L-O-V-E

Okay, so if you do not like things pink, glittery, and filled with hearts, you may want to turn away now.

Now that I've given you a chance to avert your eyes, I will warn you that this is also a picture galleria.

Okay, so now that that is out of the way, here is my post on Valentine's Day. I, like a few of my dear friends, LOVE Valentine's Day! Not only do I love all things pink, glittery, and heart filled, but I love the idea to celebrate LOVE! Our God's greatest commandments were for us to love him and then love one another. Yes, I agree with the V-day naysayers that we can celebrate love everyday! And, we should! However, it never hurts to set aside one day a year to really do it up right! I mean, despite my love for all things pink, glittery, and heart filled, not even I could deal with that on a DAILY basis! Maybe...

So, here are our Valentine's Day activities. 

Here are my girlies before our little Valentine's gathering. We, along with some other crazy people, made some fun shirts. I can't believe how old these two look here!

Me and my girlies. This pic looks half way decent. At this point in the day, I knew something was brewing in my body. Once we came home from the party, I collapsed. It began a week long fight with a nasty virus.

Sweet Jen Brown hosted our gathering. She found these fun cookies that I just had to get a pic of!

This year we strung the Valentine's the night before and hung them on ribbon. 

I LOVE how it turned out!

Quick pic of the Brown girls and Hay girls.

No. caption. needed. 

The owner knows.

Marcie made the kiddos sugar cookies and the rest of us brought fruit and icing to garnish the YUMMY cookies. These are pics of the lovies decorating their cookies.

The Robbins boys made faces on their cookies!

Dani taking a bite.

Addie and Ashlyn giving me their sweet smiles.

Jens and Ash missed the fruit memo!

Jen's festive decorations!

The gang!

As I read Sarah's post about the gathering, I almost choked when she said that there are still SIX kids not at home! Ha! That both makes me smile and struggle for breath! Ha!

The gang take 25.

I just loved how Jenna threw her arms around her Robbins boys and squeezed tightly!

Now, on to Valentine's fun at our house. Each year I love to decorate for the big V-Day. This year I tried a few new fun pieces of decor. Here I made a heart chain with card stock.

And these are felt, heart garlands that I made. I really enjoyed making these and decorating with them. My friend, Mandy, inspired me when she made some last year. 

Also, each year, we make hearts with Bible verses about God's love and our love for others and hang them in the house. I made these hearts (Emma wasn't into participating this year. Surprisingly!) just before I got sick. I planned on hanging them the Saturday after our party, and that's when the sickness set in. So, they are put away for next year. :o(

Of course I had to include this verse from Jeremiah. 

I just love seeing my little guy's name whenever I can!

On these two hearts, I wrote some words from Emma and Jenna. I asked them what love means to them, and these were their responses. I loved each girl's response!

And, here is my Jens on the big V-day. This is her outfit that she chose to wear to CC. And, this is the face she chose to wear when I asked her to smile! :o)

Not to be left out, we made shirts for the boys as well. Their shirts say Prince Charming. These were the absolute best shots I could get. I wasn't feeling well, and they were not having a photo shoot!

My boys.

Valentine's Day at the Hay house! Now, you may go throw up all of the pink and glitter! :o)

Books! Books!

So the boys have taken a slight liking to books. And, I LOVE IT! I love to read! I love the feel of books. I love the feel of the pages. I love the smell of books. I love the way they look stacked up ready to be opened. I love to highlight, underline, and star them up. Yes, I am slightly obsessed. :o) However, despite my slight obsession, I do hope to pass some of this love onto my children. 

So far, it seems to be working. Right now, the boys have taken a crazy love for books, especially Noah! All throughout the day they find a book and hunt down a reader. They turn their big eyes onto the unsuspecting victim, shove the book in the victim's face, and begin their grunting plead. Luckily for them, the girls are always quick to drop what they are doing to read a book to their brothers. Oh my, something else I just love to see! Here are just a few shots of book love at our house lately.

Mr. Micah tried to choose a quiet place to read. But, was quickly joined by Jens.

This little cubby hole has been a hiding place for all of my children. 

I should do a post just of pics of all my babies enjoying time in this little cubby.

Mikes thinking he is tough sitting on the chair reading. The poor guys was fighting a small virus, so his eyes were a bit glazed! (We've had quite the winter with viruses! Bleh!)

Noah enjoying some books.

Noah approaching the unsuspecting victim.

Noah now giving the unsuspecting victim his dimpled grin, and the victim deciding.

He had to go solo this time.

But, she soon gave in and they had a moment on the couch. 

I love to see Jeff grab them both and read a book. Really, you rarely read to just one guy for long. Because if the other hears you reading, he quickly makes his way over to you and makes room for himself on your lap. 

Sadly, I didn't grab any pics of Ems with her bros. However, she LOVES to hold them and read. Since Noah LOVES to be held and read and she LOVES to play this role, those two are usually found together snuggled and reading. 

Oh, how I have such visions of family reading time! hehe! :o)

Splishy, Splashy!

Well, I know that putting pictures of your children in the bathtub on the internet is sometimes frowned upon, but, well, this is MY blog and it is my scrapbook for our lives. So, I'm putting adorable pictures of my adorable boys in the bath tub on the internet! ;o)

Micah and Noah

Best Buds

Noah feels as if this is a bad idea, too.

Oh these two faces just make my heart skip! Those sweet cheeks and eyes!

And, once again my heart is jumping! Look a their SWEET faces! Noah and his dimples! Micah and his eyes! Oh me, oh my! Yeah, I know I am a bit biased, but I just can't get enough of these two!

And, that concludes the short bath tub pictorial of the boys. Yes, one day they will be embarrassed! Yes, some people may think this is so wrong. But, yes, I am oh,  so happy! :o)