Valentine's Day

We had a wonderful Valentine's Day!

I made Pink Cinnamon Rolls for breakfast (:
Ronan, Griffin, and I went for a walk at the mall with Becca, Sadie, & Cohen and our friends Lindsey & Tayden, then we drove around making special Valentine deliveries. I had to get a picture of Griffin wearing his matching hat and shirt (:
When Josh got home we gave gifts to each other and the kids. Griffin got some animal puppets and Ronan got a new playdough set. Then we took the kids over to the Chase's house so Josh and I could go on a date...and we watched the Chase kids the next night so Aaron & Becca could go on a date. It worked out really well!

Josh got these flowers for me (:
Ronan took these next two pictures of us. I did a little bit of cropping, but I think they turned out pretty well (:
Celebrating our 10th Valentine's Day together!
Oh yeah, for our date we went to see a movie. I couldn't remember the last time we had gone to a movie, so we went to the new theater and saw Juno (loved it!). Afterwards we ate dinner at the mall and ended up going to Costco to look at furniture (: We laughed because it wasn't a very romantic date, but it was so much fun. We just enjoyed hanging out & talking and getting to do what we wanted for a few hours. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins. Aaron and Becca got heart-shaped pizzas and Becca made a heart-shaped ice cream cake. So fun!

Valentine Party

Today was Ronan's Valentine's Day party at school! He remembered that it was happening as soon as he woke up this morning...and he was sooo excited. He got dressed and ate breakfast more quickly than usual. Last night he picked out this sweater to wear for his party, rather than the typical sports outfits he likes to wear (:

Ronan rode to school with Aunt Becca and Sadie, and Griffin & I came to his class a little later for the party. Here is Ronan sitting at the table waiting for his treats (:

He got to decorate a cookie with frosting and sprinkles. He was very focused...

The whole class was very into decorating their cookies. It was so cute watching them concentrate and enjoy their yummy creations.

Griffin had his pick of all the toys while the big kids were eating their treats. He chose to play with the tools (:

Work Day

Saturday was a beautiful day! It was sunny and even a little warm outside! It turned out to be a very productive day which made it even better (:

The Fuller family came over so that Eric could help Josh install some windows. Ronan loved having Micah and Kyle there to play with. They rode scooters together and played in the mud while Jill & I sat in the sun and watched them. It was great!

Josh's dad also came over to help with the windows.

Micah helped put up some of the insulation (:

Amy, Jon, Ethan, and Macey came by to see the progress on the house. Their kiddos weren't feeling well, so they look a little sleepy here.
After everyone left, we cleaned up all the building scraps & trash from the work site and took a trailer load to the dump.

Then, later that evening, Ashley and Camilla came over for dinner. We had a really nice & relaxing time with them. Our kids went to bed early, so we got to have a few hours of uninterrupted adult conversation! Yay! Josh and I were exhausted by the end of the night, but it felt good to spend time with friends and also get a lot work done in one day.

Lovey Dovey

On Friday, Josh's mom and grandparents came by for a quick visit. Ronan had been pretending all morning that he was an animal in a cage at a pet store. He ate his breakfast in this box and wanted me to buy him...it was pretty cute. When G&G Lovey Dovey (as Ronan calls them) came over he was still in his cage, so Gr. Grandpa played along with him (:

Griffin was content just sitting in Grammie's lap. He was acting shy toward Great Grandpa and Great Grammie, so Grammie's lap was his "safe" place.

Then, we all walked through the new house together. Griffin was still unsure about being held by Gr. Grandpa...

But, soon enough Griffin went to him and did fine.

Installing Windows

Josh and my dad spent last weekend working hard on the house. Josh made some more progress on the insulation while my dad dried off each window sill and applied the flashing (the blue tape-like stuff) so they could install the windows. They got seven windows in on Saturday and a five more in on Sunday...they make a good team!

Of course Ronan was right there willing to help when he could (: He spent several hours working with them...tool belt and all!

On Tuesday, my dad and Josh both got off work a little early so they could get some windows installed while it was still light outside. They needed a third guy to help with the upper windows in the family room...someone who was strong & comfortable being up high on the ladder. Kenton (our brother-in-law) was the man for the job (: He is always up for physical challenges like this.

So, the three of them worked together to get the windows in. They made it look easy, but I'm sure it was difficult and a little scary. I'm just thankful that there weren't any accidents!

Here's Katrina, Finley, Mom, and Griffin watching the guys work.

Griffin and Finn having fun exploring the house together.

Above: Ronan looking tired after a long day of work
Below: Griffin drilling the floor (:

And, finally, here is Ronan & Josh in Ronan's favorite hiding place, the crawl space under the house.

Such a fun stage...

Griffin has been learning all kinds of new "tricks" lately. He now gives hugs, kisses, and high 5's when you ask for them (: He loves it when we sing songs together and he is starting to learn some hand motions. He moves his arms around in a circle during The Wheels on the Bus, and when we sing Jesus Loves Me and get to the part "...they are weak, but he is strong" he does the hand motion for strong.

When asked, "What does a duck do?",

he flaps his arms and tries to say "quack".

While Ronan was at school on Wednesday, Griffin found one of Ronan's backpacks and brought it to me. He wanted to wear it and ended up keeping it while he played with his toys. It was so cute (:

We really enjoyed this stage of development with Ronan, and now it is so much fun to go through it again with Griffin. He is saying several words and vocalizing like he is having a conversation with us. Ronan thinks Griffin's language is funny and tries to interpret what he's saying (: Pretty soon they will be carrying on real conversations.

Back Patio

The back patio is almost done...the concrete guys will need to come back to pour a step. Our awesome framers, Nick & James, are done with all of their work, and most of the plumbing rough-in is done. Josh is hoping to finish putting up the rigid insulation this weekend and start installing windows. The siding was delivered this morning, so that will go up once the windows are in. Whew!