Heart Melter

On Monday, my parents offered to take Matt for a little outing to run errands.  Matt had a dollar that Darin’s parents sent him for Chinese New Year that I told him he could take and buy whatever he wanted. 

A while after they had left, I heard the doorbell ring, followed by a sweet little voice saying, “Special Devlivery!”  When I came around the corner, I found this:

 Of all the things that he could have bought, he told my parents that he wanted to buy me flowers!  What a sweetie!!  I LOVE them!  (He also told my parents that it would make his dad happy).  I love my flowers, and I LOVE that boy!!

Go JAZZ!!

My brother, Ben, offered us some Jazz tickets.

Of course we said yes!

He told me that he only likes to go to the Jazz game if he has good seats, so I was expecting to be up in the nose bleeds.

When I asked him when I could pick up the tickets he said, "When you drop off your kids to have us babysit during the game."  

Tickets and babysitting!!?  BEST EVER!!

Oh, wait, then it gets even better....do you see those tickets?

4th Row!!!

We had SOOO much fun!!  How could you not with a view like this!?

The game was great (Jazz won!), the Jazz bear was hilarious, the seats were awesome, we made the big screen lots of times, and it was just the perfect night!

Thanks so much Ben and Kristy!  You guys are the BEST!!  Seriously, the BEST!!

Happy Mardi Gras!

We had a little belated mardi gras celebration.

We had some gumbo and rolls for dinner

With grape, spinach, and orange banana smoothies.

And for dessert we had some kings cake!

Happy Love Day!

We had a nice Valentine’s Day at our house.

Darin switched work schedules and was able to go in late—

which allowed us have a nice breakfast in bed together.

Matt and Lindsay had their own little Valentine breakfast together.

The strawberry milk was their favorite part.

When Darin got home from work, we had a nice candle light dinner for two by the fire.

We had gorgonzola cheese fondue with apples, carrots, celery, and bread.

Then we had a broth fondue with shrimp, steak, chicken, potatoes, broccoli, and mushrooms.

Last, for dessert, we had a chocolate fondue with bananas, strawberries, and lady fingers.

We had a cute little intruder that joined us for dessert.

Hope you had a happy Valentine’s Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Valentine's Preschool Party

Today we had our preschool Valentine's Party.

I'm into the 3rd trimester with this baby, and have a lot less energy these days.

So, we kept the party simple.

We started out with "Don't Eat Pete" and reviewed all the letters we've learned so far in preschool.

(I found a $0.99 box of heart shaped cheerios that worked out great!)

Then I gave the kids some art supplies and let them go to town making unique valentines.

Then we decorated some cookies.

Last we read, "Have You Filled A Bucket Today?" And "Somebody Loves You Mr. Hatch."

It was a super simple party, but it was fun.

Hodgkinson Valentine Party

My mom had a little Valentine’s Family Home Evening for our family.  We had a yummy fajita dinner, then mom read “Have you filled a bucket today?” and she gave each family their own copy of the book, and each grandchild their own bucket with hearts to fill it with.  After the lesson, the kids decorated sugar cookies and the adults had cake.  It was a really fun night, and a really great lesson.  Matt has been extra helpful trying especially hard to be a “bucket filler!”  Thanks mom and dad!

And here is the cake I made for dessert.

Happy Chinese New Year!!

After church on Sunday we had a little Chinese New Year celebration.

We had some egg drop soup, sweet and sour chicken, rice, dumplings, pot stickers, and Darin made the BEST green beans!  They were SO yummy!

Cute Matt bringing down our dumplings. 

(We had spinach dumplings and leek dumplings and I liked the leek dumplings a lot more!)

My cute little Chinese family!

We had good luck oranges for dessert.

We gave the kids red envelopes with ”money” inside 

(I thought they’d like chocolate money rather than real money).

We played a couple games—chinese proverb mad gab, filling up bowls using chopsticks, and Chinese zodiac cranium.  Then we ended the night by watching Mulan.

Happy Chinese New Year!