Winner, Winner…Chicken Dinner

Dawson was a big winner at his school’s mother son Bingo night.  He can’t wait to use his free laser tag coupon.  We had a great time eating candy and yummy treats and playing Bingo!

   Big Winners!

Dawson and his buddies being silly

Sleepovers

Taya and Dawson have spent the last week sleeping in blow up beds under Dawson's loft tent bed.  They have loved every minute of their little sleepover.  They have been waking up early every morning and sneaking downstairs quietly to catch some cartoons before school.  Dawson even decided to get Taya dressed...in his clothes!  It took me half the day to coax her out of them.

My little climber

Holden has become quite the climber.  He is only 19 months old, but he is climbing everything these days.  His latest favorite is climbing up the slide on Dawson’s bed. 

 

 

He is still a bit too small to climb all the way up the ladder.  But, it doesn’t stop him from climbing half way.

Just this week, he has started climbing the kitchen stools and can now climb all the way up the ladder on the playground outside.  Taking him to the park is a bit scary these days since you have to watch him really close.  He gravitates right to the climbing walls and ladders.  What a big boy!

Making our Mark

Dawson and Jason headed outside with the magnifying glass and here are the results…

I think Jason taught him a bit too well since he started burning everything…the slide, the metal. 

Did I mention that just a few weeks ago Dawson lit a napkin on fire by holding it over a candle.  It looked like his arm was on fire and scared the living daylights out of me! Jason and my brother-in-law Will worked quick and got the fire put out and Dawson only burned his fingers slightly.  We just had a lengthy conversation the week prior about the dangers of fire.  I guess this was a lessoned learned the hard way.

But, now Jason has taught him new fire making skills.  I guess he will be ready for Survivor, but in the meantime, I am not sure my back yard will survive.  When I caught him trying to burn the bark a couple days later, I decided to hide all magnifying glasses from all boys.

Rockin’ Out

We continued our “break from real life” weekend with a wonderfully fun Wii Rock Band Party.  I love singing, but I was brave and even tried the guitar for the first time.  It is so fun to see everyone rock it out.  I personally enjoyed Pete’s impression singing “White Wedding”.  Those eyes were creepy!  Great food, great friends, frivolous fun…I loved it!

 

Skating My Worries Away...

It has been a pretty stressful month.  There has been a lot going on with Jason’s business culminating with the foreclosure of Jason’s office building.  Yes, the entire shopping center is now owned by the bank bringing it’s own set of challenges.  It’s been crazy.  I would say it’s like a roller coaster, but a roller coaster has some ups and downs and there have certainly not been any “ups”.  Jason and I weren't able to celebrate Valentines since we were busy planning and executing the church Valentines party.  And frankly, I just wasn’t really in the mood.  It was a VERY stressful and depressing week.  So, Jason decided to do something he NEVER does.  And when I say never, I mean he has never done this in our whole marriage.  He planned a surprise date night!  He sent the kiddos to my parents for a sleep over and surprised me with a perfect evening. 

He started with dinner and dessert at Cheesecake Factory.  We exchanged Valentines cards and I got a good laugh out of how similar the message was.  When I went looking for cards that day, I was not in the mood for a “lovey dovey” card.  I found this card in the “Problem Relationship” section and although I in no way feel like I have a “problem” in my relationship, the card said exactly what I was feeling.

“Real love, like real life is never perfect.  Somehow real problems always find us.  But the important thing to remember is that our love is always there, full of forgiveness and understanding, waiting for more happy times to share.  Real love is powerful stuff.  It doesn’t need to be prefect to survive and grow.  In fact, our love probably wouldn’t be as strong as it is if we hadn’t survived a few tough times.  We’ll get through this time too.  I love you and I trust in our love.”

Jason wrote this in his card:

“I think that Valentines Day is in February because it is the most stressful time of the year because of taxes, end of the fiscal year, holiday bills are due, etc.  So, we need to take a break from it all and remember what is most important in our lives…each other.  So tonight, I am taking you out on a fun date that will hopefully make you forget about all the stress and feel like a kid again.”

And that, he did…after dinner we started driving south on the freeway and once we past a certain point, I knew where we were going – Roller Skating!  I LOVE roller skating.  I spent every Saturday for a couple years at the roller rink taking lessons and practicing in my cute blue skating skirt.  I have amazing skates that I bought with my own money  - I think they were $400 or so – and that was 20 years ago (ouch…that makes me sound so old).  There is just something I LOVE about the disco ball, great music and skating fast that I can’t get enough of.  I have not been roller skating since Jason and I were married over 12 years ago…no one will ever go with me!  I thought we would be the only adults there and we would look pretty silly…but we weren’t and I didn’t care anyway.  The music was awesome.  The disco ball was on and as the evening progressed, the young families went home and I got to skate as fast as I wanted.  Jason had a great time on his roller blades and certainly held his own…he said he was really working to keep up.

Do you see the HUGE smile on my face?  I had one plastered on my face the whole night.  I literally skated all my worries away.
 

I love my fancy skates – so smooth!

After skating, Jason took me back to the house and surprised me with a bubble bath and massage.  Did you know that Jason is a massage therapist as well as a chiropractor?  Well, he is and he is amazing.  He brought home the massage table and I got the professional treatment. 

This was truly a night I will never forget.  I got to just take a break from my life for the evening and actually we somehow made that feeling last through the entire weekend.  What a nice break.  Thank you Jason.

Night Skiing

This is what Dawson looks like having an awesome time night skiing at Boreal with his Dad.

This is what Dawson looks like AFTER!!!

Valentines Party

I am the activity committee chair at church and our committee put on a great valentine party.  We had a lot of fun and as always, I was glad it turned out well and equally as glad when it was over.  We had mingling games, the newlywed game, two truths and a lie and a live band with a bit of dancing to top it off!

Are those not the two cheesiest, biggest smiles ever?

   

I volunteered my parents to participate in our Newlywed Game.  They were pretty funny!

 

We got in a dance or two at the end…Jason and I used to go country dancing when we were dating.  I miss dancing!