Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day from the Beans!

Every year since Logan and I have been dating I make crepes for Valentine's day breakfast.  If you need a good recipe check it out, its the best.Creamy Strawberry Crepes.  While Elsy loved helping to prepare them she decided she didn't like them.  She tried them a few times and kept saying "I think I like these!" but in the end it was a no go and she and Tommy both ate a million strawberries for breakfast.  This year we all said what we loved about the person on our left.  

Logan also surprised me with a beautiful orchid (there on the table).  I just absolutely love plants but I am afraid I have my mother's green thumb... which is more like the black thumb from "A Troll In Central Park".  I just don't do a very good job keeping them alive.  But Logan keeps diligently buying me plants because he knows they make me so so happy... and maybe one day I'll figure it all out!

It was an awesome Valentine's day!  We had a wonderful stake conference.

Then we all took naps and when we woke up Logan decided we needed to go on a walk, despite the rain.  We went to Ferel McWhirter for probably the last time, which was so sad.  It is perfect because it has a little farm and then a bunch of really short trails that are perfect for walking through with kiddos.

And since we had our rain boots on Logan took us all offroading.  Elsy kept laughing and telling the water to "Stop tickling my feeeet!!".  She told all about it in her prayer tonight before bed and it was so cute.  Tommy fell in the mud so got to ride home without his pants... and then got beans all over his shirt at dinner and got to spend the evening shirtless.  That boy is so much happier naked, I tell you.

All day long I have just been feeling so blessed and happy about my little family.  I love them and they love me and really what more do I need?  A few times I felt like rushing to get something done but I was able to realize that all that matters are these three people.  Not rushing to get the dishes done after dinner or hurrying the kids to bed to do a blog post.  So maybe the living room is still messy but after dinner we all played David and Goliath (Elsy throws rolled up paper at Daddy while Tommy runs around yelling) and I read Elsy an extra story at bed time.  I even rocked Tommy while he was sleeping and just looked at him for a while.  I wish every day was as slow and perfect as today was.  

Earlier today Logan said, "God has been kind to me."  I couldn't agree more.

***

Maybe I loved today so much for being slow because I have been working so hard this week.  Harder than I have in quite a while!!  I have been trying to exercise each morning (although it doesn't always happen) and then have been trying to pack and clean.  Its been quite exhausting but also strangely fulfilling because I have something to do every moment of the day.

Elsy is still a kitty cat and always tells me to make an 'Elsy Bowl' which is just a little place to sit between my legs (see above) or she likes to have an 'Elsy Bowl' between Logan and I.

Look at those darling eyes!  My mom always tells me Elsy's eyes are always sparkling and it is so true.

Earlier this week it was super sunny so we went to the Ferel McWhirter.  It was Tommy's first time getting to walk around and Elsy showed him the ropes.

I have a list of chores to get done each day and one was to vacuum the couches.  Elsy was so excited and kept jumping away from sharks and climbing the mountains.

I love this bum shot haha!  And Tommy joined too for a little while but he fell a lot and lost interest.

I have also been trying to finish the STUPID dresser!  Ugh I have worked way more hours than I thought I would.  I sanded it all, painted the drawers (with the help of my good friend Lacie).   Then I painted the whole thing with tea and then a home made stain (I was following a tutorial off Pinterest).  It ended up being a really pretty ashy grey color (see right picture).  But the tutorial said to add another stain on top of that (see left) but when I did I didn't like the red tones that were coming through.  So I sanded the half that I had stained and then put the home made stain on again to make it all grey again, because I had loved it.  Only to realize that if you let the homemade stain sit for to long it changes colors so my dresser was yet again half grey and half a strange weird brown color.  

I was so frustrated but after talking to my mom about it I decided to try again.  She said you might as well do it right so you like it even if it does take forever.  So I spent yet ANOTHER day sanding the side off and making a new batch of homemade stain (which is only vinegar and steel wool set over night) to stain... to find out that I had sanded the side so much that it wouldn't absorb the stain well and was really really faint grey.... so I waited a day and stained another coat on to find out the stain turned the weird brownish color again!!  I am so done with this thing I am just leaving it all weird and multi colored until I have the patience to address the issue again....  I know my mom said to do it right but I just no longer have time with moving this weekend.  Okay sorry about my rant.  

Logan laughed because I kept referring to it as "the stupid dresser".  He said I am a professional now because I have been through a lot... but I don't think I agree because if I was a pro my finished product would look like the Pinterest beauty I was trying to copy but instead looks like a multicolored mess.

