Our Hodge Podge Family: Round Rock and Valentine's

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. Three kids sometimes takes all of my time! My mom, sister, me and the kids were able to go to Round Rock, TX last week. We had a lot of fun visiting my Aunt Gail (my mom's sister) and cousin, Staci. Staci's husband is deployed until May. They are stationed in CA, but Staci wanted to be closer to her mom while Joe was gone. We took that opportunity to go see her and their three kids. Aunt Gail and Staci both have dogs, so that took my kids awhile to get used to. The boys were okay with the dogs, but Sophie hardly let us put her down. She would scream if the dogs even looked at her! On the trip I finally went to Ikea. It was a little overwhelming, but I loved it! I especially loved their kitchen section. The kids were perfect in the car. It took us 7 hours to get there because of a traffic jam. It only took us 6 hours to get back.

Owen and Evan watching a movie with Duke

Watching Aunt Gail make the kids pancakes. She made them dinosaurs, a seahorse, baseball bat, ball and glove, a little girl and boy, a seahorse, a shark, and an octopus. It was such a special treat!

Aunt Gail made Sophie a necklace. She loves it! My little girly girl.

Sophie and Faith - they are only three days apart. Aren't they cute together?

We went to Aunt Gail's jewelry shop on the way out of town. The boys loved trying on the bracelets.

Sophie with her "neck-neck" that Aunt Gail made her.

Valentine's Day was a lot of fun. I did my traditional thing with Matthew where I give him a gift every day of the week that leads up to Valentine's Day. I always look forward to doing that. Friday night was the night before Valentine's Day, and it was Date Night at our church. Date Night is such a blessing. One Friday night a month they have childcare from 6-10p.m., and it is only $5! Sometimes there is a planned Sunday School party that you can choose to attend, and the rest of them are just for you and your spouse to reconnect. The kids love to go because they get to be with their friends, play in the gym, watch movies, and get fun snacks. And, of course, we love it because it gives us a night without the kids. So we had our Valentine's date a day early which we loved because it was not nearly as crowded as it would have been. We had a nice dinner and then went to Cuppies and Joe. It is a darling cupcake and coffee shop that some friends of ours have just recently opened, and we love to go there when we can. Matthew gave me a short sleeve cardigan and a 3/4 sleeve tunic. I love them both and cannot believe what a great job he did of picking them out! I love that man! He is so good to me.

Saturday morning I made a Valentine's brunch. Here are the strawberry, banana pancakes that we enjoyed. We also had some homemade fruit and yogurt parfaits.