sweet february

Ohio seems to have been playing tricks on us this month...the weather has been beautiful! We've been to the zoo and the park and grilled outside a few times. It's been a nice little gift for our last winter here.

In other news, Russell turned 31 and got to celebrate for about a week straight. Here he is with the boys on the big day:

A few days later, we had 30 of our closest friends over for Sunday dinner, cake and ice cream. It was fun to get together with our ward family!

As many of you know, Russell asks for rainbow chip cake every year, so I decided to mix things up this year and go with a 4-layer "Pollyanna" style.

Russell was able to take off half of Valentine's Day. My valentine came home with flowers, chocolate dipped strawberries, an amazing chocolate cream cake thing called a devil dog, and eclairs. He knows me well...

I made him some chocolate peanut butter truffles, which I also helped polish off. Thanks for the delicious recipe Heathe!

There was no shortage of chocolate around here...

In keeping with tradition, Russell made chicken cordon bleu for dinner...

which was excellent! We enjoyed a sweet night home with our boys.

And finally, we're excited to announce that Russell matched for residency in Ft. Worth, TX and we'll be moving there in June after graduation. The adventure continues...

lazy january

in january, we spent a lot of time in cozy jammies to detox from the busyness of the holidays. it helps that we live in ohio and most people don't want to leave their homes in winter anyway. i did learn to make bread via skype (thanks to my sis Heather!), so i can cross that new year's resolution off my list already...yes! unfortunately, this achievement interferes with the "healthy eating" resolution that is always on said list (it's so good w/ butter right out of the oven that we end up eating most of one loaf before it cools)!

here are my boys making some interesting winter fashion statements:

(mason wears his basketball suit over anything he can)

december 2011

busy month of treat-making and treat-consuming...

"gingerbread" (graham crackers glued with frosting to rice crispy treats)
and the traditional sugar cookies

Christmas Eve

Missionaries in our ward, Elders Reddish and Irwin, joined our festivities

Christmas morning was magical

we got dressed and went to church, then came home

and put jammies back on to open presents...

Calvin's 5th birthday!

we celebrated that night at red lobster - his choice - and guess what he ordered?...

Russell thought it would be fun to tie their napkins as pirate hats...and it was!
Mason kept saying "arrgghhh" to everyone that walked past our table.

First "friend" birthday party...complete with 12 friends, sports theme, pizza lunch, games, prizes, presents, and a big basketball cake! It was exhausting, but lots of fun.

We sure love this boy, who is already talking about what he's gonna do when he's 6! He loves preschool, and although he's the only kid in his class who never naps, his teacher tells me every week how polite he is. Calvin is inquisitive, imaginative, tenderhearted, and helpful. He is patient with his little brother and enjoys sports, Hotwheels cars, dinosaurs, Transformers, and riding his bike and scooter. His current favorite foods include seafood - especially salmon and shrimp cocktail, sushi, pasta, hot wings, and peanut butter and honey sandwiches. Calvin LOVES to sing! He is almost always singing or humming a primary song or preschool song, sometimes with his own lyrics to describe what he's doing. He is such a joy in our family!
We're so grateful for this 5 year-old.