Nothing But Love.

Wide Awake Jake.

It's what we call Thatcher when he's up and alert, courtesy of the title of Babe's current favorite book.

He just discovered his hands yesterday.

I forgot how amazingly awesome that is. :)

V-Day Preparation.

Valentine's Day has been a big deal around these parts this year...and not in a negative, over-commercialized way, but more in a "we're so excited it's Valentine's Day and can't wait to celebrate with our friends" kind of way.  

Both big kids had to decorate a "mailbox" to hold their Valentine cards this year.  I pulled out construction paper and markers and scissors and glue and the old Valentine cards my mom saved from 1992 and Babe and Harry went to town.

Here are the finished products:  

We split up "Valentine card" night this year and I think it went exceptionally well.  Neither of the kids really needed my help with anything, but it was nice to take the time to sit down with each of them individually and go over their class lists.  Both Harris and Hadley were able to take their list, select their cards, and fill in the "to" and "from" spaces all on their own.  My job was to tape the Ring Pop to the actual card (Star Wars for Harris and Hello Kitty for Had).

There was absolutely no complaining this year, either.  The kids didn't seem to mind all the "writing" involved and both put forth their very best effort when it came to labeling the cards.  I was one super proud Mama (it doesn't take much, folks)!

We had to get a little creative with Emmy Doe.  Because she basically believes she's somewhere between 4 and 6 years old, she didn't quite understand why she couldn't get in on the Valentine action.

I let her get in on a little Ring Pop action, though, and that seemed to suffice.

Let the love flow...

Winter.

This girl cracks me up.

 I'm not a very good "winter" mom.  I'm pretty hot-natured, so jackets and hats and gloves and scarves and all that stuff don't really do it for me.  I don't need them...and therefore I often don't think about my kids needing them.

Don't judge...

Anyway, Emmy Doe is in love with her winter hat.  She grins from ear to ear every time I put it on her.  She's also a huge fan of her Georgia blanket (which she's basically stolen from Thatch-Thatch) and absolutely can't wait to climb in the car on the mornings I take her to Ginnell's to get all toasty warm.

I'm doing my best to remember to bundle you up, sweet girl.  Hang with me.

Uncle Tyler.

Tyler came in for a quick visit this past weekend.  The kids are always so excited to see him, as are the adults. :)  We chose to celebrate his homecoming with a BIG family dinner at Los Hermanos.  Thanks to Ben, Los Hermanos is quickly becoming our restaurant of choice.  It's especially helpful that big, loud parties don't seem to be much of an issue there!

Tyler also came to church on Sunday.  Thatch was lucky enough to get a little uncle loving at the end of the worship experience.

We can't wait to see Tyler again soon!

The Big Apple Circus.

Last Saturday, we ventured out on our first "family of 6" outing to The Big Apple Circus with the Lockhart clan.  The circus has basically become our "family fun" outing for the month of February...I'm pretty sure we've been every February for as long as I can remember, and we always end up having tons of fun.

It's been a few years since we've been to The Big Apple Circus (we've attended Ringling Brothers the last couple of times), but I was reminded again how much fun a smaller production can be.  The Big Apple Circus is a non-profit organization supporting children's charities, which is pretty neat, and while the talent is awesome, the arena itself is small and intimate...there really isn't a bad seat in the house.

These crazies were pretty stoked for the show!  

As were these...

And not to be left out!

Of course, we ended up attending on a day when the temperature reached into the 60s, so the heaters that had been warming up the tent all morning were completely unnecessary and ended up creating something more like "The Big Apple Sauna."  To say it was hot would be an understatement...I was literally dripping sweat.

The kids didn't seem to mind one bit.  They LOVED the circus snacks we treated them to as well as each and every act that came into the ring.  The clowns were a favorite of both Babe and Harry, as were the "Central Park Dogs" and the horses.

Emmy spent most of her circus time eating chex mix and watching the lights while our littlest baby boy slept his way through his very first show.

The kids came home and spent the evening playing circus.  Harris immediately asked when we could return and Hadley declared that she would like to be a horse trainer one day.

I was just ready to take a shower. :)

Thatcher, Lately.