My magical Valentine's date...

When I got in the car to take the boys to school, there was a card and beautiful red roses on the center console. The boys were just as shocked as I was! Carson kept yelling "Where did these come from?! Who did this?!" It was so cute! It was fun for them to see Mommy be surprised!

I opened my card to see three heart notes with times written on them. The words Matt wrote to me in my card were beautiful, but I was very distracted and a little worried that I was not allowed to open these notes until that specific time! I called Matt immediately to thank him for such a fun surprise, but needed to check that he had thought everything through, like our children, haha! He assured me everything was taken care of, and boy was he right!

When I got home from picking the kids up from school, I opened my first note. It said that his mom would be over shortly and that I had an appointment at my favorite nail salon for a manicure and pedicure in about an hour. I was SO excited! When I showed up at the nail salon, the owner knew exactly what I was going to have done and what my time frame was. He had already paid and included tip! The owner made sure I opened my 3:15 note on time, it was amazing!

 

My 3:15 note read that I was going to my hair stylist for highlights, something I've been wanting for months!!! He had really worked hard to get me an appointment, and I was so grateful! My hair stylist also knew I was on a time frame, and made sure I opened my 5:00 note on time too.  

My 5:00 note said to meet Matt at home and that the place we were going to at 8:30 for dinner, I would need a new outfit. He was taking me shopping before dinner to pick out whatever I wanted! I felt so pampered, and was thrilled to see him at 5:00 as he whisked me away to the mall to shop! I found a cute black and white dress at Gap and earrings to match. 

We went back home to change and get ready, then he surprised me with the restaurant we would be dining at. Antonio's! We've been wanting to go there for a few years now, but it's definitely a high scale restaurant, and not a place we would usually pick for a date night! I was so excited to try their food! 

My handsome hubby and I in the lobby... 

Antonio's had a special Valentine's Day menu and included a 3 course meal! Their food was delicious! 

We had such a great time talking about my day and I felt like a princess! 

Yummy heart shaped dessert... 

I truly am so blessed to be married to such a thoughtful man who appreciates and loves me so much! He is just the greatest! And a BIG thank you to my wonderful mother-n-law for taking the kids for the entire afternoon and evening so that I could enjoy such a special day! Love my sweet hubby!

Valentine's Day 2013

Carson and Tanner both picked our their own Valentine's for Preschool this year. Carson went with Angry Birds and Tanner went with Jake and the Neverland Pirates! What a difference a year makes! Carson actually signed all of his Valentine's on his own this year.

Our big boy! Such good handwriting!

Along with our Valentine's, Carson signed his name on these cute little Valentine pencil holders that I printed off of one of my favorite blogs Happy Home Fairy! It says "Valentine, you are just write!"

Tanner brought treats for his friends, complete with his Valentine cards, bubbles, stickers, and candy!

We started off our morning with a Valentine's breakfast. Heart shaped pancakes (made by Daddy!) and red strawberries!

Matt and I set up the kids school table with a balloon, card, and M&M's that spelled out "We love you!"

After breakfast, it was time to head to school for our fun parties! We left a little early to get our awesome and loving teachers their favorite coffees from Starbucks. After we picked up their coffee, we taped "We love you a LATTE!" to them.

Carson is ready to spread some love!

The day before, I had Carson, Hannah, and Tanner tell me things they love about Nana and Papa. They signed their names to some of them, and then after I dropped the kids off at school, I drove out to their house to tape all the hearts onto their front door. The kids said the sweetest things, and Nana and Papa were REALLY surprised when they got home!

We wanted to do the same thing to Grandma and Grandpa but they were both home all day! Instead the boys wrote what they love about them and we hand delivered it the same day! 

The kids had a blast at their Valentine's parties and were definitely ready to crash after a major sugar high! 

The day after Valentine's Day we had our life group, and all the husbands from our group went in together to get all the wives a sweet cake and a rose for each one of us! So sweet!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Downtown Disney

After church on Sunday we took the boys down to Disney to check out where we'd be staying for race weekend and just make sure we knew where we were going and doing before the big weekend! Afterwards we stopped at Downtown Disney for some fun. Train ride is first! Carson was the conductor!

