Happy Valentine's Day!

This was our Valentine picture last year. I was between seven and eight months pregnant.

And this is our Valentine's Day pic this year as a family of three!

As you can see, we were "Crazy 4" a certain someone before she was even born.

And because I love my baby girl so much... And because V-Day is TOPS in my book... 

Baby Girl hosted a party for her first Valentine's Day! 

We both had V-Day jammies for the morning 

and a special V-day outfit for the day. 

I loved sharing this day with her. She melts my heart, and I so wanted the day to be special. It almost felt like her first birthday I was so excited!

And we were excited to have our special guests for the day too.  

We had fun activities for the kiddos including decorating cupcakes, 

Charlie Brown's Valentine's Day cartoon, coloring and giving everyone V-Day cards. 

However, Baby Girl wasn't so sure about giving the V-Day cards away. We'd put one in her hand to give to someone, and she was shocked when they took it out of her hand. 

But I think Baby Girl enjoyed playing with her present from her grandma the best.  

It was a super cool rain stick that made a kind of soothing, fun noise.

And Ri LOVED her presents from Grandma too!

Baby Girl also seemed to be super curious about the V-Day cards we made ahead of time for the grandparents. They had her feet prints making a heart.  

Earlier that week, I inked her feet and pressed them on the paper. You could see the wheels turning in her mind when her feet got all stamped up. And afterwards, we washed her feet in the sink. She pretty much loved the whole experience. That helped make the cards easy to create since I didn't stress over the feet placement being perfect. 

We had a fabulous time with our guests, and we're so glad they could come. We missed Jo and Con since he was under the weather. And I wish I would have thought ahead of time to see if Hubs could have taken a little time off to stay home for the morning. But over all, it was glorious. And we had so many treats to share that everyone got a goodie bag to take home too!

Family Fun!

All in all, it was a great day. But by that evening, I, er, I mean, Baby Girl was pretty tired.

She may have worn V-Day jammies for the evening too.

The Second Annual V-Day Party

Tuesday was our second annual Valentine's party.  We hosted friends from our life group and had a marvelous time.  I love putting together the decorations, candies and treats.  It's a whole week of hearts and pink and red!

We enjoyed spending time with these fun people. We are so blessed with the people in our life group and missed those who couldn't make it.  And of course, we included our photo shoot with some new props this year. Hubs made them, and they turned out great.

Unfortunately, we're such a serious crowd that we didn't have any fun at all...

Okay, maybe a little.  Cupid even visited...

Got my Valentine!!

The gang! Aren't we a lovely crowd?

I "mustache"you a question. 

(I think there may have been a little mustache envy going on here.)

Hope you all had a lovely Valentine's Day and were able to enjoy it with your honey too!

2012 Christmas Treats

If you can't tell, I'm catching up. It's not nearly as exciting to see snow and Christmas two months after the fact. But I have one more Christmas craft and baking experience to share from 2012.

My husband asked me to help with doing something for his employees. Loving to bake at Christmas, I immediately began preparing to make our own "Harry & David's" type of baking treats that not only tasted good but looked amazing too.

It wasn't hard to select which delicious treats to include.  Over the past several years, I've been blessed with several great recipes from friends.  One of my favorites is the Christmas Cake Cookies, which recipe I've included at the bottom of this post.  And this year, I added candied almonds (a recipe I found through Pinterest).  The candied almonds are easy and tough to resist while waiting on them to dry.

Thankfully, Martha Stewart was on board with wonderful holiday pastry boxes.

Originally, I bought Chinese take out boxes in Christmas theme, but they weren't large enough for all of the treats.  So, I used them to share some treats with our neighbors.

And I had a little friend keep me company while I worked...

Christmas Cake Cookies (recipe from Meg)

• 3 sticks of melted butter
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 4 1/2 cups flour
• 4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1 teaspoon cloves

Sift dry ingredients in medium size bowl. Mix honey, sugar and butter. Beat until creamed and then add eggs and beat. Add flour mixture and blend together. Chill for 2 hours or over night. Roll into walnut size balls. Roll each ball in sugar. Bake at 350 for 7-10 minutes. ENJOY! (They make the house smell delicious and Christmasy too!)

Oh, Mexico!

Speaking of nicer weather, we just got back from a trip to Cancun.  

And it was a blast!!  

And by blast, I mean relaxing, honeymoon-like and just plain wonderful.  The beach was beautiful...soft, white sand and gorgeous blue tones in the water.  And most of all, it was just me and Hubs. (Well, us and several hundred other employees. :)  

He was chosen as one of the Top Performers of the Year for his company (top 10%). I'm so proud of him. He works hard, and I know that his job can be stressful.  But overall, I think he really enjoys it. Quite a few people on the trip told me how much they appreciate his dedication. 

This was the view from our room.  We couldn't believe the place!  All inclusive, great food, fiesta architecture, amazing service... The hotel was called Fiesta Americana, and that's exactly what it felt like... like we were in Mexico instead of an American resort! And the travel company did a phenomenal job organizing it all. 

For only being gone a total of four days, we fully enjoyed our time. 

...naps, beach time, massages at the spa, tour of the presidential suite, food, naps, listening to the ocean, watching part of a live Pacers game on tv, meeting Hubs' coworkers, fire dancers, food, naps, walking along the ocean every day, seeing a full rainbow, eating lots of chips, lime and guacamole...

But one of my favorite things we did was watching the sun rise. It was a cloudy morning, but the clouds broke just long enough for the sun to burst through.  Pictures can't justify the beauty of the moment. ...but of course, I tried.  Scroll down through the pictures below to watch it as it rises.

Going on this trip was such an amazing opportunity.  And the timing was not only good for us but also Baby Girl. She was able to trust and bond with our family more, and for that, I'm so thankful.  And now, the saying goes, "What happens with the grandparents, stays with the grandparents."  

A new hiding spot under the coffee table.

Such a big girl. Someone besides Mommy feeding her.

A new "toy."

Playing with pots and pans for the first time.

Thank you to my parents for watching Baby Girl. And thank
you to our friends and family who came to visit while we
were gone!  We love you!