Happy Valentine's Day!

CK and I decided to celebrate Valentine's Day for just the two of us on Friday night so we could celebrate with the girls on Saturday night. It was CK's idea and what a great one! CK got us a reservation at Trio, one of our very favorite restaurants for Friday night. We had a fun night and a great meal while the girls enjoyed hanging out with a sitter (which they LOVE).

The day before, I made our favorite sugar cookie recipe and the girls helped me cut out hearts and put them on the cookie sheet to bake. We originally made cookies using this particular sugar cookie recipe when CK's best friend, Brian, got engaged. We threw an engagement party for Brian and Jenny and made all the food (it was overwhelmingly tiring, but also fun). Of all the food we made, everyone raved about the sugar cookies. Since then (nearly 10 years ago), I've made them about every Valentine's Day and they are always a favorite. The girls loved helping and especially loved eating the dough. I iced the cookies once they were cooled while the girls played. Then, boxed them up for our neighbors and Sofia's teacher Mrs. Livingston. On Saturday morning, I played tennis in the morning and then CK headed out to fly after I got home. The girls played and I relaxed and read for awhile before realizing that we needed to go to the grocery store before it got much later. The girls had been riding their bikes around the backyard patio and having a great time in the beautiful weather, so Sofia suggested that we ride our bikes to the grocery store. CK and I planned to make filet mignon, lobster, asparagus and a chocolate tart with homemade whipped cream for dessert so we didn't really need to buy a lot.

Sofia was so excited when I agreed to ride to the grocery store and Olivia somewhat reluctantly climbed into the bike trailer. She originally wanted to ride her princess bike, but I knew that wouldn't possibly last even halfway to the grocery store, and she was thankfully easily convinced. Sofia did a great job riding and is really a confident biker and attacks the hills. It only took us about 45 minutes to get to the grocery store and it's maybe 2 miles away (we did stop for two water breaks). Once we arrived, we discovered Olivia was fast asleep. I picked her up and we all headed into Market Street, which was completely packed with shoppers (apparently we weren't the only ones planning a night cooking at home). We bought our food items, refilled our water bottled and headed back home. Sofia rode well although I think we ended up stopping 3 or 4 times for a water break on the way home. CK arrived home shortly after we returned and we started getting ready for our big Valentine's meal. CK made the crust for the chocolate tart while I took a much-needed shower and the girls played with their horses. We finished the chocolate tart and CK lit the fireplace outside since it was so nice outside and we planned to sit outside after dinner. He grilled the steak and lobsters while I steamed the asparagus and before we knew it, we were eating a delicious meal! It was great and a lot of fun and less crazy than going out! The chocolate tart was great and we put the girls to bed before going outside and enjoying the fire outside on a beautiful Valentine's evening!

Ready for date night!

Olivia helps me make sugar cookies

Sofia picking out the right heart cookie cutter

Olivia with her cookie cutter

Cookies!

Olivia catches a cat nap on the way to the grocery store

Headed home with groceries!

CK grilling fillet mignon and lobsters

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Papa opening his gifts

Valentine's Pictures

I planned to get Valentine's pictures of the girls at a photo place, but then decided to do it myself using ideas pulled from Pinterest. On Saturday a week before Valentine's Day, I dressed the girls up in their cute Valentine's clothes and we did a photo shoot around the outside of our house. Unfortunately, Sofia had a fever and sore throat (we learned on Monday that it was Strep) so I tried to work fast. She wasn't feeling terrible but just not really 100 percent either. Luckily the weather was quite nice and sunny, so the girls had a lot of fun and were good at following my directions, which isn't always the case. I started off with something I'd seen on Pinterest where you make a heart out of the kids toys and then put them in the center. It didn't really work the way it seemed to on Pinterest, but I did capture some cute photos of the girls. One of my favorite is one where Olivia is completely cracking up over something Sofia said and they are both laughing. It's very sweet! After taking several photos, we changed venues and moved the girls to the backyard after Sofia had written "We love you" on a little heart chalkboard we have. From there, we headed to the front yard and took pictures with Buddy and I actually was able to capture a few cute ones with Buddy and both girls looking at me! From there, we headed to the side yard to take a few more pictures before we moved back inside for the girls to play and relax. I took over 100 pictures and was really pleased by the number of photos that turned out cute (not all of them, of course)!

I decided on a few of my favorites and made Valentine's cards that I had printed and sent to family and friends before Valentine's day. I also had a photo of both girls framed and had a coffee mug with three photos of the girls on it which the girls gave to Papa on Valentine's Day. I was really excited to capture a couple of really cute photos of the girls without having to drag them off to a photo place (especially with Sofia being sick).

My attempt at the Pinterest-inspired photo idea

Sweet girls cracking up over something Sofia said! My favorite photo!

Another favorite of the girls

Another sweet and silly picture

The girls in the backyard with their "We Love You" sign

Sweet sisters!

