Aren’t sticks fun?!  Magei has had a stick collection going since we moved into this house 2 years ago.  I think we still have some of the original sticks.  Anyone who has been to our house has probably seen the pile on our front porch.  She doesn’t limit herself to the ones just in our yard.  She collects on virtually every walk we take or trip to the park we make.  And they all come home.  With us.  And end up on my front porch.

Last Saturday our church primary had a talent show.  It was adorable to see all the kids show off their unique talents!  I couldn’t believe how brave these kids were to get up in front of everyone and perform.

Magei’s primary class opened the show by singing “I am Like a Star Shining Brightly.”  Sam was so confused as to why he was not invited to participate.

Magei played “Goodie, Goodie, Stop, Stop” and did a wonderful job!

And of course, taking a bow at the end!

We love Valentine’s Day, and this year we had lots of fun celebrating!  Magei found heart shaped cake pans at the store and could not let go of the idea of baking a heart cake.  The pans weren’t too expensive, so I bought 2 and we made a double layer devils food cake.  Magei was in charge of the chocolate balls, and she also held the bars while I shaved the chocolate for the swirls.

This cake is already cut up and in the freezer.  It will probably be our FHE treat for the next month or two!

We all made each other Valentines during FHE the week before.

The kids got the annual heart attack on their doors:

We had crepes for our Valentine’s breakfast on Saturday morning.   I made the crepes and macerated the strawberries the day before, so it was very relaxing and ready to assemble when we were.

We were all very loved on V-Day.  Sam got a Diego backpack that he has been loving!  Magei is such a little chef that we decided to get her her very own cookbook.  Nate has been wanting Lego Star Wars for the wii forever…now he’s got it, maybe one day he’ll have time to try it out.

Nate got me a new Wilton book.  This one is about brownies.  Very fun.

Nate’s parents sent Valentine’s to the kids, so we let them open their package during breakfast.  They loved their treats!

The boys also went the extra mile and gave us girls flowers.  Nate gave me these:

and Sam picked this one out all by himself to give to Magei:

The kids also got to wear their new Valentine’s shirts.

Nate and I were also lucky enough to get to go on a date Friday night.  We went to Barnes and Noble - which may not sound like much, but we think it is fun.  When Nate and I were first dating and married, we were so poor that we couldn’t afford to spend money on dates.  We spent almost every date night at Barnes and Noble sitting in the big, comfy leather chairs, surrounded by magazines and books, and dreaming about this and that.