Tanner loves trains! He was SO happy to be riding on one, and loved having his own little seat. Such a big boy! 

The boys loved the carousel too. Carson chose his horse... 

And Daddy rides along (Mommy opted out of the spinning ride!)

I found my princess Belle, the princess I chose to be for the Disney Half Marathon race in just a few weeks! Woohoo! 

 Can't visit Downtown Disney without getting ice cream from Ghiradelli's! Yum!!

Sunday Fun Day with our boys!

Nana's Birthday!

Opening Day just happened to be on the same day as my Mom's birthday! Thankfully my mom has spent many of her birthdays at the ball field with my brother and didn't mind a bit spending her birthday morning cheering on Carson! After Opening Day was finished, we all headed to a local park for a picnic!

The weather was beautiful! We always laugh at how different each year is on how we celebrate birthdays, or any holiday for that matter! Our family is growing and we tend to have to do what's best for the kids, or hire a babysitter for the adults to actually have the ability to hold a conversation, haha! Nana just wants to be around her grandkids, so the park was the perfect birthday party for her! 

The kids made her a sweet card and Carson and Hannah even signed their names this year! The big kids got Mom a photo session with our good friend Tracy Hougham Photography so that we can get one big family photo of all 12 of us! Mom was THRILLED to say the least! 

Time to sing Happy Birthday and eat some cake! Our candles were a bit "off" this year! The 5 was chewed on a bit by little TT, and the 7 broke in half before we could even get it on the cake! All in all, it was a fun time! :) 

Uncle Jacob soaked up his baby Hadley time... 

We had a great afternoon celebrating my wonderful Mom! Happy Birthday Nana! 

Opening Day

We were so excited for Opening Day at the ball field! It was the start of our Spring season, and we couldn't wait! The kids looked so cute in their full uniforms, especially this little cutie...

Carson's friends Mac and Brodey from his Preschool class actually joined our team last minute all because Carson brought in his baseball cleats for show n' tell one day! They went home begging their moms to play, and we were thrilled to have our buddies from school join! Here's Mac and Carson, unfortunately Brodey came down with a fever the morning of Opening Day. 

Here's Coach Matt with his assistant coaches (one of them Uncle Robbie!) and the Cardinals team! We have a total of 10 players, 2 of them are sweet little girls! 

We had lots of family to support Carson on his opening day! Hannah and Hadley came in full Cardinal attire! What a sweet little gesture to show Carson's team support! My 2 little angels... 

 

Uncle Jacob drove down from Jacksonville to watch his little buddy on opening day (Aunt Brooke was running in a race!) My parents and Matt's parents were there too, it was a fun morning!

Tanner and Hannah watch quietly as we sang the national anthem to kick things off! 

Carson is so proud to have his Daddy (and Uncle Robbie!) coaching his team! He calls him "Coach Daddy"! :) 

Homemade Pizza Night!

It's been my goal over the past few weeks to try and get the boys to venture out a little on their food choices! Tanner isn't much of the issue, it's Carson! He would eat chicken nuggets and mac-n-cheese every night if I'd let him. We have to play the "how many bites can you take?" game with veggies and at times, it's a bit exhausting! So we had a fun homemade pizza night with whole wheat pizza dough, mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce, and turkey pepperoni!

We invited Hannah to stay a little longer with us after naps so she could make a pizza too! They loved having free reign on how to make their own pizzas! 

"Cheese!!!" 

They did such a great job creating their own little pizzas! They are ready for the oven! 

Mmmm!!!! 

They ate them up and I was one happy Mama to have something different in their bellies!

Lady Track Shack 5K

I decided pretty last minute to sign up for the Lady Track Shack 5K when some other friends of mine were participating in it. I'd figure it would give me a little boost gearing up for my big race in just a couple of weeks! 

 

Track Shack events are always pretty popular, but this one was especially popular when 2,000+ ladies were running to raise money and awareness of breast cancer. Something close to my heart when my good friend Dawn battled and WON just over a year ago!

The course was the same course we ran back in July, but it was still fun, and I was thrilled to finish with a 10:05 minute mile pace (finishing time not correct above me, correct time was posted online) 

Fun times with fun friends!