Very Valentiney

We had a very good Valentine's weekend. It began on Friday with making decorations. We kept it pretty simple. I printed out some words in a heart font and colored them the appropriate colors. Colby painted some hearts and glittered them. Then I painted the kids' hands and printed them in the shape of hearts. We also made a couple of cards for the babysitters that night.

That night we dropped the kids off at the babysitters' house and went out to our annual Valentine's Day couples party with our friends from church. We have always had a dinner at one couple's home, but this year there were just too many of us to fit in one house. Instead, we all had dinner at Avanti's (a local Italian restaurant), then we were in for a surprise. Two of the couples planned a scavenger hunt type event. We were all given a set of cards. Each card contained a clue leading us to our next location. We took the fewest number of cars possible and the only rule was that you were supposed to be in a car with different people for each leg of the hunt. It was a great way to get a chance to spend a little time with everyone in the group. When the hunt was over, we went back to one of the men's offices and watched a slide show of pictures from the night set to music and had sparkling grape juice and chocolate covered strawberries. It was such a great night!

Saturday night we had a small family Valentine's Day party. We decorated the dining room using the decorations we had made the day before. I made pizza in the shape of a heart. During dinner we went around the table and told each other something that we loved about them. When dinner was over we exchanged our gifts.

The decorations

My pizza masterpiece

The family enjoying the evening

It was a fun evening that ended up running pretty late. The next day Curt and Chloe took an opportunity to catch up on their rest.

I couldn't have asked for a better Valentine's holiday...a romantic evening with my husband and our friends and a great night with my family that was all about love. Here's hoping your V-day was just as lovely.

MonsterJam Mania (and update)

The first weekend in February monster trucks came to town. Nana and Poppy were able to come visit that weekend also. So Nana and Chloe hung out at home while the boys and I went to see MonsterJam. This was Colby's first time to see monster trucks in person (and mine) so he was understandably quite excited! (Despite the fact that he was coming down with pneumonia at point, we just didn't realize it.)

With this type of event you don't always know exactly which trucks will be there, so I was excited to see this guy show up.

I don't know anything about monster trucks or their drivers, but Colby only had one monster truck toy at home and it just happened to be that particular truck. We decided he needed to have one of the flags. He thought waving that flag was as much fun as watching the trucks.

Of course, no show or event of any kind would complete without popcorn!

Colby and Daddy discussing the action. You might notice we all were wearing earplugs. I don't know what we would have done without them! That many roaring engines in a dome is deafening! (As a side note, we don't know the bald guy. He just happened to be sitting on the other side of Colby so he is in most of our pictures. Poor guy!)

The show also included some motocross stunt performers. It's funny, I have seen them on TV a hundred times doing all kinds of crazy stuff, but to see it in person totally made my stomach jump! Scary!

Colby "helping" Poppy get his earplugs just right.

Colby and Mommy at our first monster truck show.

Now for a Chloe update:
I took her to the doctor on Monday and found that she had a sinus/ear infection. Not fun, but treatable with meds. Within 24 hours she was feeling much better. Now she just has a little clear runny nose which I think is from teething. We finally got her healthy and I realized she is cutting 4 top teeth all at once. Poor baby can't catch a break! However, I am happy to report that we are all currently healthy (knock on wood) and enjoying a few days of warmer weather. Now if we can just stay this way we will be all set!

Side note number two:
I know that some of my readers come here hoping for crafting and sewing. Well, I have several things that I have been working on in the last few weeks. Once I get caught up with my "life event" posting, I plan on doing a post solely dedicated to projects. So stick with me, I will deliver...eventually. :)

Another delay...

Sorry that my "Blogging Blitz" was interrupted yesterday! Chloe is sick...again. Last night her fever spiked to 104. She has had a runny nose and a mild cough for a few days. Her poor little eyes are gushing green goopy drainage. When she woke up from an early evening nap yesterday she all of a sudden seemed much sicker and she looks awful. Her cough has also become very painful. We are going see the doctor again this morning, so hopefully I will have some news by this afternoon. My poor little sweet pea! Is it ever going to be Spring? Are my kids ever going to stay healthy?! These are things I am starting to doubt. If all goes okay today I will try to get back to the blitz tonight. Any prayers would be appreciated!

In Honor of MeMe

Mary Craig (MeMe) pictured front center, with her sisters and brother

Towards the end of January we made the trip back to Indiana for a Craig holiday gathering on Saturday and for MeMe's 80th birthday celebration on Sunday. The day on Saturday was spent enjoying the company of Curt's dad's side of the family and of course eating. It was great to see all of Curt's cousins and aunts and uncle. It is amazing how many great grandchildren there are now. All of them were able to be there except one who lives in California. Amazingly, we were able to get a picture of them all. What a treat!

We figured we would all be there for a couple of hours, but everyone was enjoying it so much that we stayed into the evening. None of the kids got naps that day, but it was worth it.

Colby and his cousin Luke

Curt's beautiful sister Julie and our niece Grace

Chloe playing with second-cousin Kennedy

Luke getting his grub on

Chloe trying to play with the dogs

Chloe and cousin Lexi (on Sunday)

For MeMe's birthday all of the family got together at a local restaurant for lunch and filled an entire conference room. There were aunts, uncles, great aunts and uncles, cousins, second cousins, in-laws and everyone in-between. All of MeMe's remaining sisters and brother were also able to come and celebrate with us. It was such a great afternoon. When lunch was over family members took turns getting up and sharing stories and memories about their special times with MeMe and the influence she had had on their lives. It was very touching and really meant a lot to her. Even though we sometimes grumble about traveling, we are so glad that we were able to be there.

On a crafting sidenote:
Here is MeMe opening a gift from us. It is a pillow that I made using the same stitchery pattern that I created for the grandma's Christmas presents. She loved it. Below that is a close-up of another one of the pillows that shows the design more clearly.

Next time on Olivia's Observations... MonsterJam. That's right, monster trucks.

January Joys

This is kind of an overview of the most of the month of January. It was a goodEdit month spent enjoying our little family at home...before all of the sicknesses got their grip on us. (Chloe is sick again, by the way.)

I usually post mostly pictures of my babies, so I thought I would add a couple of Curt and myself. This is how we spent our New Year's Eve. Just the two of us hanging out and playing darts while the kids slept the night away.

On New Year's Day we hung out at home while the kids played with their new toys from Christmas.

The following weekend Mamaw and PawPaw (my parents) came for a visit. Here is Chloe making sure that PawPaw is wrapped around her little finger and Colby with PawPaw playing some sort of yelling game. Way too loud.

I somehow didn't get any good pictures with Mamaw, but we had a great time with her too!

One evening when Curt was working late, we decided to make some of his favorite cookies as a thank you for everything he does for our family. We made his favorite...chocolate chip cookies without the chocolate chips. As you can see Colby was huge help!

The month of January brought with it some crazy cold temperatures and more snow than I cared to see. Colby, on the other hand, had a blast helping Daddy shovel.

Coming soon...MeMe's 80th Birthday weekend.