Happy Valentine's Day!

Clint and I don't do much for Valentine's Day.  At most, we say "Happy Valentine's Day" if we remember.   We use to get eachother a card and a little something each year, but somehow silently agreed it was silly.  I think that it's a holiday that's cool when you're in high school and your boyfriend brings or has flowers or some other suprise delivered to you.  I suppose after you don't celebrate it for years and suddenly you actually do something, it makes it more exciting as well. 

That is what I decided to do this year.  This morning I decided to deliver a Valentine's Day themed lunch to my hubby at work with Jude.  By his reaction, I think he liked it a lot. I used my bento that I love so much to layer all the elements on top of one another.  I blogged about this wonderful bento here.

Here's what his lunch consisted of:

Layer one was a HUGE heart shaped brownie-freshly baked, a banana with "I am banana's for you" written on it and a salad underneath.  The salad had heart shaped cheese and tomatoes that spelled out "I love you".

Layer two had (2) Heart shaped sandwiches, fresh strawberries, a fruit crisp and his Raspberry Vinegarette salad dressing. 

Layer three was just (2) Valentine's Day cookies, his fave kind of cupcake (Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese frosting), and I cut and molded one of his Fiber One bars into a heart. 

 Cute, huh?  I think so...especially for deciding to do it the morning of.  What did you do for your someone special? 

Field Trips

I've been meaning to post about some of the adventures that have taken place in the fall but am just now getting around to it with this post.  Therefore, please excuse the long post that is about to occur.

I want to start first with a trip that Jude and I went on to the Montrose Orchard this fall.  We asked his Grandma (Clint's mom) and our niece Addison to come along as well.  The trip was organized by the SKIP program that Jude goes to on a weekly basis held at Montrose Schools.  It's a wonderful organization.  It is much like a big structured play date.  The kids meet on the rug for a few songs and story time.  Afterwards, there are stations for them to explore different  activities each week.

Jude had a great time at the orchard.  I think his favorite part was climbing on the straw while waiting for the tour of the orchard to begin.  He also enjoyed all the animals he saw, especially the horse.  It was his first real trip to the orchard and I think we will make it an annual event.

Here is Jude looking mischevious.  Isn't he darling?

 Playing in the straw.

Such a joy.

The tractor coming to pick us up for the hay ride. 

Watching cider be made.

Apples on the conveyor.

A horse in the animal farm area.

Staring at his favorite animal....the horsey.

Jude's first donut ever.

Snugging his Grandma.  (He calls her Grandma Horsey bc she has two ponies).

He was amused with putting his head in the openings.

Picked out a perfect sized pumpkin.

Pround of his find. 

 Jude and I on the hayride.

The next field trip we took was also organized by SKIP.  It was to the local Fire Department.  Its purpose was to teach families about fire safety and also allowed the kids to explore the trucks and equiptment.  I mostly wanted to go just  so Jude could see the trucks.  Clint met us there after practice so it was good family time. 

Here's our little firefighter.

Looking at the uniforms/gear.

Jude with daddy.

 Mommy looking terrible and Jude looking cute as always.

I love this picture.  He was looking at his reflection on the inside of the fire truck.

Another adventure was taking Jude to his first dentist appointment.  This was really important to me because I care very much about his teeth and want him to know the importance of good oral health as well.  Even before his first tooth, I was using the finger brush to clean his gums.  Now, I am proud to say that my little boy LOVES brushing his teeth!  It makes the process much easier since he doesn't put up a fight.  I usually start by brushing them myself and then letting him brush for awhile on his own or vice versa.  When we do it in the evening, we usually make it something he does as part of bath time.  He loves running the toothbrush under the bath faucet.

His visit to the dentist went well.  He especially liked the waiting area for the kids.  He liked sitting in the big chair, but did not like laying back and having the dentist look in his mouth.  Luckily that only lasted a few minutes.  The dentist was impressed with Jude's and mommy's brushing of his teeth and said that his chompers looked great! 

 Here he is in the waiting room playing with toys.

 My big boy in the chair waiting for the dentist to take a look in his mouth.

Lastly, we spent winter family night making gingerbread houses at the elementary school in Montrose. I thought it was a lot of fun.  They had reindeers for the kids to look at, all the items needed to make the gingerbread houses and also Santa came for a visit.  Jude loves animals so all he wanted to do was hang out with the reindeer.  When we did finally get him back to the gingerbread house, he mostly ate the candy and cereal that was to adorn the house.  Finally, Santa arrived, whom he loved the previous year and Jude wanted nothing to do with him.  You will see how that played out in the following pictures.

Jude's favorite part of the whole night.

Jude eating the goods.

The final product.

Daddy playing with Jude's marshmallow gun that I bought him.  He shot it right into his mouth.

Not a fan.

Traumatized.

Didn't like Santa but was happy he got a book out of the ordeal.

Well that is it for field trips for now.  I have some things to post from Halloween and Christmas.  I can't wait to show you all Jude's costume that I made.