Valentine's Day

The night before Valentine's Day, Samantha wished that her special Valentine would bring her balloons. Apparently, this special Valentine was not Daddy, Mommy or Papa...it was Avery! Luckily, without even asking, Papa & Grandma showed up with 4 red-heart balloons and saved the day!

Alayna and I visited Sammie at school for her party.

We pounded M&Ms and popcorn,

made a craft and passed out Valentines to all her buddies.

Alayna knows how to make herself right at home. She even gets to set on a letter during circle time.

For dinner, we made pink-heart shaped pizza, jello jigglers, red velvet heart crinkle cookies and Blake brought home a cookie cake that got gobbled up before dinner.Sam and Grandma made homemade cards for everyone. "Kiss your girlfriend on the lips," is a sweet little thing that my cousin Ella kept saying to Grandma & Papa while they were visiting in California. It was been adopted as our new saying. We played a Valentine's Day trivia game and Blake didn't win...that's all we seem to worry about. Super fun night!

Buddies

Samantha is obsessed with playdates. I don't know how else to explain it. That girl can go All. Day. Long. Luckily, we have great next door neighbors and a slew of friends to stop by and play most any day.

What could be more fun than making bum prints with sidewalk chalk?

Even Alayna approved of the activity.

Coloring Fool

Today while cleaning out the car & garage and tinkering around the yard...I lost track of Alayna. I stopped and listened for her little noises, and sure enough I could hear them...

She had climbed into the van and made her self comfortable.

She just loves to color.

I have a feeling she will be the one that ends up coloring all over the walls...at least I am mentally prepared for that catastrophe.

Melissa Turns the BIG 30!!

The year of Melissa! I feel big things happening for her this year.

Melissa requested Mom's spaghetti (plus all the leftovers) and a Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake.No party is complete without a game of Blokus.Ramon was initiated into the competition."It's my party, and I'll sleep if I want to..."

We're Goin' to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo...

We LOVE when Blake gets his day off for the month. It was beautiful outside, so we forked over a ridiculous amount of money to visit the Houston Zoo.

As you can guess, Alayna wanted to explore every nook and cranny of the zoo...on foot and uninhibited.

She really, really tried hard to catch this little bird.

Carousels...one can never get too old.

It's just so magical!
Well...maybe not for everyone.I can't believe how real this giraffe looks!

Sammie is making the appropriate elephant noises and action.
Alayna got quite a fright when this albino alligator decided to move...right towards her!
I had fun acting like I knew what I was doing with one of my camera lenses...gettin' up close and personal!
A few more snaps of our favorite animals of the day.

Yay for the New Camera!

I am LOVING my new camera that Santa brought me for Christmas. The fact that I know NOTHING about how to actually use it, and it still takes great pictures...makes it worth every penny!

15 Months Old

Weight: 21 lbs - 7th percentile
Height: 32 1/2" - 86th percentile
Head: 17 1/2" - 1st percentileAlayna is growing up so fast! She went from being a horrendous newborn, a rolly-polly baby, to a non-stop movin-babblin' toddler!