Valentine's Day decorations, way late

I put the Valentine's Day decorations out on February 1st.  We enjoyed the festive feeling they gave the house, but I didn't take any pictures until the day I took everything down on the 22nd.  This gives me one week to enjoy a decoration free house, for the first time since October 1st, before I break out the four leaf clovers and leprechauns.

Enjoy!

I bought this little clip board frame after Christmas.  I'm pretty sure I have not shown it here on the blog yet. I'm using it to display pictures and seasonal things. 

Cough, cough, cough

So, about that title. Both kids have been sick for almost an entire week.  It's been as much fun as you might imagine.  Nobody slept well last week.  The kids have been sleeping better for the last two nights, but they are still coughing all night long, which wakes me up and keeps me up.  I'm almost at the point of a total mental meltdown from being under-rested for so long.  You'll have to excuse how disjointed this post is bound to be.  My  brain is slightly dysfunctional.  

Last Monday, before the kids were sick and we were still in Tucson, my brother brought his new old Nintendo over and hooked it up. It's new because it was just made and he just bought it.  It's old because it is an original Nintendo.  Some company is now making new old Nintendo's.  Can you believe it?

Anyway, he thought that Spencer might want to see the origins of Mario.

We drove home from Tucson that afternoon  It was President's day so nobody had work or school.  Spencer and I went to the orthodontist that afternoon.  That will be a huge post coming up this week. 

That night we were just about to put Elliott to bed when I realized it was the 16th and we hadn't done his 3 year 2 month photo shoot yet.  It's the first one I have almost missed.

I decided he could do it pantless and I would just crop the final one.

Official

On Tuesday Elliott's eyes blew up.  He also started coughing this day.

On Wednesday he did some art on the floor.

On Thursday he coughed pretty much continuously the entire day and his eyes still looked horrible so I called and made a doctor's appointment for him for the next day.  And if you're wondering why Spencer is not in any of these pictures it's because he had a horrible week.  His asthma just gets so out of control whenever he has the slightest illness.  He was totally out of sorts all week.

\On Friday, while Michael took Elliott to the doctor where they found out that Elliott has "a cold", I worked.  I discovered a bird's nest in the fire alarm outside of my office.  I need to call and have somebody clear it out because those birds are in for a rude, "I'm dead now" surprise when that thing goes off.

That afternoon I made Elliott's new potty chart because we started real, serious potty training the next day.  That will also probably be its own post, but I will say that it's going better than we expected.

On Saturday I went to Target and Costco by myself because Spencer was still totally messed up with his asthma and we weren't letting Elliott leave the house in his newly undiapered state.  It was heavenly.  I made a joke on Facebook that it was 50 Shades of Bullseye.

I do have some fun posts in mind to write this week.  I just need to get some decent sleep before I can consider working on them.  My fingers are crossed and then brutally stomped on each night.

Valentine's Day and The Houseversary

My family moved into the house where I grew up (and where my parents still live) on Valentine's Day, 1985.  It was a Thursday.  My parents  (my dad, really) had done a lot of the work on the house on their own, so it took a really long time to build.  It was a really big deal when we moved in.  The first night we were there my aunt and uncle brought us spaghetti and meatballs to eat for dinner.

Fast forward to about a year ago.  I realized that February 2015 was going to be the 30th anniversary of moving into the house and that the actual day fell on a Saturday, so I started planting the seed that my parents should throw a 30th Houseversary Party.  They were resistant to the idea until around Christmas.  That's when I kicked it into high gear and won them over. 

They came up with a guest list, I sent out invitations, and got started on a menu.  We came down on Friday afternoon and I spent all evening making the desserts and prepping what I could.  Michael took the kids to a birthday party and then they (the kids) went to spend the night with his parents.

On Saturday Michael and I got up and went out for a Valentine's Day breakfast date.  We knew the rest of the day was going to be busy and even though Valentine's Day is a made up holiday that we don't care about that much, we wanted to spend a little bit of quality time together.

We went to The Good Egg and we both got pancakes.  I got Pineapple Upside Down Cake pancakes and Michael got Raspberry Cheesecake pancakes.  They were both disappointing.  And after 42 days of not eating sugar or grains, they made me sick to my tummy.  I couldn't even finish them.

Then we headed to Starbucks because we knew we needed a big shot of caffeine to get through the day.  I only go to Starbucks about 6 times a year so I try to get whatever is new when I do go.  I don't have a "regular" order.  I had been hearing a lot about the new Flat White so I thought I would try it. 

This is what was promised.

This is what I got.  It did not look anything like the picture, but it was very tasty.

We got back to my parent's house around 11 and got to work.

My dad put out all of the original blueprints for the house.

And we had all the old pictures that were taken while it was being built.

Michael kindly made menu cards for me.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Winston showed up for the holiday and party.  He brought little boxes of chocolates for the kids.

He settled on a location that was conveniently right in between the gifts that we got for the kids.

Snoopy for Elliott,

And a Storm Trooper for Spencer.

The kids joined us right before the party started at 6:00.  

Spencer had worn this Thomas shirt for the last two or three years.  Now it was Elliott's turn.

And because I didn't buy something for him to wear back at the beginning of January when Valentine's Day shirts were available, Spencer had to settle on just a red shirt.

I made heart strawberries for the True Love Valentine Martini's.

The appetizers

The pasta buffet

My dad made a toast.  In addition to the Houseversary we were celebrating 2 birthdays (Eleanor and Jerry) and Arizona's birthday and Bill and Kit's 40th Anniversary.  We did a lot of singing.  

Then, we feasted.

And watched the beta tapes my dad had converted to DVD about the building of the house. 

Then we feasted on dessert.

Then I took pictures of my parents with all the guests so we can revisit these pictures at the 40th Houseversary.

Paul is the guy who framed the house and built all the cabinets.  He built custom furniture for the house too.

Dave is the guy who did all of the masonry.

Spencer made a thank you card for Winston before bed.

He also stayed up until like 11:30 at night.  He didn't want to go to bed and I didn't want to do dishes, so we hung out together for a bit.

And that's it!  That is the whole Houseversary Party!  I'm so glad I made my parents do it.