Happy Valentines Day

After some discussion about what we want our valentine's traditions to be (a book? a lovey? just the bucket? chocolate hearts? etc.) this is what we came up with!

We always have heart shaped waffles with whip cream and strawberries. Last year they got a Webkinz and so I decided to keep the loveys (stuffed animals) and buckets, but we added just one other tradition...

SILLY STRING! :)

What better way to say I love you than attack you with silly string?! The kids LOVED it! Silly strings for our silly things, a perfect match.The evening ended with a perfectly pink sky
so we celebrated with a pizza picnic outside.THAT'S MY GIRL!In honor of this day,
the kids did the "Love Bug" dance. :) Although Valentines has come and gone,
one thing seems to remain forever the same:I need SUGAR!

And, I need attention! :)

Want to play with me?

After weeks and weeks of visitors, the kids were pretty sad to go back to school. They couldn't understand as I continued to sing, "it's the most wonderful time of the year...." : ) It was definitely fun to have Jim's sister and her family (the Davidsons) come visit with us for a bit. We love company because it motivates us to do all the touristy, fun things that easily slip by otherwise. Like, seeing the manatees!!! The following picks are from Blue Springs State Park where we were totally spoiled by the amount of Manatees in the water to include a few babies (sooo cute). Of course, the only reason we were able to see so many is because it was FREEEEEEZING cold outside. Luckily, the Davidsons, being from Idaho, didn't mind a bit. In fact, I think they were even a bit warm at times. : ) Now it's just back to me and the never ending question, "Want to play with me?"

Davidsons: Juleah, Orion, Daniel and Elisabeth.

We went to Crane's Roost one night to see the fountain show and brought popcorn to feed the ducks. Our little Moody-Lou decided to feed herself and was so upset that everyone had more than she did that she could hardly even look at the camera for the picture, much less smile. :)

One Saturday (it warmed up right after the Davidsons left, of course), I decided to host the Caldwell Mini Olympics. They had to complete two items from each of the five categories: Arts, Smarts, Feats, Jobs and Laps as fast as they could. After completing each category they colored in one to the olympic rings on their paper and eventually earned the gold medal prize of an ice-cream cone. :) As you can see, everyone was a winner!

My Gold Medal Kids - I love 'em all!