Our Valentine's Weekend

We were so looking forward to this 3-day weekend after an extremely busy week last week! I had something going every night...Bible study Monday evening, EAGLES homeschool meeting Tuesday evening, AWANA Wednesday evening (which I ended up skipping--Ted took the kids to church while I stayed home to prep for stamping events), scrap club meeting Thursday evening, and hostess workshop Friday evening. Whew!

So the thought of not going ANYWHERE on Saturday was very welcome to me! Ted and Charis did go out--she had AWANA games from about 10:00 - 2:30. Before they left, we had a family breakfast and the kids opened their Valentine's goodies from Grandma J, which were activity-type books that kept them busy for awhile! During the day, I worked on laundry, read to and played games with the boys, spent time with Kenna, and supervised the cleaning of my bathrooms, woohoo! The cleaning lady brought her daughter, and I'm pleased with the results. Yay for clean bathrooms without having to do it myself! ;-)

I made heart-shaped pizzas for the kids for dinner (Ted, Kenna and I had a normal pizza), which were well-received, as was the "pink fluff" Jello salad. We had Valentine's cupcakes for dessert, courtesy of Arden, who won a prize at the Cake Walk during the EAGLES elementary Valentine's party on Thursday afternoon. We gave the kids their Valentines from Grandma & Grandpa K and from us before dinner. Part of our gift to them was the Peanuts Valentine's episodes on DVD, so they all enjoyed watching that while Ted and I made the pizza and prepared the salad.

After the kids were in bed, Ted and I finished watching some TV stuff we had recorded and ended up in bed early ourselves, as we were both pretty exhausted. I had fully intended to take a nap in the afternoon, but it never worked out. Not to worry, though...I had a good nap Sunday afternoon and was more than ready to go out with my hubby! Debi came over to watch the kids for us, and we enjoyed a very yummy dinner at The Melting Pot. We had gotten a restaurant gift certificate from my brother and sis-in-law for Christmas, and we were able to apply it to our meal. We had appetizers, salad, and extra dessert. :-) It was just right. The first time we went to The Melting Pot, we did the "Big Night Out," which also includes an entree. WAY too much food, if you ask me! I remember leaving that evening feeling extremely, uncomfortably full! So the two times we have been since then, we've opted to skip the entree. The other stuff is more fun, anyway, LOL.

Our dinner didn't take as long as we had anticipated, though it was very nice to spend an hour not having to cut someone else's food into small bites or be interrupted in the middle of a sentence by a request for more milk. One major thing was accomplished during our dinner--we picked a name for our baby boy!!! (Sorry, I'm not posting it now, tee hee!) This is the longest it has taken us to choose a name, but we both very much like our decision. It feels good to be able to call the baby by name and pray for him by name now. I've felt a little more detached this pregnancy, and I think the lack of a name has had a lot to do with it. Lately, with all his movements and with the kids getting so excited every time they feel him kick or see my belly jiggle...it's becoming more and more real, and I'm finally starting to feel just a little bit ready to welcome a new little one! I know, you'd think after having 4 kids another one wouldn't be a big deal, but we have our routine going, and the thought of adding a wee one when we're already exhausted with a high-maintenance toddler is definitely overwhelming to me. But I know God's timing is perfect, and I look forward to seeing His plan for our family unfold. I think the uncertainty of not knowing what will be happening this summer is also a major contributing factor to my emotional ups and downs concerning the pregnancy...it doesn't seem related, yet it completely is! WHERE will we be going? Will we be close to family? Will our next house be big enough for a homeschooling family of 5 kids plus a home business??

Once again, we know God has everything under control. Our date night conversation centered around these topics, and I feel so blessed to have a husband who acknowledges God's sovereignty and demonstrates such faith in Him, even when earthly circumstances are frustrating and hard to understand.

From the restaurant, we tried going to a couple of theaters to see what was playing, but we discovered we had no interest in the movies that are out now. So we headed to Barnes & Noble and puttered around for quite awhile. We hit the grocery store on the way home--seems we do that frequently on date nights now, LOL!--to pick up some tea and fresh fruit. We got home around 9:00, just in time to put the kids to bed and watch The Amazing Race season premiere. (Woohoo for the mom and son team who came in first!! The son is deaf, and we're rooting for them both!!)

Today is another lazy family day. Ted just left with the kiddos to go to Pump It Up. I've had a number of contractions this morning, so I decided to stay home, drink lots of water, and try to keep my feet up. I do think that I will get into Kenna's closet so I can pull out the baby items we'll be needing, plus pull out the clothes she has outgrown. We have met a couple at church who is expecting a girl. Their last child is a 12-year-old girl, so they don't have any baby stuff on hand, plus the wife was laid off work in January. Before I knew she was laid off, I felt God lay it on my heart to ask her if she needed any baby girl clothes, and we were both so excited when we talked about it last week! I'm thrilled to be able to pass on some blessings...we have been so blessed by people giving US clothes, and truly Kenna has had more clothes than one child needs, ha! So, I think I will do that one little project, then try to take it easy until the kids come home for lunch.

Whew, this was a long, rambling post! If you're still reading this, you must really love us! ;-) Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day!