Visitors

Here's what's been going on at our house these days...

 

Last week the twins were being mean to Tyce and one of them apparently told him that he was "not their real brother."  He came upstairs bawling and genuinely devastated.  I showed him this picture...

And said, do you think you two look like real brothers?  Tyce's face lit up, YES WE DO!  Haha, Josh and Tyce certainly look more alike than Jack and Josh do!  I later talked to the twins about it and they apparently meant he wasn't a TWIN brother but I told them he is still every bit as much of a "real" brother as both of them.  Poor Tyce, I really wish he could've come with a twin also! 

 

Josh and his favorite snuggle buddy...

My best friend from high school, Jo, came to visit from Seattle with her husband, Tom.  They were only here for one day and night but we got plenty of talking, laughing, and eating in because...that's what we do!  It was so good to see her!  We only got one pic... 

The boys and Adam playing Headbands...

My dad had a quick business trip in DC so he stayed one extra night to see us!  Here we are on our way to dinner...

 At the twins' basketball practice...

Of course grandpa had to make them all into hot dogs...

 And diapers...

 Prayer time...

It was almost just a mean tease to only have him here for one night.  Haha, Jackson goes, "mommy why do all our guests lately only stay ONE night instead of LOTS of nights?!"  I told him that grandpa and grandma would be back in March to stay for a whole week and we are SO looking forward to that!

Valentine's Day

As my dad always says, Happy Forced Affection Day!  I've never been a fan of this day, whether I was single, dating, or married.  I think your significant other should show you they love you a) more than once a year and b) because they want to and thought to not because a holiday told them to.  Parker learned many years ago not to get me flowers or chocolates on February 14th.  Randomly throughout the year?  Absolutely.  Just not on Valentine's Day.  Enough about that.  THAT BEING SAID, I still want to make it a fun day for my boys.  We had our annual scavenger hunt to find their goody bags...  

 

 

 Jack's stuff...

 Josh's stuff...

 Tyce's stuff...

 10 clues took them all over the house in search of their prizes...

 They were super excited...

Tyce has been asking for a Mickey Mouse calendar for so long...he was SO excited...

Jackson was super excited about this Cowboy poster...

And Josh loved his Redskins one...

The night before Valentine's Day Parker had to work from home because of the snow so we got a sitter and headed out to Ruth's Chris for a yummy steak dinner!  The roads weren't great but traffic was minimal so we cruised down 66 and got there in time for our reservations!  We had a fabulous night...

Parker and his salad and calamari which, by the way, was delicious!!!

Happy Valentine's Day to my hubby...I LOVE YOU!!!

Update...

Just an update on what's been going on around here...

 

Brody broke the "no climbing on the roof of the play set" rule...

 Snuggles with daddy who we rarely see these days...

Me and three other moms started a Friday Fun Day kids swap.  Last Friday I took my turn, six kids ages five and under!  My house was loud and messy but they had SO much fun!  Tyce is Mr. Social and loved having so many friends over.  And now I get the next three Fridays off  :)

 Alina, Leah, Sarah, Kenshi, Tristram, and Tyce...

We had team pictures for basketball, here's one I snapped while they were waiting for the professional ones...

I grabbed a few pics during warm ups too...

Traci went back to work in January so I have started watching her girls again twice a week.  These three get along SO well!  They're the perfect mix of best friends and cousins with the occasional love triangle (Tyce likes Leah, Leah does not like Tyce, Sarah likes Tyce, Tyce does not like Sarah).  I took a picture of this because for the three years I've known these girls they've always refused to play anything "boy" so Tyce always ends up playing kitchen, house, dolls, ponies, etc.  Today they had SO much fun playing with the castle...granted they were using Frozen and Polly Pocket figurines but, still!

This was just cute...

Gramma Morrill sent a Valentine package for us and Tyce was SO excited about his Mickey Mouse jelly beans!  Good find mom!!!

On one of our many snow days we ended up staying in bed for over an hour as a family, all six of us!  It was just so needed, this was the first time we've woken up to Parker home in a long time.  We all talked, laughed, tickled, and cuddled and it was perfect...

 

We finally got a REAL snowstorm worth canceling school for!  We got over a foot and we had so much fun playing in it...

 Sledding on the golf course with neighbors was super fun.  Here's Tyce and Caleb...

Josh getting ready to cruise...

 Celeste, Josh, Eden, Tyce, and Adam D...

 Adam P and Jack...

Lori, Katrina, and I...

And finally, I let the boys have a sleepover in the basement which made me "the best mommy ever," at least until the next day.  ;) 

We're looking forward to my best friend from high school, Jo, and her husband coming to stay next week and then my dad comes the week after that!  Just for one night but I'll take it!!!! 

Next post: Valentine's Day!