Monroe's prayer

Monroe wanted to pray before dinner tonight.  We told her to go ahead.  She prayed, 

"Thank you Jesus.  Thank you food.  Thank you healthy.  Thank you family.  Amen."

She is such a beautiful blessing!

Valentine's Day

Last year, I didn't take a single picture on Valentine's Day, so I made sure to this year.  

Our family on Valentine's Day

Monroe opening her present from us

a ball,

bubble bath,

and big girl panties

Our "Love Bug"

Monroe made this for us at Mikki's.

This is what I made Zach.  His top love language is words of affirmation.  I am not good at giving words at all.  I made this to help me be intentionally affirming.

On Friday night Zach made me Banana's Foster, my favorite dessert in the world!  When he lit it on fire, I recorded it, but it wasn't as exciting as we expected.  Even so, the end result was delicious!

On Saturday night, Zach and I went out to Fuji for our Valentine's day.  I had just been there a few weeks ago with some friends, but Zach had not eaten on the Hibachi side of the restaurant in a year and a half.  The food was wonderful, and it was fun to have a night to ourselves.

Party Hut

Today, we had the day off of school because of conferences.  We planned our February play date for this morning at Party Hut.  

Monroe needs help climbing ladders to get to slides, so I played with her.  It was great exercise for me.

Monroe, Landon, and Ady

Monroe and Lily

Braxton and Hudson

Jumping with Paisley, Landon, and Will

Climbing through the tube

I could be wrong, but I think this might be the first play date that everyone was able to make it.  

(Jadyn, Paisley, Aubree, Hayden, Monroe, Landon, Will, Jake, Faith, Brynlee, Grace, Hudson, Lily, Adysen, and Braxton)

 It was a great way to start a long weekend!

She earned her first M&M's!

This post falls under the category of Things I do now that I could not have imagined doing before having kids.

Monroe started talking about going potty and wanting to sit on the big girl chair at about 18 months.  We didn't want to push the issue (it was obviously early), so we never made a big deal of it.  We just let her sit on the potty when she asked.  Once we would sit her down, she would count to ten and then say, "All done!  M&M's?"  We would then remind her that she only got M&M's if she went potty.  

After church today, Zach noticed that she was dry, so he took her in and set her on her potty chair.  We sat and read a book for a few minutes.  All the sudden Monroe jumped and got a scared look on her face.  I looked down, and then I started freaking out, which scared Monroe even more.  She had gone potty in the potty chair for the first time.  Zach went and got the M&M's, we had a dance party, and we took pictures.  We obviously have a long way to go, but we are now passed the first time.

Monroe posing with her potty!

January phone dump

I failed at taking pictures this month.  I took hardly any on my phone and none on my camera.  I have to be better in February.

Static Electricity!

Building Monroe's first snowman

Giving her snowman a hug

Monroe wanted to workout with Daddy

Whatcha doing?

The group of girls that Monroe and I had play dates with this summer has been meeting once a month this school year for play dates.  Each mom picked a month and is planning an activity.  Earlier this month, we were talking about the January play date.  We decided it was about time for us moms to have a play date of our own.  So, the kids stayed home with their dads, and we all met at Fuji Japanese Steakhouse.  Afterward, we went to Bandits.  We all agreed it was a much needed night away. The three moms who weren't able to make it want to do it again really soon.

We babysat Landon a couple weeks ago.  It was fun to watch Monroe and Landon play.

Monroe asked me to take a picture of her with her glasses.