A Valentine Payback

Valentine's day came and went pretty uneventfully here this year. I think having it on a week day made it hard to do anything above and beyond the school valentine parties. In fact, Kelsie had to remind me about the "tub of love" scavenger hunt we always do. Luckily it wasn't too hard to throw together. Wally went to help clean the temple that night, so things were pretty quiet around here. We did, however, have our traditional Valentine Family Dance, something we look forward to every year. It was tons-o-fun, as Wally would say, and we all got our groove on. The kids were super excited about it and couldn't wait to get the music started. I'm so happy that our kids still like to do it. Wally and I love to ham it up for the kids and dance all funny and crazy. Kelsie impressed us with a few new moves of her own, and Brandon always throws in some break dancing. Caleb wasn't feeling real great during the dance so he was happy to just play with balloons and throwing his socks around the room. Isaac got into it this year and bounced up and down to the beat as much as his little legs would allow.

Valentine Dance 2012 from Ronni Paxton on Vimeo.

I told Kelsie that with her awesome moves, she will totally rock the dance floor when she's old enough to go to dances. I was never like that. I remember going out of the room with my friends during fast songs because I was too embarrassed to dance. The dance circles? No way. I stayed away from those like the plague. Not any more though. Good thing I've got Wally to enhance my dorkiness (we're pretty good together like that).

Girl You Know Its True from Ronni Paxton on Vimeo.

I guess this is payback from the kids to all the things that I've posted about them.

Valentine's Day Recap

I realize that Valentine's Day has come and gone and I have a habit of not posting anything if it gets too far away, so I figured now's as good of time as any.

I could go on and on about how fun our Valentine's weekend was and describe in great detail all the things that happened around here, but I don't want to bore you with all the particulars.

I could tell you all about our 3rd Annual Valentine's Dance held in our basement. I could tell you how Kelsie played a major part in the play list this year which subsequently meant lots of HSM songs and how Brandon would only dance to the "boy" songs. I could also tell you how Caleb hung out at the dessert table and filled and refilled his cup with M&M's until he single-handedly ate them all. I could also tell you the new favorite song of the night was the Chicken Dance and that it was played more than once while everyone danced their best impressions of a chicken. I could also mention how fun it is to watch me dance the Chicken Dance heading into my 3rd trimester (and BIG belly), but I won't do that. It might be too much information.

I also could tell you all of the hard work that was put into Kelsie's Mad Lib Valentine's for her classmates and that they were the big hit of the day. You might also be interested in knowing that cutting out Valentine's printed off the computer proved to be a little too much for Brandon to do, so instead, after I gathered all the supplies and got everything ready, all he had to do was tape on a joke (which also proved to be a little too much for my non-crafty son). I could also mention how cute Caleb's paper airplane Valentine's he made for the family was, but that might be taking it a little too far.

I could also tell you how Brandon couldn't wait to open his Valentine's from everyone else, but didn’t bother to hand out any of his own. While Kelsie, on the other hand, worked very hard on her Valentine for him and was quite offended that he couldn't quote it back to her the next day. I could also tell you all about the scavenger hunt held throughout the house for the 2nd annual "Tub of Love" and how the candy was consumed in record breaking time, but again, I won’t do that to you.

I could also tell you how great our homemade egg rolls turned out to go along with our Vietnamese Salad for dinner and that we were even able to convince the kids that anything fried is almost guaranteed to appease their taste buds.

But I won't tell you about all that. It could be TMI.

What I will tell you is that we had a great day and that we made some great memories. Spending time together as a family ranks up high on our list of priorities and we had a great time together. And, there was something big that happened. Valentine’s Day was the last day that Caleb wore a pull-up. He has worn underwear ever since (except at night, but he actually has stayed dry at night too for the last week). He finally earned the Diego underwear that he’s been eyeing at the store! He’s such a big boy now and even locks us out of the bathroom to take care of business all by himself (I keep a screwdriver handy so I can get in quick if he needs a little help in the wiping area). It feels so good to be diaper free again—at least for the time being!

**I apologize for no pictures, but the computer is having some technical difficulties and I will try to post some in the next couple of days!**

Love Day Dance

Ahhhh, love is in the air! Did you get bit by the Lovebug this year? We had such a fun Valentine's Day! We had our annual Family Valentine's Dance Saturday night and it was the best one we've had yet! Kelsie was excited to decorate the basement with streamers and balloons while the rest of us cleared the room of toys to create our dance floor and protect our feet! We began the night with homemade heart shaped pizza's for the kids to eat and then sent them on a little treasure hunt to find their box of Valentine cards and goodies. They had a great time running all over the house looking for the clues!

Our dance started as soon as the "tub of love" was found and we spent the next hour dancing away! Kelsie and Brandon really got into the dance this year, moving to the beat like never before. Wally taught Kelsie a few swing dance moves and that took our dance to a whole new level! We all contributed to our playlist which included everything from The Wiggles for Caleb to The Boys Are Back from HSM3 for Brandon. Our Valentine's dance wouldn't be complete without Kelsie and Wally's special song, Butterfly Kisses.

This is one of our favorite family traditions that we have. It's always fun, chaotic, and everything in between. We loved how Caleb would ride his new scooter through the dance floor, oblivious to anything that was going on, and how Brandon would take a break from dancing to play with his Bakugan's. Kelsie was as beautiful as ever and danced to every single song. We love our family and all the fun things we do together.

When the dance was over, and the kids all sugared up and in bed, Wally and I celebrated our Valentine's Day by making our own Chinese food take-out. My sister-in-law gave me her Kung Pao Chicken recipe, and I found a Fried Rice recipe online. We also made Moo Shu Noodles to go along with our meal and all the food turned out so yummy! We ate as much as we could (probably more than we should have eaten) and then talked for a while. It was such a fun, relaxing Valentine's day and I wouldn't have changed anything about it!

Happy Love Day!

Dancing "V" Night Away

While we lived in Pennsylvania, Wally and Kelsie always went to the daddy/daughter dance at the YMCA for Valentine's Day. When we moved to Washington, we tried to find a dance for them to go to without much luck. To complicate things a little more, Caleb was born just two days before Valentine's day so things got a little hectic for us. Wally still managed (with a lot of help from my mom) to put up some decorations and find some music for our own little dance we had at home. Now that we're in Illinios (I know, it's hard to keep up with all our moving around, just stay with me) we tried to find a dance for them to go to, and then just decided that having our own dance at home was a lot more fun! We decorated our basement with streamers and hearts, turned on some good music and had fun dancing! We made some sugar cookies for refreshments which were set up in the corner to decorate complete with pink and purple frosting and tons of sprinkles. Brandon especially enjoyed licking the knives (shh, don't tell anyone!). Our genre of music pretty much covered everything from the Star Wars theme song for Brandon to High School Musical songs for Kelsie. Wally even tried to put on one slow song for us to dance to, but realized it's not as fun when you've got a kid hanging onto your back pockets. We had a really fun time dancing and are already looking forward to next year when we are hopefully going to expand it and make it a real daddy/daughter dance.

Dad and Kelsie dancing to their song, Butterfly Kisses

Caleb's idea of fun during the dance

Brandon's idea of dancing was having a lightsaber fight with Dad