Pay it Forward

1. Be one of the first THREE or FIVE bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me (yeah for handmade!).

2. Winners must post this challenge on their own blog, meaning that you will pay it forward, creating a handmade gift -anything!- for the first THREE bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway!

3. The gift that you send to your 3 friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember it’s the spirit and the thought that count!

4. When you receive your gift, blog about it! If you are not one of the first three to comment on this post, you can still play along. Go ahead and start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same! It's all about paying it forward.

(Original post from Rachel Sollis) I will probably pick all 5 people so go ahead and sign up! :)

V Day

I am not mushy. I have no opinions or feelings toward loving or hating Valentines Day. That being said I do enjoy having another reason to have a special day with Nathan and the kids. Since our anniversary is at the beginning of the month we NEVER go out on Valentines Day. This year was no different, we had plans to eat something special, do a few projects that were special and make a special treat. The point here was to be together. On Thursday I volunteered to babysit Anna and Issac on Friday night, and Kaitlyn on Saturday night. This I thought would add to our weekend of celebration. I was right. Lucas LOVED having his friends over. Bridget had a ball making Issac laugh and seeing another baby. Anna and her big little brother came over for treat making and relay races. We made funfetti cake cookies and decorated them with heart sprinkles and icing. The kids liked this a lot.
Bridget is only upset because I caught her mullet on film. Hahaha. We read a few books and then went to bed. Lucas thought is was cool that Anna came over again in her pajamas, it is now a requirement for the Sollis's to come to our house in pajamas. Haha.

This morning we exchanged our conversation heart love notes...
and Nathan made pancakes. The kids love when Nathan makes pancakes. They also got to play with their new JUMBO balls. I couldn't pick just one of Bridget, she was just so excited. They are all clickable!

After Lunch Kaitlyn came over and we did a little painting project and read a few books. This was Lucas's favorite part because he got to paint on his Art Table. Lucas painted an octopus in the ocean, but not the kind that bite he said. Haha.
We loved having friends over and had a great two days. Dinner is going to be good I hope, and we are going to watch a family movie tonight. When I told Lucas this, he said "Robert's turn is tomorrow right?" I had to say no, but I think we are going to have to kidnap him so Lucas can have jammie time with Robert too. Hahaha. Happy Valentines Day!

Two Minutes

Usually two minutes in my house means...

"Two minutes till bed time"
"Two minutes till we have to leave"
"Two minutes till its time to get out of the tub"

You get the idea. Today two minutes meant TROUBLE! Lucas helped me make meatballs for our subs tonight. Afterwards he asked me if he could help me clean the kitchen. I looked at the clock and thought sure, its 4:15 we have time to take our time on washing the dishes. I filled up the sink with suds and let him have fun with it...This usually means that Bridget would eventually find her way up to the sink and "help" Lucas with his task. Which is great because I could sweep the floors while they were busy and do a few other things like switch the laundry out.I guess I wasn't really thinking how long this would take because as soon as I bring up the dry clothes I hear this evil laughter. I was only gone two minutes - I thought. Well, today two minutes meant....
Lucas had turned on the water, and pulled out the hose and almost drowned Bridget! I drop the basket and run to the sink, I almost died because the floor was covered in water! I look at Lucas who is completely dry and yell what are you doing and his response was "Bridgey like to swim mommy" I look at her a second time...She does NOT look like she likes to swim! I was so mad that I couldn't even scream. I couldn't even cry. I put them down stairs and just mopped my entire floor and cabinets and counter tops, and chairs and remained in silence until Nathan came home. I just couldn't get mad, their little faces were so innocent and sweet and I just *sigh* let it go.

If Nathan had come home and commented on the clean floors I would have socked his arm. Thank goodness he didn't say anything...for his sake!

Whew!

Since our first date was at Maggiano's (my favorite restaurant) our tradition is to go downtown, get dressed up and eat at a place we have never been to. This year was my pick and we were supposed to go to Duo. It was in 5280's best new restaurant list so I thought we would try it. Last year's pick was Marlowe's and it was so good that I wanted to go again, but that would be breaking tradition! Well, I dropped of the kids at Rachel's and went to go pick up Nathan at work and pulled the pregnancy card out. In the 2.5 years I have been pregnant, I have never played the card but for some reason I was not feelin the fancy! I wanted to go to BD's Mongolian BBQ. Crazy right? Well I am so glad I changed my mind because for once I out ate Nathan! He got full so quickly that I had to tell myself to have a little self control! Hahaha. The best part of this restaurant this time was the fact that it was full of pregnant women, who were all out eating their husbands! It was GREAT! I was a happy camper!

We picked up the kids and came home and watched Mrs. Pettigrew lives for a Day. I loved it, of course and that was the end of our Anniversary Dinner.

Now for the Whew part...Another reason why I didn't want to go all out on Friday was because last night was Nathan's HUGE work party. The owner of Nathan's company turned 60 this weekend and they had a FANCY dress up party at the Magnolia Hotel. Great food, dancing, and a mentalist. It was an awesome night. We walked downtown a bit and then headed home. What a great way to start our 4th year of marriage. Yahoo! Oh, and no I didn't dance, too many people wouldn't stop commenting on how pregnant I looked. Hello I have a month left what do you expect? Haha.