The girls and Buddy

Toward the end of the pictures

Sweet Olivia

Being silly over something

Both girls acting silly - another fun and favorite photo

Our sweet and silly Sofia

Sofia's Valentine's Party

Sofia wrote the following to describe her party:

On the day before Valentine's day, Sofia went to school while Olivia stayed home. Sofia got a lot of candy in her hot air balloon card/candy collector. Olivia played with the plastic toy horses in the living room. After a couple of hours it was time to go to Sofia's valentine party at her school, so I put Olivia in the car and dropped her off at Adventure Kids, then headed to Sofia's school. At the party me and the other moms helped out with guessing games, sundaes, bingo, minute to win it, freeze dance and snacks. Sofia said good-bye and I hopped in the car and picked up Olivia and we went home as Sofia went to specials. After one hour Sofia came home from school on the bus and played.

A few days before Sofia's Valentine's Party, I showed her several ideas on Pinterest of Valentine's Card Containers we could make. Sofia was actually home sick with strep but feeling well enough to help out. There were such cute ideas, mostly using an old shoe box or similar-sized box. However, there was one that was a "hot air balloon" made with a balloon, wide ribbon, and a little basket. It was so cute and I realized we had all of the things to make it! We cut off the handle of an old Easter basket that we had, attached the balloon (which Sofia blew up) with straws and hot glue and then decorated the balloon with wide ribbon and Valentine's stickers. It was so cute although it kept wanting to tip over so we had to add a rock to the bottom of the basket! Weeks ago she decided to make each of her classmates a bookmark with Valentine's stickers and cute paper and ribbon. They really turned out well. Of course this morning I woke up in a panic realizing that we are not allowed to have any balloons at school due to possible latex allergies kids might have. I wondered if we might be able to attach a small soccer ball, but then remembered that we had a few paper lamps left over from when Connie threw us a surprise Luau. One was yellow and white striped and perfect! I quickly removed the balloon and attached the ribbon and straws to the paper lamp using craft tack circles and the Valentine's stickers and before I knew it we were done! It really turned out so cute!

Sofia's school Valentine's Party was so much fun! Sofia was super excited to see me and gave me a big hug before showing me her desk. The fun started with all the kids writing a sweet note to Mrs. Livingston for all that she does. Sofia absolutely adores Mrs. Livingston (CK and I do too) so she really spent time on her note and drew her a picture. After everyone was done, the kids each were able to guess how many candies were in three different containers and then make their sundaes. I scooped out the ice cream and they all loved putting sprinkles, caramel and fudge sauce on before finishing it off with whipped cream! Yikes! Following the ice cream sundaes, the kids played Bingo and Freeze Dance. Freeze Dance was adorable with all the kids really getting into it! It was so much fun to watch them all dance like crazy and act silly. Sofia actually made it pretty far into several of the rounds and really had fun. After all the fun activities, it was time to finish up and head out to specials where they ran around and played to get the huge dose of sugar out of them! I stuck around and helped Pritha and the other room moms clean up and then picked Olivia up from Adventure Kids. What a fun party!

The Valentine's Card hot air balloon before....

...and after!

Writing a sweet note to Mrs. Livingston

Sofia at her desk

Sofia's finished note

Including a drawing of her and Mrs. Livingston

Guessing how many candies are in a jar

In line to make sundaes

Playing Valentine's Bingo

Happy girl!

Freeze Dance!

Sofia held out until the end!

With her buddy, Shivani

The end of the party

Olivia's Valentine's Party

On Wednesday afternoon, Olivia's class held their Valentine's party for an hour just before school was out for the day. I actually had a tennis match that morning in Mira Vista (southwest Fort Worth) and was worried about getting back in time to be able to shower and go to her party. However, my partner Kim and I were beaten so badly (we have rarely lost when playing together), that I had plenty of time to get home, shower and make it to Olivia's party. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera so used my iPhone for all the photos which I was surprised turned out well. I arrived just as the party started and two other moms were there, as well. One thing I've noticed about Olivia's class is that not many of the parents attend the parties. When Sofia was at SSH, most of the moms attended the parties and that's how I met many of the families and am still friends with those parents. In contrast, I've never met most of the parents of Olivia's classmates.

Olivia was surprised and super excited to see me and gave me a huge hug. Their teacher, Ms. Carolina who recently returned after maternity leave, had the kids line up and head out to the large room at the center of the school to participate in games. Each of the kids had a valentine's bag with their name on a heart which they carried with them. They had three games set up and split the 3-year old classes up into groups to play each of the games before rotating. Olivia started with the game of throwing three velcro balls onto a bullseye. After all three balls stuck to the bullseye, she was able to pick out a "gold metal" as an award. From there, Olivia and her little group from her class moved to the ring toss, where they tossed three hearts onto two cones. She tossed them well but none of them made it around one of the cones. After she was done, she was able to choose a packet of stickers. From there, she moved over to the bean bag toss where she tried to throw three little bean bags through the opening of a heart. She was able to pick out a glittery pencil when she was done and asked her teacher, Ms. Alcira if she could have another pencil to give to her sister. She's always thinking about her big sister.

