Valentine's Day is coming...

With Valentine's Day occurring during a pandemic, we are having to switch our plans up a little bit.  There are to be nothing that is edible and all valentines need to be in the class room by this week so that they can be quarantined before going home with the kiddos.  Our creativity at this point felt shot and we didn;t want to do something that we had already done, we we went with Target and the kids loved it!

Strawberry scented erasers for the win!

And we felt like Mandalorian pencils could not be more perfect for this 5th grader...

Then Ryder decorated his box with packaging from his valentines and Eden is using a gift bag that she loves:

I think that we are as ready as we can be for the festivities... Doing things like this make it feel more normal...

New little spaces...

 With being home so much, we have been decluttering, working on little projects around the house and having fun switching things around.  We took down this nook in our entry way:

Gathered some old and new things...

We relocated the lamp to here:

And the wire blanket basket here:

And here is the new space in our entryway nook:

I think that it might need a plant. 

I tried this one from the other room and really liked it!

It is nothing fancy but we really love how it came out.

We can't wait until we can have friends over, inside our home, and hope that they stay awhile.❤︎

filling our cups...

 I worked last Saturday and on Sunday, Eden talked about how much she had missed me.  So after church, Ryder stayed with Kit and Eden and I headed home, ate enchiladas, cuddled up and watched "Hidden Figures", which is currently Eden's favorite movie.

We also ate cupcakes that she had baked with her cousin Ruby, via Zoom:

We also may have splurged and made cookies dough balls:

I when I think these times are about filling up her little cup, I realize how much she fills up mine!

we feel pretty lucky

 We heard that having rabbit feet in your life is lucky...

(She naps with her feet out...)

...which makes sense because I feel pretty lucky to have our bunny in our house!

Kiwi Crate Competitions!

 Ryder's recent Kiwi crate brought a whole bunch of family fun!

Making the air cannon led to playing lots of games together and challenging each other and that made it so fun!

Building with this kid is SO FUN!

We have loved the projects that we have done so far and love the binding that we have had in the meantime...

Haircuts and Hunter's Safety

Two things: 

1. This last week, Ryder started his Hunter Safety classes.  He is ridiculously excited to finish it and then be able to put in his name for a hunting trip... 

2. I gave Eden a haircut.  The first one I did was a tiny trim and this one was about 4 inches...

She looks so old to me... The combination of her hair, glasses and earrings has me feeling like time is gong really fast!

Inauguration

 Yesterday was the Inauguration of Joe Biden, the 46th president.  These historical moments are so moving and to see our kids witness it is so special to us...

Watching me daughter witness Madame Vice President Kamala Harris  sworn in was an incredibly powerful moment!

Also a huge highlight for us was watching Amanda Gorman deliver her poem/speech:

She was eloquent and inspiring and I was so moved by her words...

My favorite snippets were:

"We lift our gazes not to what stands between us, but what stands before us."

and 

"A nation not broken, but unfinished..."

~~~~~~~~~

We prayed for our leaders, we interceded on their behalf as they step into leading...

We are hopeful.  We are looking forward to what these next days hold...

On top of spaghetti...

 We made meatballs with our red sauce the other day...  My house smelled just like my Papa Sal's...

We used this recipe and the only thing that was left out was the parsley...

They were absolute winners and the entire family requested that we make these again... very soon!

some family time with a little home decor...

 Yesterday we headed out to Redlands to spend time with family and help my niece with an accent wall in her room and to make antlers that she had been given a better fit for her space:

Peel and Stick wall paper for the WIN!

My nephew made dinner:

And we finished off the space:

Kit was given original antlers (with fur and no mount), and turned them into this:

We love the time that we got to be together and we just love this family of ours SO MUCH!

Martin Luther King, Jr.

 In light of recent riots of hatred, and the ongoing discussions in our home of learning about systemic racism, we have loved reading through the quotes of Martin Luther King, Jr, reading about his life and learning from the example that he gave through how he lived his life.  On Sunday night we watched the "I have a dream" speech in it's entirety, for the first time for our kids.  We sought to learn and remember where we have been, and where we dream, with hope, to someday be...

And here are some of our families favorite quotes:

There are so many powerful words of wisdom that this man brought to the world, and we are grateful for the legacy and example that he has set for us all...