Love Day with Bean and Boy

First of all, I find it ironic that after I post about my health being so great...I become sick for one of the longest stretches I can remember.  I think when I wrote this post I had a mild cold, but then I caught a nasty bug from S and it will not. go. away.

I mention this in a post about our Valentine's Day because, honestly, I haven't been healthy for six weeks now and doing anything above and beyond for Valentine's Day just hasn't sounded fun to me.  If it weren't for my kids I probably would have skipped it altogether!

I was in charge of Bean's kindergarten Valentine party which was the day before Valentine's Day this year.  It has been so much fun being a 'room mom' and getting to know the other parents and members of the PTA.  The Valentine's party was a little easier than the Halloween party.  I'm not sure why, we did almost the exact same things.  It just felt a little more low-key.  As before, I started emailing parents a few weeks ago.  I am so grateful that so many people were willing to help out.

As I was setting up for the party, 5 minutes before it was supposed to start, I was the only parent there.  I started going in panic mode, wondering if I should hurry and hit up Pinterest or just wing it.  But luckily everyone showed up just as it was about to start!  Bean was sooo excited to hand out her super-decorated-Valentines.  Unfortunately I think she got mixed up on who she'd handed one out to and who she hadn't...and she ran out.  Luckily I don't think her friends will notice if they didn't get one.  The party was over so quickly--we only had an hour and 4 activities to get through.  I considered it a huge success though.  (PS I am so mad because I didn't realize until later that I didn't get one picture of the party!  I guess I was too busy trying to do damage control at the cookie decorating station.)

S's mom did us a huge favor that day.  Boy got sick a few days before.  He was really contagious so I couldn't take him with me (S was working.)  S's mom said she'd watch him for me and I was so grateful--I was afraid I might have to miss the party.  As we were going to pick up Boy, Bean and I delivered her hand-made Valentines to both Grandmas and Grandpas.  I ordered a pizza for dinner and called it a 'very long, but fun' day.

Yesterday was the main event.  S was working and my only plans involved giving Valentines to my kids and making heart-shaped pancakes for dinner.  I had forgotten to leave S's Valentine in his bag before he left for work, so I ended up slamming him with funny and ironic Valentine memes all day.  It was actually a little more fun than what I'd planned on giving him.  I bought a few fun things for the kids this year and, very much at the last minute, made them some cute Valentines using my Silhouette (can I tell you how many times this machine has saved me now?!)  Bean knows from the last few years that I leave them their surprises on the table before dinner, but Boy didn't really understand why I wouldn't let him come in the dining room.  He seemed to catch on pretty quickly.  Bean told me that Valentine's Day was officially her favorite holiday--even better than Christmas.  (Whoa.)

I am so grateful to have these little Valentines of mine.  They make things so much fun!

Resolute 2015

At a time when most people have probably forgotten about the New Year altogether, I am finally publishing my goals for 2015!  It's been nice to have some time to really think about what I want to do this year, though.

1. Craft Room Project Zero.  I have an enormous pile of things I want to do.  Like, crafts purchased and abandoned a decade ago.  My goal is for this pile to be completely gone by December 31, 2015.  My aunt's pictures are a part of this pile, too, so it's going to take a lot of dedication and effort to see if I can get it done!
2. Memorize "The Living Christ."  My heart was touched by Sister Neill Marriott's talk during the general women's session last September.  She talked about a group of Young Women she had visited in Alaska who, as a group, had memorized "The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles."  She talked about how she had decided to memorize it herself.  I, too, decided that I wanted to memorize it as well.  If you look at the document, it actually divides up nicely between 12 months.  I have already memorized the 1st paragraph!
3. Take a Cooking Class.  I have always wanted to take one of those fancy-schmancy cooking classes at Sur la Table.  I have also always wanted to take a cake decorating class.  Most of the cake decorating classes are once a week for a 4-week session, which I could never do working full-time.  Hopefully this is the year I finally get to!
4. Run.  I know, I know.  This is on here every year and every year I find an excuse for not having completed it.  This year, however, I have already bought me a pair of super-spendy running leggings AND I've already done an outside run.  Plus I told S he has to kick me out of the house.  Between S and the guilt I will feel over an item of expensive running clothes in my closet going unused, hopefully this will be enough to motivate me.  It already has!  I'm not setting a distance goal this year.  Of course I would like to do a race or two.  But I was telling S how much this is always on my mind and I know if I just apply myself, I can do it!!  I don't think I'll ever be a marathoner, but a half is totally doable.  Enough talk, more action.  (By the way, my first run outside was the first in a few years--remember I'm a treadmill runner.  I felt FANTASTIC.  I could have seriously kept going.)
5. Have my 2015 Scrapbook done by December 31, 2015.  I know I've mentioned this a few times now, here and on Instagram, but Becky Higgins Project Life App has seriously revolutionized how I am scrapbooking now.  And the best part is that AS OF TODAY I am totally caught up!  My goal is to scrapbook every Sunday and then, at the end of the year when Shutterfly is selling their custom books for super-cheap, upload all of my 2015 pages and have it printed.  Amazing.  Also, I found a great site Chatbooks.com (there's an app too) that automatically uploads all of your Instagrams, along with captions, into a cute little book.  If you subscribe, they are only $6 each and every time you fill a book (60 photos) they automatically send it to you.  I've already gotten my first.  It is great quality and the easiest way I've found yet on a different approach to documenting our family's life.  
6. Try a new hobby with S.  We keep talking about wanting to go kayaking in Yellowstone or doing a snowmobile trip "someday."  I don't know if either of those will happen this year, but it would be fun to try something new and adventurous together.  One of the reasons Costa Rica was so great was that it took both of us out of our comfort zones and gave us the opportunity to try something we wouldn't normally do.
7. Start Bean on piano and Boy on mommy preschool.  I know I've mentioned the piano thing before.  I think there were so many new things going on in her life that it wasn't the right time, but now that Bean has settled into elementary school, I think she's ready.  Also, obviously Boy hasn't been the same child that Bean was (he's had speech delay--I'll post more about that later) so I've had to take a different approach with him.  But I'm hoping that when Bean goes back to school this fall that we can spend some mommy-Boy preschool time together.

Alright, there it is!  Wish me luck.  Also, if you want to see how I did last year, you can check it out here.  Also, keep an eye on my Bucket List.  I'll be knocking a few things off this year!