and in the kitchen . . . .

this week we made  - homemade pasta for carbonara,

 fresh sourdough bread,

 and prepped 40 lbs. of organic, boneless, skinless chicken breasts for the freezer.

 We ended up with 13 bags of plain chicken and 6 bags of meals ready for the crock-pot.

Although I had to drive 40 min each way to pick up the chicken (with all 3 kiddos in tow), the price is totally worth it at less than $2 a lb.

Jacob's Valentine Ball

First the outtakes - he's such a ham. . . 

 And now the (mostly blurry) dance pics. . . 

 First Daddy-Daughter dance to "Butterfly Kisses"

Jake had been talking all week about going to the Ball.  "Ms. Pat says no tennis shoes on Friday!" "I have to look handsome!" "I'm going to dance. I've got a move!"

And he did have some good moves.

Happy Valentine's Day!

As soon as little D and I got back from Indiana we hit the ground running to get all of our Valentine's Day goodies ready!

Here are Jacob's valentine cards and teacher's gift.  The valentine's had bags of Hershey Hugs & Kisses attached.

 Denbigh's Valentine

 Joseph's took the most work as he also had to make a box for his Valentine's.  We decided to do an aircraft carrier since his Valentine's were paper airplanes.

 It turned out so great.

Here is Jacob ready for his Valentine's Ball (more on that later)

And Joseph ready to walk to school with his box!

 Denbigh and I attended Joseph's class party that afternoon.  Joseph's teacher goes above and beyond with the gifts she gives them for each holiday.  We just love her.

 And our little Valentine.  She's just so stinkin' cute! (in my biased opinion!)

June-bug's 1st (ladybug) birthday party!

My surprise gift from Christopher for Christmas was a trip to IN for my niece June's first birthday.  And so - Denbigh and I headed off for our first girls' weekend! 

 She did so great on the flight from LIT - ATL and from ATL - SBN.

 snowy Indiana!

 Denbigh and June are so close to the same size.  Except that June is walking! and talking.

 We enjoyed time with our cousins and Grandpa & Grandma.

 And had a blast celebrating June's first birthday!  It was such a cute party.

 The little ladybug!

 Scout - so entertaining all weekend.  She can sing like no other kid I know.

 June had so much fun with her cake.

 And finally it was time to head home.  June was so sweet saying good-bye to her cousin.

 Here we go!

 Denbigh slept the entire flight from SBN to Detroit.  I wish I could say the flight from Detroit to LIT was just as good.. . . but it wasn't.  It was pretty bad.  I was so glad to get home.  And my husband is awesome because he had a glass of wine waiting for me in the car.  Better than flowers. . . 

We were both very happy to see our boys!