Happy Valentine's!

Headed out for school's Valentine's Day celebrations...all decked out in hearts, red and pink, ribbons, and funny faces...

Goofy, semi-fake smile, but still cute nonetheless!

Aunt and Uncle sent a gift EJ's way...by the looks of it, you'd think the gift was the BOX itself!

A PRINCESS sleeping bag inside!

Fun with a kitty, a kid and a BOX! (video)

Our 2nd Annual Ice Cream Valentine's Day Mommy-EJ Date

We invited Sam to come along with us again this year, too.  I think EJ was excited to see him...

...or excited to see his head, at least.  :)

Check out THIS pose!  Are you kidding me?

Self portrait...

Mommy loves our happy picture together :)

Two spoons, just like last year...but, she's already almost too big for the little one!

Really happy about her strawberry (PINK) ice cream with sprinkles in it!

Later that night (whew! We had a busy day!), we met up with some friends for a hectic, chaotic dinner with 2 moms and 4 kids at Qdoba.  

The kids had a good time, but it's hard to tell in a picture taken before the food was ready! :)

I had a fun Valentine's Day with my lil' love of my life!  So glad that we got to do Maggie Moo's again and I hope it's an annual tradition of ours!  It's SOOO good!

Aunt Karen's Visit!

Aunt Karen came to visit us several weeks back.  We had a pretty cozy weekend, mostly spending time in our house and hangin' out together!

Aunt Karen hopped in the car as soon as she arrived to run an errand with us - and this was EJ's reaction. :) Cute.

Aunt Karen came bearing gifts from some of the family from Christmas and birthday (if you've read the Dec posts, this birthday (and Christmas) keeps going and going!).

We had a fun morning of made-from-scratch pancakes (chocolate chips added in! Yippee!) - finally a recipe from me that Aunt Karen wants (she's the recipe guru - she has time (and energy!) to experiment and try new recipes all the time). 

No, I'm not about to slap my kiddo - I know it looks like it!  :?

I was actually going in for neck tickles...

EJ & Mommy Playing

We headed out to a store that they have here, but not in Chicago - I called it "Hobby Lobby on steroids" and she ended up liking the store.  We piled in some pillows to keep the lil' one entertained.

A strainer on her head!

Then, it was off to Taco Bell, where it took something like almost 20 minutes to get tacos! What? 

So, I was trying a new chili recipe from a friend, and I thought, "might as well double it and freeze a bunch for later..."

As I was doubling it, we soon wondered if we could fit it all in the crockpot (and hence, got the camera out for our silly experiment). 

Me.  Stirring.

Discussing with Kar if this will work...

...And then we arrived home and got the camera out again....

Oops.

Present time!

Well, I'm not sure this is the most efficient way to open a present, but it sure is fun to 'surf' a gift!

Aunt Karen found an original LIGHT BRITE!  (or is it 'lite brite' or 'light bright'? I don't know...it's somewhat tucked away so that I have some control over when those little lights go flying all over the house... :]  )

I'm not sure she even understands what she should be so excited about!
She DID get a kick out of playing with it, though...

Movie snuggles!

Helping Mommy scramble eggs...

Opening Presents Video

Playing with Kitty

Mommy & EJ giggles and tickles

More tickles

Silly moments

Out to dinner, YUMMY dinner

Playing with gifts from Uncle Kevin and Aunt Katy

Yes, Mommy is 'playing,' but she was trying to figure out how it worked...and look how well EJ is just sitting there! Good girl!

Now the whole family is trying - including Symba the cat  :)

You kinda had to be there, but EJ, was laying on her side on the floor in the dark (even though it doesn't loook like it in the pic), with her shoulders all hunched, writing on the toy, but watching the ceiling to see what she was writing.  It was pretty funny....

We wrote out big letters that spelled Karen to be colored, cut out and hung before she got her...we got as far as coloring, so now EJ was cutting them out...or just playing with the scissors.... 

Snuggles!