Our lives: A typical weekend day in February...

Olivia playing in the foam pit at her Gymnastics class at Westside Gymnastics

Foam pit fun

I thought I would write a post about what a typical weekend day in February looks like for us now that Olivia is 2.5 years old and Brandon is 5.  The kids have been waking up a bit later at around 7:00 AM usually and they usually come into our room and love to lounge in bed with us until we all wake up.  They usually watch a show (or two) on the I-pad while Sean and I attempt to sleep a bit longer.  We are usually all up and out of bed by 8:00 AM.  Sean usually goes to the gym one of the weekend days (or sometimes both).  Then we get the kids ready for their Saturday morning activities which for Brandon is swim lessons at 9:15 at the YMCA and for Olivia is gymnastics at 9:30 at Westside Gymnastics in the 2.5-3 year old class.  

Brandon at his swim lessons

Kicking away at his swim lesson



Brandon loves his swim lessons

Swimming almost on his own


After gymnastics and swim lessons, Sean and I usually meet at the grocery store, usually either Trader Joes, Fred Meyers, and sometimes we go to New Seasons.  We plan out our meals for the entire week beforehand.  Sean really likes to cook on the weekends and makes some yummy food usually from his favorite food website Tasty.  During the week lately, I have been making one crockpot meal from my favorite website Family Fresh Meals.  

Olivia and Brandon love the car cart at New Seasons (they also have them at Fred Meyers)

Silly Brandon at New Seasons

After grocery shopping we usually come home and Olivia needs to nap.  Brandon doesn't nap at home any more usually hangs out with us or a lot of times has play dates like his good friend Andrew (from Rocking Horse) and Gavin (also from Rocking Horse).  Brandon recently has started playing the Wii and loves playing Mario Kart with Daddy (and mommy too!).  Daddy usually makes dinner and then we all have dinner together.  We round up the day with usually letting the kids watch their favorite show (lately Peppa Pig) before bath time.  The kids recently have been bathing separately as Brandon loves showering in our huge shower in our Master bathroom.  Olivia loves spreading out and taking baths in our big bath tub.  She also loves usually the bath tablets that change the bath tub water various colors.

A serious game of Mario Kart going on!

Look at them go!

Bathing beauty in the pink bath (her favorite color)


After bath time, the kids usually rough house with Daddy for a bit before bed time.  They love playing Nerf Shooter guns with Daddy and they also love playing chase and hide and seek.  Then we brush teeth, both kids go potty, and we read stories.  Sometimes the kids read together and sometimes they read separately (with Sean reading with Brandon and me reading with Olivia). Both kids love the Elephant and Piggie books right now.  Olivia loves reading her Madeline collection book too.  I get Olivia to sleep usually by rubbing her back and then I go into Brandon's room (where he is usually awake if he has napped during the week, not on weekends though where he is usually asleep) and read to him a chapter from Little House on the Prairie.  By then it usually about 9:30 PM and then I get about an hour to myself before its time for me to go to bed...the hour is usually spent watching House Hunters or something on HGTV:)

Valentine's day 2016

Olivia on the left in her heart Valentine's day jammies this year at 2.5 years old and Olivia on the right in the same jammies at 19 months last year

Being in a new house, I have had so much fun decorating for holidays this year.  I have a really fun big window near the dining room that I have dedicated to being my holiday window where I can put cute holiday decor on the ledges.  My favorite store for getting cute holiday stuff-Marshalls, Home Goods, and Pier One!  Valentine's Day was on a Sunday this year.  The kids did fun crafts and had Valentine's parties at their school leading up to Valentine's day.  Brandon and I made these cute little dino-cards for his teachers as a fun craft one day.  On Friday before Valentine's Day both Brandon and Olivia had Valentine's day exchanges in their classrooms and parties.  Brandon's school had a cute brunch with fruit and waffles.  I got to be there when Olivia's class did the Valentine's Day card hand out which was really fun.  Brandon picked out Ninja turtle masks and we added some candy to them and Olivia picked out Minnie Mouse Valentine's Day cards and lolly-pops.  It was really cute because Olivia wanted to give the special Minnie and Daisy Valentine's day card to her BFF Lauren in her class.  I figured next year we may try to be more creative with the Valentine's Day cards once Brandon is in Kindergarten.  Both kids really enjoyed opening up their cards and looking at them and of course loved all the candy!



 

 

 

Brandon and my fun little craft-thanks pinterest!

Olivia and Brandon before their School's parties

In front of the Valentine's day decorations at our house

Brandon and Olivia not always looking at the same time:)

All dressed up for Valentine's day-Brandon's shirt says "Be My Matey"

The smile looks a bit forced...but still cute

Eating brunch at Brandon's school (Horizon Christian Learning Center)

Yum-strawberry waffles

Olivia loves visiting Brandon's schoool

Looking at his Valentine's day bag

Excited for his Valentines

Group shot

My little Valentines

Brandon and his pals at school

Circle time at Olivia's school Rocking Horse where they did their Valentine's exchange

Waiting for their Valentines

Excited to exchange!

Olivia's Valentine's day bag-a decorated frog

Valentine's Day was a Sunday and the kids waited patiently all day for cupid to come.  Cupid usually comes just before dinner time when it is just starting to get dark out.  He rang the doorbell and then the kids found two cute heart goodie boxes.  Both kids seemed to really enjoy what cupid left them!  It was a very fun Valentine's day, the first one in our new house!



Valentine's day boxes that cupid left

Loved my gold heart that I hung on the front door

Excited that Cupid came and rang the doorbell!

Looking at what cupid brought

Olivia was most excited for the candy of course!

Already digging into her candy

Brandon got a Pokémon wii game!

Looking some more in his basket

Brandon also got some Pokémon cards!

Olivia got some Frozen sunglasses

My little Valentine

My other little Valentine

Excited to play his new game

Also super excited for his Pokémon cards

And her candy was gone in like 20 minutes!

Sean made me an awesome dinner for Valentine's day of Filet Mignon steak, roasted asparagus, and shrimp.  We had yummy Marion berry cheesecake for dessert from New Season's.  The kids were around but were distracted by a TV show we plugged them into so we actually got to have a nice dinner together.  We also got to go out the following Friday by ourselves to Urban Fondue to celebrate a late Valentine's day by ourselves while my mom graciously watched the kids.

Yummy Valentine's day dinner with yummy Acrobat Willamette Valley Pinot Noir

Sean and I also got to go out and celebrate Valentine's day just the two of us the Friday after Valentine's Day when my mom was able to watch the kids for us so we could go out to dinner at Urban Fondue.  Despite battling a terrible cold (that I later found out had turned into Strep throat and a terrible throat infection), we had a great time without kids enjoying the yummy fondue,, dessert fondue, and cocktails.  It was great getting out just the two of us!