...
This morning, I got the troops ready, myself ready and then we headed out to Cub to pick up my order, (heart shaped sugar cookies and frosting).  As we walked through the store, making our way to the bakery John was loving all the balloons.  Loving them!  He was crazy about them!  I thought, he wants a balloon... Why NOT?!  Most kids want candy, cookies and treats.... John wants a balloon... sure! How about 2?! haha  John picked out one for himself, a red heart.  Then, right away he looked at me and exclaimed, "baby?!"  So, I asked him which one he wanted to pick out for Stephen.   John knew right away- I big balloon shaped like a bear.  Oh boy was he proud and excited.  Anyways, we picked up or goodies and headed home.

Promptly at 9:30 the moms and kids started arriving!  Let the games begin!
I had almost everything set up and layed out. 

Now, on a side note-  I have done cookie decorating when I taught preschool and it always went pretty smooth.  However, today went prefect!!  Wow, it sure makes a difference when there is a 1:1 ratio of kids to moms.  Love this!

And the rest is history.....

John, "frosting" his Heart shaped marshmallow, and licking it off.  And repeat!

Elbow deep in frosting and sprinkles!

Stephen somehow got a hold of a to-go bag... all he wanted was a cookie.  :/

Maybe next year....

Yummy!! Frosting!!! :D



Frosting with her fingers! ;)



I didn't get a group shot... or, many pictures for that matter!  (Thanks Cyndi for letting me steal some of your pictures!)

Fun was had by all!  Thanks everyone for coming over and celebrating Valentine's with the Patrick's.  :D

Ice Dams

This winter has been brutal for our roof!!  On Sunday, it was super nice out and the snow on our roof was melting! :)  (ahh, spring may be in the air!?)

We got a couple quotes for someone to come remove the snow/ice from our roof.... wow, they aren't messing around!!  $300 an hour!  So, Ryan decided to do it himself.  He geared up, and climbed out our bedroom window and started shoveling.  I was seeing dollar signs dancing off our roof and back into our pockets.  :D

Thanks Ryan- very brave.  And, for everyone wondering if this was dangerous... yes, it was.  But Ryan was very careful and took his time.  I stood below ready to help if he slid off the roof into the 4 feet of snow on the ground. 

I didn't document the end result... but he got most of it off and then the sun finished the job!  :D