Weekending and Valentine's Day!

We had a fun weekend (and yes, I realize it is already Wednesday!)  Friday, Ella had a Valentine's Day Tea at school where each 2nd grader invited a special guest and the kids read a Valentine's poem and wrote a letter to their special guest.  Jay was Ella's special guest.  :)  I went too to volunteer with the tea/refreshment table. 

Ella did a great job (all the kids did!) And I was so "in the moment" that I forgot I was supposed to get a few pictures of her.  :)  So....this is what I got.  Mike drop!  HA!

Saturday afternoon at the church we are currently attending, they had a prayer event for 2nd graders, so we decided to go and check it out.  Ella had a good time.  They talked about how we can incorporate more prayer as a family and different ways to pray.  The kids were able to do some activities and listen to the pastor tell some stories about growing up....then, the kids led a prayer during the service on Saturday night.  She did a great job!  Lots of public speaking happening!!

Valentine's Day was yesterday and it was a fun day at school!

This year's Valentine: 

I only have eyes for you Valentine with a pair of heart glasses!!

Working hard on the Valentines....

The link to the Valentine is here and I picked up the glasses at Target

They even took a class photo yesterday in the glasses - lookin' good!

(I didn't know this was happening or I would have sent an extra pair of glasses for Ella!)

Other events in the past few days - Ella lost another tooth on Monday night (2/13)! 

This time, the lower left eye tooth. 

She was excited that the tooth fairy was coming on Valentine's Eve!

Ella also worked hard over the weekend on her own Valentine gifts for Jay and I.  Check out her gift bags - grocery bags!!  LOL.  But it didn't phase her a bit.  She was SUPER excited for us to check out her gifts....

And her Valentine from us....filled with her favorite things at the moment: Shopkins-related items, a new Kids Bop CD, chocolates and a scratch art activity!  Love this girl.

And I have to share my Valentine from Jay, which was a homemade affair this year....

LOL!  Awesome.

Weekending

What's up Tuesday!?  This past weekend was Super Bowl weekend!  Our house was cheering for the Atlanta Falcons.  What happened?!?  Not really impressed with the commercials this year, but it was a fun time anyway.  We had totchos again this year!  YUM!  Corn dip too and for dessert I made a chocolate trifle.  Fancy. HA!  Half-time show was fun - and as you will see Ms. Ella got into the dancing!  She had a good time watching along with us!

HA!  Pictures are not great, but I was snapping them without her knowing - getting tricky!

Friday is Ella's big event at school - Valentine's Day Tea!  She has invited Jay as her special guest.  They have been practicing for weeks - learning a poem and writing a letter.  Should be a fun day!

Recap - January 2017

So, it's Groundhog Day which means I skipped an entire month of blogging.  Whoops!  Let's recap January shall we?

Ella thought she was supposed to put her long socks over her pants....oh no!!

LOL!

She's also been all about the DABBIN'

Meadowview had a Crazy Hair Day!

We celebrated cousin Franklin's first birthday (a bit late) 

The theme was Daniel Tiger (the character / show from PBS Kids)  Fun!

Family Picture from the Trolley!

My office had a late holiday event at Whirly Ball in Maple Grove a few weekends ago.  Jay and I didn't play whirly ball but we did play Laser Tag - So fun!  However, I am terrible!  Like, last place terrible.  But, the guns were cool - they even make the little shooting noises like when you play video games! 

Proof I need some practice....I was "Eclipse" from the game below.  HA!

Fun night!

And lastly, I made a new pot pie recipe that was amazing! 

Homemade crust is where it's at people!

Recipe can be found in the cookbook which I adore

Back in the Day Bakery Made with Love which can be found here

Sorry they don't have any recipe online that I could find.  It's the Sweet Potato Pot Pie

YUM!

Now, let's see...the Groundhog did see his shadow today. 

BOO for us here in MN - six more weeks of winter?! 

We'll see about that Mr. Groundhog

Christmas 2016 / Picture overload

Well, so much for posting the Christmas 2016 pictures before year end!  We had a busy holiday season this year!  We were able to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in Worthington with my family (Christmas Day 1) and then we headed back to Farmington on the 26th and had our little family Christmas that afternoon (Christmas Day 2).  Then, Christmas Day 3(!) was on New Years Day with the Abbas family!  A few LOT of pictures from our celebrations!

CHRISTMAS DAY 1 (and prior)

Putting out reindeer food at Grandma Deb's to guide them to her house! 

Christmas Eve Day - festive attire galore with Vikings Game Day gear

AND Christmas Tree Headband! LOL

 SHOPKINS from Santa.  Shopkins were her main thing this year!

See?  More Shopkins! :)

 We got to spend some good time with the cousins!

We remembered to do the photo props after everyone else was busy in the basement or outside dealing with the water!  Worthington got some heavy rains on Christmas Day and because the gutters were frozen, the rain was making its way into the basement!!  Made for a big mess. Boo.  So, while the responsible people were handling that, I hung out with the kiddos!

 Lexi's smile cracks me up on this one!!  CHEESE!!!

LOL!  Photo props = lots of fun!!

CHRISTMAS DAY 2

Headed back to Farmington....sleeping with the new Shopkins pillow!

 Ella made this for Jay and I.  She was VERY proud of her décor on the gift bag.  Cute!

 The gift - an ornament they made in class

The Year of Shopkins 2016

And the big Santa gift this year was a new kitchen.  I realize that we are right on the border of when she's not going to want to play house and kitchen anymore, but that was her main request to Santa this year, so....a pink kitchen it is.

 CHRISTMAS DAY 3

 

 You know it!  Shopkins!

We almost lost Franklin in all of the gifts!

The next series was just random...Ella and I were trying to take a selfie and then Harrison wanted in on the action....

 HA!  (and yep, I forgot all about my fun Christmas photo props at this celebration - BOO!)

Another Christmas holiday in the books! 

P.S. Over Ella's holiday break, her and I made a trip to the Mall of America (mostly to return something to Gap - because all of the Gap Stores near me have closed!)

But, we took some fun pictures!

Like this sweet pink car near the Disney Store

 Lego Store - FUN!  We'd never gone in before and it was pretty fun to look around

And like weirdos, we had to take a selfie with the fake Lego chic and her fake dog. 
LOL