This day in history

I always love looking back through all my pictures last night.
 I love remembering what life was like at that moment when I snapped those pictures.

This usually makes me smile at how cute the kids were at that time.

But also makes me sad at how fast time goes and they are not my little babies anymore.

I love every stage and age the kids go through.  

It brings with it new things and adventures.

I thought it would be fun to go back through the past years and 

share pictures from this day (or as close to as I can).

2000

Josh and I went on our first date.

We went bowling with a group of people for Tanya's birthday!

{2/20/00}

2001

Hanging with two of best friends!

{2/17/01}

2002

Josh and Michelle (8 months old)

{2/24/02}

2003

Michelle

1 1/2 years old

{2/25/2003}

2004

Michelle chalking outside in the parking lot of our new apartment on Judson Street.

2 1/2 years old

{2/21/04}

2005

Michelle my little thumb sucker

3 1/2 years old

{2/20/05}

2006

Michelle our little princess.  Her room was princess overload at this age.  She had dolls, posters, make up, dressup clothes, you name it and it had princess on it.

Also at this time I was about 2 1/2 months pregnant with Jordan.

{2/24/06}

2007

Jordan

6 months old

{2/7/07}

Josh and I got engaged in February too!

{2/10/07}

2008
Jordan was a very busy toddler!  He loved to be outside playing.
When we lived in the Oakwood apartments they had a small playground right out our back door.
He loved to climb up the slide the wrong way and then slide back down on his tummy.
1 1/2 years old

{2/22/08}

Michelle built a snowman with my dad at their house.
6 1/2 year old

{2/28/08}

2009
The family on Valentine's Day
Jordan-2 & Michelle-7

This was also our last month spent as renters!
And the end of February we purchased our first house!

2010

Celebrating Danny's (brother-in-law) Birthday at Joel & Christine's house (my brother & sister-in-law).

Rock band was big with us that year!

{2/21/10}

2011
My number loving boy
4 years old!

{2/20/11}

I heart faces {hugs & kisses}

This week's theme is hugs and kisses

A couple of weeks ago I took my two kiddos to a local park to get some pics of them.

I usually take them individually so I really wanted to get some cute ones of them together.

I let them know if they listened and made this some what painless for me they could ice cream.

They earned that ice cream!

It was hard to choose which one to share :)

You can view my favorites here and here.

I love hearing your feedback so please leave a comment below!

Check out other amazing photos here!

time well spent

As most of you know I am a stay at home mom.  

So I am home all day with Jordan and Michelle.
I am the woman who does it all.
Cooks, cleans, runs the house, makes sure the kids are doing what they are supposed to be doing, knows who needs what, where they need to be and when, and my name is always being said to answer a question or help with this.
You get the idea.

But lately I have realized that even though I am here and
 present but I don't really spend that much one on one time with the kids.

Like get down on the floor and play, paint finger nails quality time.

 I am usually doing my thing cleaning, cooking, running the house, ect.

Meanwhile they do their thing.

Jordan and I talk all day long and interact.

 I "look" at his latest creation when he asks me too.

I help take his toys up and down the stairs.

I help with homework questions after school with Michelle.

We love watching  snuggle shows in the evenings.

But I rarely stop what I am doing or take a break between tasks to just sit on the floor and play.

I can be a very selfish mommy.

 Always wishing for more time for myself to do what I want to do.

I get time...lots of it...but I am still always wanting more.

I look forward to bed time not because I get to tuck the kids in bed and spent a few moments with them but so I can have uninterrupted time on the computer.

In the end my family is so much more important then any of those things.

 I don't EVER want my kids to think that I never had time for them.

I have all the time for them!

I want to show them that.

This is something I really want to work on.
To just let everything else go for a bit and just enjoy them.

Yesterday I decided the laundry could wait.
I wanted to spend some time with Jordan.

So we played two games of Guess Who, played a game of sorry, and "played" angry birds.

An hour flew by!

It was a lot of fun!

Love Day

We kept our Valentine's Day pretty low key.

I love doing little things to make any holiday a little more special and memorable.

Our garage is stuffed with totes that I have filled with special things for each holiday.

So today I pulled out all the plates, place mats, cups, ect.

For breakfast I made Chocolate chip banana pancakes.

Recipe here.

{my simple breakfast}

Michelle and Jordan both went off to school with their Valentines.

Jordan was having a party the last hour of his class so I went to that.

When I arrived I was the second parent there so they were able to start the party!

The class was divided into two groups and I took one group to the bouncy house.

After a while we switched and went to the play structure to play.

Then it was time to head back to the class room for passing out cards and snacks!

{Jordan's school Valentines}

{Michelle's school valentines}

{candy loot that came with valentines}

We kept our gifts for the kids simple this year.

Knowing they would get enough sugar and treats from school.

We just picked out an item for each child and a small treat.

For Michelle I picked out a t-shirt and tank top to layer.  

That apparently is all the style now.

For Jordan we got an angry bird toss game.

I love decorating for fun occasions.
I set to work as soon as the kids finished snack.

Jordan wanted to share his candy with everyone so he went around and placed one at each spot.
Michelle decided that was a nice idea so she too shared a piece of candy with everyone at the table.

When Josh came home he brought flowers for Michelle and I.
As Josh was handing Michelle her flowers Jordan was super excited because he thought the red roses were for him.  When Josh told him they were for me he got really sad.  So we pulled one out for him and put it in a little jar at his place.  He was very happy!

{Michelle's flowers}

{My flowers}

{Jordan's flower}

Josh was amazing and came home and jumped right into making dinner for us!

Steak, potatoes, and strawberry milk shakes!

After dinner we opened up cards and gifts!

My parents stopped by on their way home from dinner to visit.

Jordan got grampa to play some angry birds with him.

After they left we watched a snuggle show (the voice).

It was a nice, relaxed family evening.

Nothing fancy but alot of fun!