Love Day

Alright Blog, lets have a crack at it again.....

A few days before Valentines we had a little Valentine exchange with some of our neighbors. Charlie and Blakely made this adorable car valentine box and handed out cars valentines. 

Our Valentines Day started with an early morning heart pancake breakfast. Since we are currently eating gluten free trying to figure out Blakely's allergies, I thought I would be a good wife and make him almond meal pancakes. And oh what a good wife I was. 

Somehow between getting Charlie situated at the table while also preparing the pancake mix I inadvertently added TUMERIC instead of cinnamon! Yikes! Not willing to sacrifice an entire bowl of mix when almond flour is so stinking expensive, I added a bunch of sugar to the batter, smothered the pancakes with lots of syrup and strawberries and chose to not tell Blakely about my error until after he was done. Surprisingly, thankfully, they turned out okay! Not great but edible. The best part was that the little pancakes crumbs stained Charlie's hands and pajamas yellow. 

The rest of the day ran much more smoothly and was quite lovely. Blakely surprised me with these beautiful yellow and coral roses (my favorite colors!) and a fantastic homemade card with a hilariously thoughtful poem.

My favorite lines read:

"Without you, Chars and I'd be a mess,
we would cry a lot and be in a state of depress
Not to mention the state of our tummies
Which would wither and die like Egyptian mummies."

If I die I certainly hope someone will feed my family so they dont mummify!

For lunch, we met up with some of the other babies in the complex for a little picnic. Here, Charlie is sharing the love, leaning in to kiss his little buddy Sienna. This kid LOVES giving kisses. 

Charlie is telling me thank you for his valentines m&ms. Definitely no shortage of chocolate around here.

And the goofiest valentines smiles you ever did see.

We finished the night off with a romantic whole family dinner at Qdoba where they were offering a free meal if you kissed someone in line. Blakely kissed Charlie. Of course. Ha!  Then after quickly putting Charlie down to bed, our sweet neighbors watched Charlie so we could go watch Warm Bodies, the zombie love story which was actually very fun and entertaining.

 I loved sharing this day with the people I love most. 

January Happenings

Besides our great Utah trip, Charlie and I spent the rest of the month Sick, Sick, Sick. Charlie came down with a bad cold the last day we were in Utah and carried it back to Texas to share with the rest of us. After a couple of days of catering to a sick whiny baby, I began to lose my patience. I found myself thinking, "I know you're sick but c'mon! Pull yourself together!" I guess I totally asked for it when I got sick a day or two later and felt TERRIBLE! Probably the worst head cold and sinus congestion I have ever had. It knocked me out and we were both a pair of pathetic sickies confined to the couch for days. Blakely managed to escaped unscathed but Charlie and I were not out and about for about 10 days.

We did manage to peel ourselves from our beds and the couch a few times and find a few things to be happy about :)

Daily walks. This kid would spend every second outside if I let him. He gets this excited EVERY time I take him outdoors. 

We love the little path behind our apartment. 

Charlie has mastered the leg cling.

 Always a litte skinny baby, Charlie has started to put on some weight in the past couple of months and has developed the cutest little belly. Love those skinny legs stickin out from that gut.

And of course reading. Charlie is never far from his books. 

His favorite reading spot at the library.

Charlie with his buddy Sienna reading on the couch.

Good thing they make those grocery carts so comfortable to accomodate those sleep customers :) Poor little guy was still not feeling great and good barely keep his eyes open. 

Back in Sept, Blakely set a challenge for his Teachers quorum to read the New Testament by the end of the year. If they completed their reading, their reward was tickets to see the All American High School Football game in San Antonio where the best high school players from across the country gather for a game.  All 8 boys completed the challenge and they had an awesome time enjoying their 8th row seats.