Valentine's Day

"We love because he first loved us." 1 John 4:19 "...God loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another." 1 John 4:10-11

Maryn is really confused as to why Valentine's Day is lasting so long!  And it's not even here yet.  Here's a pic of two of my sweethearts on their way to a special Daddy Daughter Dance our friend Maggie invited them to at her church.  At the dance, they had a formal picture taken, made a craft (which I still haven't seen), and Maryn even got a white rose.  After dancing and snacking the night away, John took our super tired little girl to Dairy Queen.   

 I really hope there will be more Daddy Daughter dates to come.  They say when a little girl gets older, she will measure every possible suitor by measuring them up to her Daddy.  We pray for Maryn's future spouse (if she ever marries) a lot.  A lot, a lot.  He will have big shoes to fill (and a seriously angry man to deal with if he ever breaks her heart!).

And this little boy.  He is never allowed to date.  Do you know why?  It's because he is so darn cuddly and kissy-faced.  He'll have to always be supervised on dates :)  And he loves pretty women.  He finds them in the store and starts smiling ear to ear if he sees a pretty lady.  He will basically go to any pretty lady, and although he has his favorites, he will hug and kiss on almost anyone.  Mommy is definitely his favorite for now :)

 We had a special Valentine's Dinner last night.  All four of us crowded into the kitchen to make frosted Funfetti Valentine's cookies (thank you Aunt Cathy!) with heart candies on top.  Then we all participated in the making of a rather yummy, simple, and cheap tomato basil soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.  It was an adventure.  By the way, this tomato soup was delicious.  I am not a very big soup fan, but it actually got compliments from John and you wouldn't even believe how much Josiah loved it.  I've never seen a toddler enjoy soup so much.  The basil adds a really strong flavor, so I thought the kiddos wouldn't be fond of it, but they were.  I think I'll add a bit more cream next time.  It tasted a lot like the pasta sauce in Carabba's Rigatoni Campagnolo (my favorite dish there).

 John said he was out of his comfort zone all weekend.  He had to dance AND frost cookies.  Then he made the blueberry bread loaf for our Sunday School class's breakfast this morning.  Which is another great recipe (here). It's just a package of Krusteaz Blueberry Muffins with some minor adjustments.  I leave out all the orange stuff because I'm not a fan of anything tasting like oranges besides oranges.

Josiah loves his dinosaurs I just brought out of toy rotation.  He growls and roars and growls, and smacks them into each other, and throws them and pounds them and they just kill and eat each other all day.

They each got a couple more gifts for Valentine's Day.  Josiah got Cars (the movie...he LOVES anything with Cars on it), and Maryn got two new little princess dolls.  Valentine's Day turned into a big deal!  :)