This was our 2nd Valentine’s Dinner with the Loddens. We got together years ago, before all the kiddos came along and had a nice dinner at their house. This year they joined us at our house for a wonderful dinner. B treated us to a delicious steak dinner with potatoes, rolls, and fruit salad. The kids spent the evening playing together — Annabelle and Gwyneth really enjoyed the time with their cousins. Annabelle spent most of the evening chasing Ryan around the house so she was worn out.

It was a really nice, relaxing Valentine’s Evening. I don’t enjoy the hoopla of these “Hallmark-Holidays”, but now that we have kids I’ve jumped on the bandwagon of cards, candies, and treats. I want them to have fond memories of these holidays but I also don’t want to go too overboard that they have unrealistic expecations of adults. Balance, balance!

(Pictures to follow)

Saturday afternoon we headed to Golden to visit Cindy & Carl and meet little Renee. She is a sweet little baby girl! Very very cute. GG and Renee are just 5 months apart and I can’t wait for them to be able to play together. Cindy and I are certain they will just be the best of friends — although we forbid them to be college roommates because we know exactly how much trouble that could be!! 🙂

Cindy and Carl are naturals and doing great in their new roles as parents. I’m so glad we got to see them. They also treated us to some calzones from a local shop and they were delicious. I’m craving them already. Annabelle freaked out a bit when she first met Magpie, their dog. Magpie is really good with kids and Annabelle was much more comfortable by the time we left. She wasn’t quite ready to pet her but she didn’t melt down and climb up her daddy whenever she looked at her.

We celebrated Valentine’s Day with heart shaped cherry donuts for breakfast. Annabelle was really into the gift opening. She even helped GG open her gifts. Annabelle’s Valentine’s card played “Shake Your Groove Thing” when she opened it and she didn’t disappoint. She rocked it. GG is starting to find her groove too and will rock back and forth to the music. We have some party girls on our hands.

Annabelle and GG celebrated Valentine’s day with a party and lots of treats at school today. They received adorable Valentine’s from their buddies and teachers. Annabelle made her very own Valentine box too. (Annabelle had this same outfit on as GG but spilled an entire cup of grape juice all down the front of herself – oops!)

Annabelle has moved up to the Toddler 2 class at daycare and her teachers from Toddler 1 gave her a photo album of her time in their class. It was full of pictures of her and her friends. She flipped through the pages showing me pictures of “Andoo” (Andrew), “Nandler” (Chandler), and “Bell” (Bella).

We had dinner as a family and then B took off to meet some friends for a drink. I was chasing after the girls when my computer started ringing. Completely unexpected, Becky and Madison called to try out their new webcam. I pulled Gwyneth and Annabelle up on my lap in front of the computer and they loved being able to see their Aunt and cousin. It was great! I can’t wait for the rest of my family to get set up so we can see them more often. The only drawback is that when Madison (or LaLa as Annabelle refers to her) hung up Annabelle started crying and calling for her LaLa. The rest of the evening she would wander back over to the desk and say “Hi, LaLa?”. If any of you out of towners use Skype let us know so we can set up some cyber playdates. The Meyers are so high tech! ha!

Besides being able to see my sister and my niece, the highlight of the night is when Annabelle was ready for bed she walked over to Gwyneth and said “Nigh, Nigh GG” & gave her kiss and then walked to the computer and said “Nigh, Nigh LaLa” & blew the computer screen a kiss. Such sweetness from my wild little 1 1/2 year old.

I love donuts. I don’t use that world willy-nilly – I mean, I LOVE donuts! I could eat them by the box full. I don’t discriminate either – I love them all pretty equally. I wouldn’t turn up my nose at a chocolate, glazed, sprinkled, you name it! I’m a sucker for them all. (Just in case you were really curious – my favorites are Boston Creme.)

The newly restored points-counting, working out, trying to get back on track person I am arrives at work this morning to find 3 boxes of LaMar’s donuts in the copy room. What are these people doing to me???? Back in my super-fit days I was so focused on being slim and trim that I could easily resist the temptation and quietly sit back and judge all the fatty’s indulding in one of my favorite treats. After over-indulging while being pregnant for the past two years, I’ve lost all willpower. It’s like starting all over again. UGH!

I returned to my desk without a donut and pouted away the morning while eating my stupid ol’ yogurt. Where is that feeling of satisfaction knowing that I resisted temptation? Why I am still plotting against the poor sap who brought in the donuts? I don’t think this is healthy. Perhaps I should have had the donut. For the safety of my co-workers I think I should reconsider.

There was still no rest! We are always on the go at the Meyer House. We could probably really use some downtime but there are always places to go, people to see. I love living in Colorado again because there is just never a dull moment. Hard to believe we’ve been here for a year and half now. Aren’t we due for a move soon????

After church, we met Susan and Burton for lunch at the Gordon Birsch Brewery in Flatirons. It’s one of our favorites and we had a great time catching up. It had been far too long – well before Christmas.

The girls went home and took great naps (B too!) and rather than hitting the gym which I really should have done I snuck off and saw a movie. I went to see Revolutionary Road which was very good but a big downer. I’m not a huge fan of the burbs but it really painted a gloomy picture of “ordinary” family life. That said if you’re in the mood for a good story but dont need a feel good ending – I recommend this movie.

We finished the evening working on Valentine’s, dinner, baths, and getting ready for another crazy week at the Meyer house! Like I said, never a dull moment. Let the fun begin…

Annabelle has some big shoes to fill. 🙂

Get her, GG!
Rockin’ and rollin’
Wherever GG is, Annabelle is sure to follow

Best buds!

• Miss Melissa babysat the girls so we could head to the Nuggets game last Friday. The Nuggets won and we ran into Brad & Austin at the game too.
• Saturday we met Poppy & Melissa in Idaho Springs for dinner. They are up in Breckenridge for the week. Unfortunately they had to battle ski traffic for about 2 hours to meet us at Tommy Knockers Brewery. The girls were really good and enjoyed seeing them too. I love the nachos and grilled cheese atTommy Knockers – such a guilty pleasure.
• Sunday we had planned to get together with friends for the Super Bowl but I got a horrible migrane so we just laid low. Sleep is good!
• Monday night I hosted bookclub at my house. We read the first book from the “Twilight” series. I liked it but I’m not sure if I’m sucked in enough to read the next 3. I hate to be out of the loop with anything related to pop culture so I probably will.
• Tuesday morning Gwyneth had her follow-up appointment for her bronchitis. She is weighing at 15 lbs 12 oz and was given a clean bill of health. She is in great shape!
• Wednesday I was able to get out for a bit and meet Sheila and Melissa for dinner at Altitude. We spend lots of time together with our kiddos so it was nice to have a little “Mommy’s night out” time and adult conversation.
• Thursday night we finally had a quite night at home with the girls. Gwyneth gave us quite the shock when she pushed herself up to her knees and started rocking. Our baby girl is going to be crawling in no time. I’m not sure we’re ready for this! Annabelle was showing Gwyneth how to crawl and they were belly laughing at each other. I’ll always remember these sweet little laughs.

Here are some random photos from the week:

Time for Gwyneth’s 6 month photos. Both the girls were dressed in their love bug gear so we got some great shots of them together for Valentine’s. Here are just a few highlights: