Happy Birthday Dad!

Dear Kate and Riley,
What a fun, fun weekend we had! Friday night Dad took me out for a romantic pre-Valentine's date. It was easier to get a reservation and a babysitter the day before so it worked for us. Dad took me to a nice Italian restaurant called Antonello. It was fancy and SO nice to eat a meal without a little monkey needing my attention. We walked around after and ended up at BJ's for a pizookie where we discovered the new TRIPPLE CHOCOLATE pizookie which was pretty much to die for. I can't wait until I have an excuse to have another one. Zach had a great babysitter and probably had a lot of fun without us.

Saturday I got to get my hair done, it had been months and it was really a treat for me. We got chinese food and just stayed in to avoid the "going out" crowds.

Sunday we celebrated Dad's birthday by having some friends over for dinner and dessert. We had four little kids in our house and it was pure chaos.

Monday was Dad's actual birthday. We decided to head up to Disneyland because they are having a promotion this year and annual passholders get a gift certificate on their b-day for $69! The problem with going to Disneyland is that it was POURING rain. I bet its the most rain we'll have all year and there we were at Disneyland! We took Zach to the playhouse Disney show since it was inside and then Dad stood in the rain to get his gift card. We were so soaked afterwards we just left. Probably wasn't quite the day he wanted but it was an adventure! We spent the rest of the day warming up and drying off.

Love,
Mom

Zach, amazed at the playhouse Disney show!

Dad, trying to wait out the rain at Disneyland

New haircut!

Valentine's Fun

Dear Kate and Riley,
I decided that Zach was old enough this year to participate in a little family tradition. Valentine's cookies. My mom used to make sugar cookies with us every year at Valentine's day. I loved that she made the dough pink and I loved making the giant heart shaped cookies. So for Family Home Evening we decided to give it a shot. Zach had a lot of fun and made a big mess. The cookies turned out pretty good! We are going to send some to Uncle Bret in the MTC, hopefully they don't all break in the mail.
Love,
Mom

The first thing he did was rub flour all over his face and in his hair

He was very serious about this job

Over it, and off to the bath before he could touch anything!

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

Dear Kate and Riley,
There is only one word for your brother right now and that is TROUBLE! This kid is keeping us on our toes. He has learned how to climb on everything and anything. It seems that any time I turn my back he is into some kind of crazy situation. Nothing is safe any more. I thought that falling off of the kitchen chairs a couple of times would teach him a lesson but he hasn't seemed phased at all.
Keep an eye on him!
Love,
Mom

This is how I found him the other day. He climbed up there all by himself and pulled
out the keyboard. He was very proud of himself and his little hood that he kept on all day
just really completed the "thug" image he was going for.