Oh My Goodness!

Has it really been nearly two weeks since my last post?  I'm so sorry to anyone who actually reads my posts.

We have been busy with our normal schedule around here....
Monday - Preschool for Ben, TCF for Mommy and Sam, and the office for Daddy; then after dinner yoga for Mommy while Daddy puts the boys to bed.
Tuesday - errand day....enough said.
Wednesday - Preschool for Ben, Mary comes to take Sam for a bit, Mommy and Sam head off to TCF, Mary picks Ben up from school, Daddy goes to the office; yoga for Mommy after dinner, bedtime for the boys.
Thursday - Mary spends the day with the boys while Mommy goes to the kitchen for her "Meals By Maggie" day, and Daddy (you guessed it) goes to the office.
Friday - Ben to Preschool, Daddy to the office, Mommy and Sam do errands and go to playgroup; Music class in the afternoon.
Saturday - TCF for Sam with either Mommy and Daddy and we do whatever needs to be done.
Sunday - Church and home chores.

That's pretty much the story every week.  Obviously we are into a routine and things are going well or I would have posted something much more interesting.

Speaking of interesting.....we are leaving town on Thursday to go on vacation!
We will meet Grandma and Grandpa in Redding at Auntie Pauline and Uncle Howie's on Thursday.  On Friday Brian and I will be dropped off at the Redding Airport to fly to Los Angeles.  The boys will make the trek with G&G to Happy Camp for 11 entire days!!!! 
Brian and I will then depart LA on Saturday morning and fly into Cancun, Mexico, where we will meet his parents and Aunt Janet and Uncle Roger.  From Cancun we will drive about 40 miles to Playa del Carmen where we will stay a night right by the beach.  After some activities around Playa we will head a bit further south to Tulum, Mexico, to stay in some beachside cabanas and explore the ancient Mayan ruins.  From Tulum we head even further south into Belize where we will be staying in a small village in the Orange Walk District.  We'll be in Belize for about five days and hope to see more ruins, do some snorkeling, try out the food of Belize and even get a cooking lesson, see a performance by Mayan dancers, and most importantly....RELAX!
Once our time is up in Belize we'll head back north to Mexico again and come back to the states and the boys.
Once we're home and settled again you can expect some serious blogging and photos!
Adios y hasta luego!

My Funny Valentine

Our little family started planning early for Valentine's Day this year. It all started with the Valentine's Day party listed on Ben's preschool calendar.  Because Ben is always anxious to do arts and crafts projects we decided to visit Michael's Craft Store on a visit to Reno to get the necessary supplies.  Some blank cards with envelopes, construction paper, glue, and googly eyes turned into these cards in which we also enclosed stickers for each of Ben's classmates.

Since Valentine's Day fell on a Sunday this year all the boys dressed in red shirts to attend church and other activities later on in the day.

We also decided to make Valentine cookies to share with our friends.

Our Valentine's Day evening was incredibly fun for all of us.  The boys were invited to the Ferrall family home for dinner, crafts, and fun while Brian and I had an evening for ourselves.  We were lucky to have been previously given a gift card to the Hyatt so we opted to attend the special Valentine's Day dinner at the Lone Eagle Grille right on the lake. 

The four course menu was superb with Brian having the Baked Fanny Bay Oysters with Wilted Arugula, and Dungeness Crabmeat, Blood Orange Sauce Maltaise with Caviar & Red Salad with Marinated Root Vegetables, Black Truffle Vinaigrette & Sautéed Dover Sole with Artichoke Hearts, Pearl Potatoes and Pine Nuts &  Chocolate Cake Marquise with Sauce Anglaise and Frozen Apricot Parfait with Raspberry Sauce. 

I enjoyed Smoked Duck Breast Napoleon with Caramelized Apples, Walnuts and Parmesan Tuiles & Red Salad with Marinated Root Vegetables, Black Truffle Vinaigrette & Mesquite Grilled Beef Tenderloin with Wild Mushroom Hash, Madeira Sauce & Chocolate Cake Marquise with Sauce Anglaise and Frozen Apricot Parfait with Raspberry Sauce.

When we arrived to pick up the boys they had made their own pizzas for dinner, made Valentine's Day photo frames, built a fort, played the keyboard, and generally wreaked havoc with their buddies.  It ended up being an incredibly late night for all of us but at least we had the next day, President's Day, off from work and school.

A huge thank you  to our dear friends Marci for the gift card, and Bill and Kristen for the opportunity to have a kid-free evening!

Heavy Duty

One of the great things about having a family in our community is the incredibly strong support network of moms.  Our local MOMS (Mothers Offering Mothers Support) group is always planning activities for kids in town and our own playgroups meet often too.  Sam's playgroup in particular has a standing meeting time of 10:00 on Friday mornings for the kids to play and the moms to visit.  Each week a different family hosts at their home and we all have a great time.
Last Friday we were lucky to have playgroup at Sam's buddy Eric's home.  This playgroup was even more special than others because Eric's parents, Matt and Janna, own a snow removal/demolition company and made sure one of their loaders was parked in the driveway for the kids to see. 
Sam was the first of his playmates to go up the ladder and sit on Matt's lap to "drive" the loader.  He was reluctant to come down when his turn was over. 
The day was also special because Matt and Janna offered to pick Ben up from preschool while they were picking up their daughter, Ashley, so he could come back to the house and see the loader too.  Ben was more excited about riding in Ashley's booster seat in Matt's big truck than he was about seeing the loader....go figure.  He did stand by the blade because it was so BIG.

Cookie Monster

It's been quite some time since I've made any posts and unfortunately, nearly as long since I've taken any photos.  My last post for Sue's birthday showed just the cookie creations we gave to her but did not include our other masterpieces.  Here is a sampling of pastry chef Ben in action.

A lollipop cookie.

"Painting" the cookies.

Ben's works of art.

Mommy's works of art.