Family Pictures

This post is totally out of order, but that is okay. We had these pictures taken the day after Christmas. It was a gift to my parents, as we have no professional pictures of them with the grandchildren or even of all of the grandchildren together. It was SO difficult to schedule. Heather and her family live out of town and tend to be busy seeing friends when they are in town. We also had to work around Mom and Dad's schedule as well. Plus, the holidays are a busy time for everyone. Thankfully, we did find a day that worked for all of us AND for the photographer. The pictures turned out great!

Valentine's Day Celebration - 2017

I really enjoy celebrating Valentine's Day. This year, the boys enjoyed creating some beautiful Valentine's Day cards for their grandparents. They also liked getting some Valentine's Day cards from the store, to give to their friends. Of course, they also included treats as well! Both boys enjoyed Valentine's Day celebrations at school. As a family, we celebrated too. The boys got doughnuts for breakfast and we had a special heart shaped pizza for dinner. We all exchanged gifts too. The boys got lots of candy, as well as toys. We spent the evening playing games together and it was lots of fun.

Carl and I celebrated together at the Melting Pot, which is my favorite restaurant. The food was delicious and we had a wonderful time. I should add that we spent the first part of our date looking for new carpet and flooring. It may not sound too romantic, but we are redecorating our house and I am SO excited for the update! I will also add that Carl surprised me with new plates. I had commented that ours no longer matched and that most of them were very chipped and he remembered that! It was such a thoughtful gift and I really love my new plates.

Happy Valentine's Day, Evan and Preston!

Evan got up early and surprised us with this sweet note that was taped to the wall. He is so sweet!

My Little Valentines

Dinner was delicious and fun!

Date night with Carl was wonderful. I am so glad that my partner is my best friend. He is the best husband and dad and I am so grateful for him.

Goodbye, Parker

We were very fortunate to have our dog Parker for almost 13 years. He was a really great dog. He was sweet, cuddly and very well behaved. Even as a puppy, he rarely misbehaved or got into much mischief. When he was young, he could squeeze out of our gate. He would walk to the end of the driveway, watch what was going on for awhile, and then squeeze back into the backyard. Of course, when he would escape with any other dog, he would be easily persuaded to run all around the neighborhood. I guess he was a big stinker at those times! 

I remember getting him from the local shelter. One of the employees opened his crate for me and he literally jumped out into my arms. He placed his paws around my neck for a "hug" and I knew he was meant to be mine. 

Over the years, Parker had many companions, including Kaiya, Reece, Charlie, Vera and Zelda. He got along with everyone. He was especially good with our boys. He even slept with Evan each night.

 

Sadly, he got confused in his old age and started eating odd things. This caused him great harm and he passed away last week. We are thankful for a wonderful vet, who provided wonderful care and also gave wonderful emotional support to us.

I am so very grateful for many wonderful years with Parker. We have some wonderful memories of all of us together. I just wish wish we had more time together. Parker is loved and greatly missed. 

Rest in peace, sweet boy. We love you.

Happy 9th Birthday, Evan!

Evan just turned 9 years old! We had lots of fun celebrating with family and friends! We started off by celebrating his birthday on his actual birthday. This celebration was just the four of us. Evan loved starting off his birthday with cinnamon rolls and decorations. Daddy got home early and Evan opened his gifts, which he really liked. We also went out to our favorite Mexican restaurant, where Evan got a HUGE ice cream dessert! He then spent his evening playing video games, since he used a homework pass and therefore had no homework!

He celebrated his birthday with Grammy and Granddady on the Friday after his birthday. They picked up Evan from school and took him shopping. He got to choose his own presents, which was really exciting for him! We also got to enjoy another dinner with Mexican food, as that was Evan's choice.  Again...

Evan's final birthday celebration was on Saturday. The Congleton's were in town and they joined us for birthday fun at House of Boom. Aunt Rachel, Uncle Teddy, Alex and Caroline came too and everyone had fun. We came back to the house to play, as well as have lunch. It was lots of fun for everyone!

Evan got the open the gift that the Nickels sent, on the morning of his birthday. He loved the money gift. It was in a tissue box, with a note that read: Happy birthday, Evan. Enjoy your gift, but don't blow it all in one place!

The birthday boy was all smiles!

Preston and I went to Evan's school, so that we could have a class birthday party with his friends. Evan had fun, as did Preston. Preston said it was his best day ever! He was SO excited to see Evan and take him cupcakes. I love that they love each other so much!

Present time!

Happy birthday, Evan!

We all enjoyed celebrating with Grammy and Granddaddy.

House of Boom was tons of fun!

Evan chose pizza for his party. (I was sort of surprised that he did not request Mexican again!)

Evan had a great time at his party with all of his friends and family!

Happy birthday, Evan! We love SO much! We are excited for the next year, which we are sure will be even better than the last one!

14th Wedding Anniversary

This year, Carl and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary. I am so happy to have such an amazing partner. He is such a great husband and friend. He is also the most wonderful father to Preston and Evan. Here's to many more happy years together as partners and as a family.

This is us on our actual anniversary. We had plans for dinner and my parents were going to watch the kids overnight. We had to make a change of plans though, when we found out that our friends Devin and Eric were moving to Florida the following week. We ended up spending the evening with our friends, which was lots of fun and included dinner at Fuji and then drinks at Drake's.

This is us finally celebrating our anniversary at the Melting Pot, which was the original plan. We had a wonderful time together.

Snow Day!!!

We had our first snow of 2017 on January 5th and it was also the first snow day of the 2016-2017 school year. The boys and I had a great time at home. We played games, read, made cookies and had fun making crafts with Perler beads. Of course, the boys had an absolutely wonderful time playing in the snow. They played outside together for at least an hour and played so many fun games. It was such a nice, unexpected day together and we loved every minute!

Evan has been very creative with his Perler bead creations. This time, he just wanted to see if he could cover the whole square with beads. He did it!

The boys enjoyed playing video games together.

Preston got some cuddles from Parker, during a show.

The boys had lots of fun playing in the snow!