4 years

This is one of our engagement pictures. I wish it was the one we sent out, but I wanted a vertical one since our announcements were vertical. Oh well. :)

Well 5 if you count when we met, but technically its 4 because I didn't like him when I met him. What am I talking about...our Anniversary! Wa-hoo! We beat the average! Haha. I feel so grateful that he was as persistent as he was on pursuing me and had a little cheering section (RV) on "hooking" me. Where has the time gone? We were married in February, bought our house that September, had Lucas that next July then along came Bridget and here I am 8.5 months pregnant with our 3rd. CRAZY. It doesn't seem like it's been 4 years, but I am glad that all of the hard times and fun times have been with him! :)

I didn't like him at first, Feb 2004. My roommate Veronica was dating Nathan's brother and had set Nathan up on a bunch of dates but neglected to tell me that they were with me! It was too late before I figured it out, a whole 2 weeks of dates late! In fact I remember complaining about the whole set up to several people! Then one random day after I got back from camping in Eagle with some friends in June, I got into an argument with my roommate Veronica about tagging along on some double date. She laughed and jokingly suggested for me to call Nathan. Appalled at that notion I rented a movie and ordered Chinese food. They left and then our house phone rang...it was Nathan! I hadn't spoken to him since the 2 weeks of torture I put him though in February. She came home from her double date and knew I had talked to him. It was so bizarre, so meant to be it was crazy. Nathan lived in Oklahoma so I knew we weren't going to get married or anything but I talked to him everyday until Ryan and Veronica were married in August. When Nathan came out for their wedding several people asked us when we were getting married and I didn't realize that they were serious until he went back to Oklahoma and I knew I needed him in my life permanently. Ryan and Veronica always knew, I knew too but I was scared to admit it. The next weekend Andrea and Timon were married and that is when he flew out and surprised me and we were picking dates!

I never thought my story with my husband would involve a long distance 2 month relationship ending in a proposal and a 5 month engagement where it included 2 months of us not even being together. We never technically dated, but if you know us that is just how we are. I mean a week after we were married we were talking about buying a house. After we found the house, we were talking about kids...so I guess our story just fits us! Haha

Since we have only been married for 4 years I am only going to list 4 things I love about Nathan...haha

1. I love that he wants only the best for me and our family, and never settles.
2. He lets me make the final decision on things, probably so that I think I am always in control.
3. He is a hard worker and goal oriented and tries to instill these traits into our children.
4. The first thing he says when he walks in the door after work is "I love you, what can I do to help you?"
Maybe I should list one more so we make it another year...
5. I love that he calls or IM's me throughout the day just to make sure that I know he loves me.

I opted not to put the KISS System on the list but I am happy for that too. HAHAHA

What chu talkin bout?

Bridge oh my Bridge! The girl may be on the smaller side of our Witte scale only weighing and measuring in the 80th percentiles and such but this Sunday she showed her true colors. After church we get home about 5:00 so we get into our jammies and then eat a nice dinner at the table in them. This is fun for us, sounds weird...but it is. Bridget has been picking out her own clothes because we let Lucas and this is what she decided to wear this Sunday...

All I could think of was "Shut up foo....wanna take this outside?" She wanted to wear Lucas's old pj's and totally could pull them off. I love how she is such a little tough girl. I often find her pounding on Lucas when she gets the chance. Hahaha The best thing about the next picture is that Lucas who is so big, bigger than a lot of kids his age is the sweetest, and friendliest kid you will ever meet...a gentle giant if you will. So there you have it , the stereotypes are true, Bridget is a little squirt who is feisty and mean and Lucas is big and sweet, a teddy bear. Awww

The Sunday not-so-funnies

A few stories, one funny and one not so funny...

Yesterday Lucas and I were sitting on my floor playing the Cherry-O game and I looked at his hair and said "Lucas, I am afraid you are in need of a hair cut" his reply:
"Oh, I am afraid of dragons."
Danielle's response: "Hello Random!" Hahaha

This morning Lucas woke up at 7:30, this is a record for him. I decided I would try a no nap day for him just to see how it went. At 11:30 I took my shower as to get ready for church when the doorbell rang. (Bridget was asleep, and Nathan was upstairs designing the rest of the basement on the laptop) Lucas was downstairs playing with his toys alone. He walked upstairs, opened the door and let the people inside the house. They said to Lucas "are your mommy and daddy home?" He said "I don't know" then proceeded to go upstairs. He opened my bedroom door and said "Daddy come down and see my friends" Nathan shrugged his shoulders and thought maybe he meant his Little People, his GeoTrax but as he walked downstairs and saw Al and Colton in the house he about peed his pajama pants. After they left Nathan came up and decided to tell me in the best way possible..."Honey, we need to get a higher lock or a door stop for the front door" I am thinking uh, okay why and then he tells me the story. URGH! At least it was people we know, but that is so dangerous! We will be purchasing a dead bolt tomorrow!

Lucas is such a sweet boy, we are lucky that he really didn't know. :) We are also going to be talking about safe things and not safe things tomorrow night for family night. AAH!