After all the kids in her class where done with the games, they headed back to their classroom where they each were given a foam heart and the letters of their name. The other kids spelled out their names on their heart, while Olivia was a little more into the "free form" name. I'm pretty sure she's ready for early admissions to Harvard! Ha. After their craft, the kids were given a decorated sugar cookie to eat. Olivia wanted to keep hers for later so I wrapped it up in the napkin and put it in my purse. After their cookie, the kids passed out their valentines so that each bag got one valentine each. Some of the kids needed a little help since they were happy to stuff more than one into a bag. Olivia handed out princess valentines with a popsicle taped to it for each of her classmates.

As the party came to an end, the kids sat around Ms. Alcira to sing a song. Olivia sat there sucking her thumb since she didn't go to bed until very late the night before. She always seems much more shy when I'm around and Ms. Alcira always tells me that she participates during class and has fun. She just seems to clam up when I'm there for parties. Olivia collected her things and gave Ms. Alcira a huge hug. She's such a sweet and loving teacher and always hugs and kisses Olivia on her head and tells her "I love you." The kids all seem to really be drawn to her and she's so affectionate with all the kids in the class, which is great to see. Olivia and I headed out to the car a little early after a fun Valentine's Party! I was so glad to be able to be part of it.

Let the Valentine's Party begin!

Tossing the velcro balls onto the bull's eye!

Watching her classmate do it

Excited little girl for her party

Olivia and her gold metal

Tossing the hearts onto the cones....close, but no luck!

Olivia and her cute Valentine's bag!

Olivia with her "free form" name....

Cookie time!

Signing (or sucking her thumb)

Olivia and her bag off goodies!

Giving Ms. Alcira a huge hug goodbye!

Rodeo Time!!

Last night we took the girls to the Fort Worth Stock Show's rodeo with friends Arren and Susan. For the past three years, CK has been offered 6 amazing rodeo tickets right in the front row by one of his clients. It is literally one of my very favorite events of the year! In prior years we've invited our friends Thelma and Harvey and their daughter, Isabella who is a very good friend of Sofia's. However, this year we wanted to include Olivia which meant we only had two tickets to invite others. So, we invited our friends who don't have children, who CK knows through flying. They arrived at our house around 5pm and we loaded up into our car and headed to dinner in Ft Worth. Arren suggested Rail Head BBQ, which was recommended to him my one of his friends. It was very busy, but we finally found a parking spot and went inside. Sofia decided on ribs, Olivia had the chicken and CK and I both ordered the pulled pork sandwich. The food was really good and perfect for the rodeo!

After we finished dinner, we headed to the Stock Show. We parked in our phenomenal parking spot (the parking pass is included with the great tickets) right outside the arena and made our way inside. We were about 20 minutes early, so we got settled, grabbed some drinks and cotton candy for the girls and settled into our seats. Sofia was SO excited that she kept asking "how much longer now?" every 30 seconds! Olivia was really excited for "the horse show" to begin and didn't really know what to expect but fed off of Sofia's excitement. Right at 7:30pm the lights dimmed and the spot lights roamed around the arena - it was show time! Sofia was SUPER excited! The lead-into the rodeo is just incredible and it was fantastic to be in the very front row! Both girls loved sticking out their hands for high fives and listening to the announcer's booming voice. It was fun to see how much Arren and Susan enjoyed the rodeo since it was their very first one even though they were both born and raised in Dallas!

We spent the next two hours watching the cowboys compete in bronc riding, calf wrestling, team roping, bareback horse riding, barrel racing and finally bull riding. We also loved watching the calf scramble which is pretty chaotic and silly. There was also a chuck wagon races segment which sent clumps of mud flying onto our laps. It was really exciting and the girls loved it as much as they squealed. I was hoping that they would also have Mutton Bustin which is basically a kid rodeo including little kids riding sheep! It's usually 4 to 6 year olds who volunteer to climbing onto a sheep who is let set free. Whoever stays on the longest wins. It's pretty amusing and some of the kids are really good!

After the bull riding, we headed back to our car (after standing in the bathroom line with Sofia who was desperate!). Both girls really enjoyed the rodeo, although they also became a bit restless about halfway through. Olivia headed to the bathrooms with Susan and after they returned, she spent the last half of the rodeo sitting on Susan's lap and cuddling. It was a nice relief and gave Sofia the opportunity to sit on my lap for that last hour (she always complains that she never gets to sit on my lap because Olivia is always in it). On the ride home, both girls stayed awake and Olivia was really awake! We got home around 10:30pm and were all tired, although Olivia acted like she was ready to stay up for a few more hours. Arren and Susan headed off after we said goodbye to them and we put the girls to bed. Both fell asleep very quickly, despite how awake they were acting. Such a fun evening!!

Girls and their cotton candy

CK and me before the show

Sofia and her Papa's cowboy hat

Me and the girls

The show begins!

The Texas and American flag procession!

High fives

The rodeo clowns

Someone enjoyed their cotton candy

The calf scramble

Bronc Riding