Valentine's Day Fun

Happy Valentine's day from my favorite little love bugs.

We had a great Valentine's day yesterday. Benson and I spent most of our day at the kids' school. Between Tucker's "rise and shine" and class parties we spent a lot of time at the school.

But we had fun and Benson always enjoys being in the kids' classrooms. 

Our first stop was Tucker's class.
They were playing lots of "minute to win it" games and Benson loved helping Tuck.
Tucker loves having Benson in his classroom. They are pretty cute together!

Tucker's class had already passed out valentines and decorated bags. He loved his bag and he had the best time sorting through his valentines. 

We had a great time at Tucker's party and he loved having us there with him. 

Next, we went to Bailey's class. She was busy handing out her valentines when we arrived. This year all the kids brought the same valentines to their friends. We made slap bracelet valentines, they said "You make me 'SLAPPY' valentine" and included slap bracelets with different patterns. The kids loved these and their friends really loved them too.  

Bailey designed her valentine box this year and she loves her llama box. It is pretty cute. I helped her cut the paper and then she glued it on the box to decorate it. She did a great job. 

After Bailey finished passing out her valentines, they had snacks. The snacks are another reason Benson loves going to the kids classes, they always share their party snacks with him. 

After Bailey's class party we ended our day at Tanner's class. Tanner's class had finished passing out valentines and were having snacks when we arrived. They had also done a little cupid's arrow craft. 

Tanner also designed his box himself. I helped him cut the paper with my silhouette and he glued it all together. 

We snagged a picture of all the kids together at the school before leaving. 

When we got home,  the kids found a little valentine's  day surprise waiting for them.
There was a box of chocolates and a new electric toothbrush for each of them and they thought it was the greatest thing in the world. 

Later, we had a babysitter come over and watch the kids so Chris and I could go out on a date.
It was such a great night. We went to dinner at "Bonefish Grill" and the food was so delicious.
We had a wonderful date night and it was a great Valentine's day. 

Tucker's "Rise and Shine"

Today, on Valentine's day, we got to go to Tucker's "Rise and Shine" morning assembly at his school. 

He was so excited that we were able to come and he was so smiling so big when he saw us.

I love our little kindergarten buddy. 

Tucker did great on his speaking part. He delivered part of the menu for the day and he spoke right into the microphone and did perfectly. 

After their speaking parts, the class performed an adorable valentine theme song and dance.
At one point they turned around and did a little booty shake and the whole school lost it with laughter.
Only kindergartners could get away with shaking their booties at school and have it be cute. 

Happily, Bailey was announced as Student of the week during the morning assembly so we were able to be there for that as well. She was so happy and surprised. 

The entire "Rise and Shine" assembly was adorable and we are so proud of Tucker and all his hard work and growth in kindergarten. Way to go Mrs. Johnson's class. 

I Love you a WAFFLE lot.

We just had the cutest cousins valentine's party!
This was probably my favorite Valentine theme yet. 

The theme was "I love you a WAFFLE lot" and it was so fun. 

We had a super cute waffle bar. 

I had a lot of fun decorating and styling this little party. The waffle banner was one of my favorite parts. 

We had tons of delicious toppings and syrups. 

And we served sausages and different kinds of waffles.

We had chocolate chip, blueberry and plain waffles. 

The kids always love having breakfast for dinner, so this was a huge hit with them.
They loved this party and they always love having their cousins over.

The kids played together non stop until it was time to eat dinner. Then we had everyone make their way through the waffle bar to get their dinner. 

They really enjoyed dinner. 

We are so grateful to have our cousins so close so we can enjoy holidays like this together.
Happy almost Valentine's day!
We sure love these kids a waffle lot. 

Army "Dining Out"

This last weekend, Chris and I attended his annual "Dining Out" for the army.
It's sad to say that we've been married 13 years this year and I've never attended this event.
Although, in the past years it hasn't been as big of a production as it was this year.
Chris is an officer now and so he really needed me to be there with him. 

So with that, I asked my parents if they would be able to watch our kids for us over night so I could attend the dinner, dance and military ceremony.
Happily, Nanny and Papa came to the rescue and the kids got to hang out at their house while Chris and I spent the night at the Norfork Inn.
Chris' battalion had rented the dining hall and a block of rooms so we could stay and enjoy the night there. 

So we drove over to Mountain Home on Friday night and got some quality snuggles and wrestling in with Nanny and Papa. 

The pictures crack me up because they perfectly depict some of my favorite childhood memories. We were constantly trying to wrestle with my Dad growing up and he always found a way to pin us all down at once so he could tickle everyone and we couldn't escape. 

We finally got our kids to bed, because you know they were completely wound up after all that wrestling and then we were able to chat and hang out for a while with just Nanny and Papa.
The next morning Chris left for drill and Papa and Nanny went to work so it was just me and the kids for a while. We played outside, hung out and enjoyed all the fun toys in the basement. 

Around 3 pm, Nanny came home and Chris and I left to go to the hotel. We got ready for the dinner there and then walked over to the dining hall. 

They immediately took pictures of everyone as you entered the dining hall. 

The first part of the evening was long and boring for me because it was a lot of military cermony. Standing and sitting and standing and sitting.
But the making of the "grog" was fun. This is a part of the program where different people add different things to this brew and each thing represents something about their battalion.
Chris added these bolts and then had to taste test. He basically choked on it and then spit it out. It was pretty comical.  The "grog" was frothing and it was quite the spectacle. 

Eventually we ate dinner and the food was actually really good. Chris said it was their best "Dining out" meal they've ever had. We chatted over dinner and I met a few more people in Chris' unit. It was nice and Chris was grateful to have me there. 

Before leaving for the night Chris had to take a few more pictures.
Here he is with the other officers. The photographer didn't really know how to position people for photos so its not great, but it is all we have. 

We had fun and really enjoyed our time together and a night away at a hotel without kids. 

I am sure proud of this guy. He gives his all to everything he does and I love him so much.