Tommy continues to give us a run for our money.  At meal times I will often turn my head away and swing it back and say "Ahhh!" in kind of a gaspy way to surprise him and make him laugh.  So now he will sit in his high chair and do the same thing over and over "Ahh!  Ahh!" thinking he is so funny.  He also learned to say "Uh oh" this week which I guess is his first word.  He drops his cheerios off the high chair and says "uh oh!" He hates getting dressed or his diaper changed and is always trying to climb into the dishwasher.  I can't find a single thing to keep him occupied for more than five minutes except Elsy's Sophia the First water bottle but that only keeps him happy because Elsy crys and it makes him laugh.  Every time we climb up the stairs he makes a beeline for Elsy's bed and climbs up and grabs it off the bookshelf there by her bed.  We got him an Iron Man one but he could care less about it.  Its the reaction from Elsy that he is looking for.  He has two more teeth trying to pop through so I think he has been a little uncomfortable this week. 

He has learned the art of yelling to get Mom's attention.  I watched him and when Elsy took something away he looked around to find me before he started screeching.  Its kind of a cross between a yell, a scream, and a gurgle and he is always doing it for everything .. if he is frustrated he can't open something , excited about a ball, mad that Elsy stole from him, or sad that he hit his head on the wall again. My favorite is whenever I go somewhere without him he follows me to the door and grabs his shoes expectantly in hopes he will get to go to.  He may be running us into the ground with his energy but its also what makes us totally adore him.

We found a leotard that my aunt Kaylene passed on to us and Elsy loves to wear it now.  She is way into Little Einsteins and says she is wearing a purple dress like June does from the show.  Its funny to hear her humming classical tunes and singing funny lyrics to them throughout the day.  She is such a singer and lays in bed forever before going to sleep singing and talking with her stuffed animals.

Elsy has two phrases she is always saying these days.  "Mama watch me do...!" (which all comes out like one word almost "Mamawatchmedo!") and "Mom, tellllllll me about it!" The first she says because she constantly wants me to watch what she is doing, and she will wait until I am looking I can't get away with saying "Uh huh!" while continuing what I am doing.  She never finishes the sentence and tells us what it is she wants us to watch her do.  I think she wants it to either be a surprise or she doesn't know how to describe what it is she is doing.  When I look she is always doing the smallest, randomest, silliest things like sticking her fork in her straw (which is at every meal) or standing on one foot, or blinking several times quickly.  Its kinda exhausting to be honest.  But that was what Logan said he loved about her this morning at Valentine's breakfast so maybe I should have a different perspective on it.

The other one, "Mom, tellllllll me about it!" she started saying last week when she got back from play group.  I will say something and she will ask me to tell her about it.  Or she will randomly say, "Mom, tell me about screwdrivers" or "Mom, tell me about scissors" or point to a picture and say "Mom, tell me about this!"  This one is kind of fun but she wont take a quick short explanation or she will just ask again.  So I have to tell her alllllll about how food is made or why we do this or that.  

Both of my growling children at the dinner table.

Tommy got a big boy car seat!  They may say it is safer for kids to be rear facing but my kids get to sit forward as soon as they turn one.  My argument is that I drive safer if my kids are happy and I am not distracted trying to put a pacifier in a mouth or throw food and books back to them, and both my kids are happier forward facing.  Today Tommy was just giggling because he was facing forward.  And I love looking back and seeing both my cute kids faces... chowing on gram crackers.

Last night we got a babysitter and got to go to our friend Kurt's birthday party.  It is always fun to spend time with Logan one on one.  They had karaoke at the party and Logan and I decided last minute to sing "I Lava You" from the Pixar short.  Sadly we were super off key at first because we only ever sing it when Logan is playing it on his ukulele not with all the other accompaniment.  But by the end I think we finally got it.  We laughed on the way home because we were embarrassed and we were that off key couple everyone just smiles through.  Oh well, we both know we really can sing pretty decently.

This is my child containment strategy while packing this week.  A big box full of Easter grass and Easter eggs.  They love it.  Tommy couldn't figure out how to get out and I watched him as he just decided to lean on the side until it all fell over... that is now how he makes his exit every time I put him in.

Here's to another week of packing!  Our official move date is this Saturday, although we will be coming back to do some cleaning we will be sleeping in the new apartment Saturday night.  Cheers!

PS.  Logan has been sitting next to me this whole time trying to learn Bob Marley's 'Three Little Birds' song on the Ukulele... he has been practicing and now he is singing and playing it perfectly.... in the amount of time it took to write one blog post.  Dang he is so good. ;)