Steve and Jenny Valentine

WEEK 38: 9/17/13 - Traci and kiddos were over today to hang out. Sure we have a pack n play, bouncer or swing he could have slept in, but this was just way more practical! 9/18/13 - Fun afternoon playtime includes: music, tutus/dancing and blocks 9/19/13 - Fun playtime at the pool 9/20/13 - Karis putting on a show at our friend's house 9/21/13 - coloring with markers and stickers, one thing sure to make this girl happy for an hour (at least) 9/22/13 - 16 weeks pregnant (looking really tired!) 9/23/13 - Jenny watching the twins (our nephews Owen and Anson) while Lauren took their big sisters for haircuts. Isaac enjoyed hanging with them, Karis was very helpful and Jenny was worn out after a few hours! WEEK 39: 9/24/13 - very tired Steve, preparing to leave for another work trip 9/25/13 - Sissy sits just like this on the couch when she's watching a show, it's cute to see him acting like his big sister 9/26/13 - Sweet card and...

We are blessed to have a beautiful pond behind our house and it's always fun to feed the ducks. However lately, we have not been able to feed the ducks, it's sad really because we go outside and shake our bag of snacks and they don't come, always leaving a disappointed two year old. So it was a bit of a surprise one morning last week when we were just finishing up breakfast and I see Isaac looking out the back window out at the pond, pointing and making quacking noises, and sure enough there were several ducks right on our back patio.  I took this opportunity to get the duck snacks out and Karis was very excited to feed them.  Isaac was confused as to why I was giving away "his" snacks to the ducks, but enjoyed seeing them out there none the less.  The fun lasted a while, and then a duck snatched a cracker right out of Karis' hand and that's when I snapped a picture that makes me laugh every time I see it {no she was not injured folks} but she was traumati...

As it turns out, our trip home from Minnesota last week ended with our little family of four riding First Class! You would think we do that all the time as we boarded when Karis sits down and says, "where's the TV?!" It was actually funny to me when Steve came back from the desk and said that we had all been bumped up to first class. See, he travels often for work and gets bumped up all the time so he was excited for me to enjoy riding first class. As enjoyable as that sounded, all I could think about was how would our children act and what would those around us think with our noisy ten month old and talkative two year old! Karis and Isaac both traveled well after settling in...Karis enjoyed her stickers and games while Isaac slept for most of the flight. I enjoyed the extra space and Steve laughed at me when I said, "I could get used to that!" Obviously this isn't possible with our budget but it was fun to enjoy some perks awarded Steve as a frequent fly...

Karis is in a fun stage these days.  One of the things I find fun is playing with her long blonde hair and making her look "so pretty" as she will say when I'm done.  She is at the point where I can braid it, but have only done so a couple times...afterall getting a 20 month old to sit still for a long time is quite the challenge!  But it's fun to see her than look in the mirror afterward and say, "so pretty"! Here are some pictures from our first braiding session: Steve and I tell her often that she is so pretty and that God made her that way.  But we also try to make it just as much a point to talk about inward appearance as we do her outward appearance.  It's always funny to see the look on her face when Steve is trying to talk with her about her inward beauty!  I know she doesn't fully understand it now, but we desire to lay a foundation now that we will continue to build on as she grows as a lady.  We want he...

Isaac's Birth Announcement turned out so great.  Thank you Lauren for taking a great picture of our little man! Click on the link below to see it... http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=1Act2Ldy3aM3QQ&cid=SFLYOCWIDGET

I wasn't going to do any belly pictures but my sister in law said, let's do some!  So we went out to a field near her house and took some pictures.  I always think its akward getting pictures of just myself, I never know how to stand or pose...but Lauren had some ideas of different shots and I think they turned out great!  It was good we took pictures when we did because Isaac was born a week later!  In fact, the day these pictures were taken, later that night I was beginning to have some regular contractions that actually started to hurt and not just the Braxton contractions.  I really did think that night I was going into labor...but prayed I wasn't!  I was so tired from the days events (we had some family in town and so I hadn't gotten much rest throughout the day).  The contractions did subside around 1:00am the next morning and we found out at my doctor appointment a few days after that I was dilated to 3cm...so those contraction...

I have this habit of starting blogs and never finishing them to post...this seems to be the story of my life right now in most areas!  I keep thinking it'll get better...but the more children we have it seems to make protecting time for myself (and the things I enjoy doing) a little bit more difficult.  Anyway, this is one of those blogs I started a while ago and things got crazy...and we had a child ;)  So here it is... My ever so talented sister in law, Lauren, has taken up photography as a hobby (and doing a fabulous job I might add!)  We asked her to take our family picture for our Valentine's day card knowing she would be super silly in order to get Karis to laugh and smile...mission accomplished!  daddy's girl The family picture we chose to use for our yearly Valentine letter I love this picture...it shows in picture how Karis is right now in life...always 10 steps ahead of mommy!  Our busy girl :) ...

I wonder how many people have a LIST...you know the one where you say "I'll do that someday" or "I wish I learned how to do _____".  I have a running list like this and I feel like the list gets longer than the checks off the list!  Part of me finds myself envious of people who have the time, energy, skill/ability, money, etc. to do said item on their list, but then I quickly realize...that's sinful and also that it's not that important in the grand scheme of things.  It's a dream and maybe one day when resources afford it, I will accomplish more things on my list! So my LIST (in no particular order): 1. actually make scrapbooks and utilize the stuff in my closet! 2. play in a chamber orchestra 3. throw on the wheel (pottery) on a regular basis 4. learn to sew -- and more importantly -- learn to make quilts (now to get a sewing machine) 5. re-learn piano (pick it back up instead of letting our keyboard sit under the guest bed!) 6. travel th...

Steve and I decided to go on one last date night together pre-baby and before family came into town.  We enjoyed an evening at Seaworld together (from tickets my mom had bought us a while back).  We really enjoyed watching the dolphins in the dolphin nursery and the momma and baby sea lions and learning about their interesting pregnancy and birthing processes-you can tell what's on our minds these days!  Here are a few pictures of our evening together: Dolphin at the dolphin nursery Mama sealion cuddling with her baby Steve and Me 38 weeks pregnant Of course the night wouldn't be complete without swollen ankles! Grateful for my husband and this date night together and excited as we anticpate the arrival of our daughter, Jenny