Manda & Tony's Wedding 2/25/2011

Crazy Aunt Manda got married!
Married?
Yes, married!
Married?
Married! Sheesh!

Tony and Manda after the Wedding Ceremony

Tony and Manda at the Gateway on our way to dinner at Tucano's

No party is complete without a Sister Picture!

Tony and Manda at Tucano's.

Our Valentine's Day

I wish I had pictures!
But, I didn't know what was happening when I left the house!

Around 4PM, Jared called me and asked me to go outside and look in the car for something. Before I could get to the car door, I saw a plate full of chocolate covered strawberries on the hood. They came with a note that told me to "take a break and go to Hart's for a sodie".

I got to Hart's and the lady behind the counter gave me my mug (that Jared had dropped off there 3 days in advance) and told me that my drink had already been paid for. I wonder by who? Inside the mug was a stuffed frog and a note sending me to Lisa's house.

I got to Lisa's house and she gave me a note and a box with a pair of earrings that I thought I had lost along with two new pairs of earrings. A week before, I had lost one of my favorite silver earrings when I got my hair cut. Or, so I thought. Jared bought me new silver earrings and then found the lost one in my car, so he wrapped them all together. I stayed and visited with Lisa until he called and said I could come home.

I came home to a tablecloth and candles on the table which had been moved into he front room. He had made us a steak, salad, baked potato diner and even had music playing in the background. Music being Reba! He banished the kids to the basement with pizza and a movie and we had a nice, quiet dinner. After dinner, we watched Bed of Roses which was my favorite chick flick from college and required that he dust off the VCR and hook it up!

It was a fabulous Valentine's Day. Jared went so far above and beyond to make me feel special and it worked!

Valentine's Day in Kindergarten 2/14/2011

Every holiday is super-sized when you're in Kindergarten! It doesn't matter how you've celebrated for the last five years, this year will definitely be better!

Josh came home from school wearing his "Special Delivery" valentine costume. He was so funny trying to get out of the carpool van and get his heart on over his coat before coming in the house!

These were his Valentine's that we made for his friends in his class.

And, his Valentine box which had to be the best thing we've EVER created!


Jake and Cam celebrated Valentine's in their classes, too, but they're not up for all of the memory-making photos. Jake's box looked a lot like Josh's. He made it completely himself. Cam's looked similar to the Love Boat, but we left off the frilly pink junk and put S.S.Cam on the back.

Sometimes... 01/22/2011

Sam is really cute.
And, he asks for a prize after going to JoAnn's.
For the fifth time in one week.
And, I oblige.
Then, we glue popsicle sticks together instead of working on our 'wedding jobs'.
(Don't tell Manda!)

Jr. Jazz (Jan-Feb 2011)

Joshie playing ball

All three of the big boys played Jr. Jazz basketball this year. I should probably say all four of the big boys since Jared coached Jake's team! We had games every Thursday and double games on Saturdays! That's a lot of basketball!

Jake & Jared's team did really well. They won most of their games. The 5th-6th grade league plays full court and calls things like traveling & fouls. Jake has enjoyd playing 'real' ball. He even went so far as to declare his career path on his Jr. High registration as NBA All-Star!

Cam played in the 3rd-4th grade league. There aren't many rules and his team didn't have practices outside of the 20 minute warm-ups before games. Cam is ready for rules and fouls - he got a little discouraged, but he stayed with it. I went to the first couple games alone because Jared was coaching at the same time. But, that kid really put on a show for his dad during the third game! He was so excited to steal, shoot, and rebound for Jared!

Josh played his first year of basketball. I was so surprised at how well he could dribble. And run. At the same time! He definitely didn't get that from me! I loved watching his games for so many reasons, but the biggest one was watching all these cute boys and girls smile and wave every time they ran to their parents' end of the court!

Wedding Kitchen

This is what our kitchen looked like for most of February!
OK, I'm lying.
I picked up a few things before I took the picture.

Sam's Happy 3rd Birthday! 1-19-11

Sam loves the Wonder Pets! You know these guys, right? They're Sewious!


So, naturally, we had a Wonder Pet party. We gave all of our friends Wonder Pet capes and then got busy answering the phone calls of animals in trouble! Jake and Cam giggled their way through phone calls from Jared's phone out on the porch and we listened to their calls for help on my phone inside. Once we knew who needed help, we set off the rescue them and get our reward.

First, we saved the Poodle that was stuck on the Statue of Liberty's nose. Just an FYI, I went into the tax place in the AF Costco parking lot and told them what we were doing and they gave us enough lady Liberty crowns for all of our guests! They're awesome!

Next, we saved the poodle that was stuck on the Eiffel Tower (colored by Josh). We all got a little poodle puff for that one!

Then, we had to save the dolphin that was stuck in a net. Our dolphin looked a little bit like a goldfish, but he was a dolphin! We shared gummy dolphins/sharks as a prize.

Lastly, we had to save the chimp that was stuck in space. (We love this episode because the chimp tries to use a banana for a phone!) Our reward was glow-in-the-dark bouncy balls.

The Birthday Boy with his Wonder Pets cupcakes