Six on Sunday and Happy Valentine's Day

Some weeks it's hard for me to think of six things to write on here - I'm sure you've been able to tell. This week, not so much. I've been keeping a running list in my head and I hope I can remember them all - because it shouldn't be difficult.

1. My in-laws came Thursday night to visit. The kids were insanely excited. They love visitors! Jerry and Rori were even able to go to the girls' Valentine parties at school. Since I love my lists, I think I'll list some qualities about Grandma Rori and Grandpa Jerry:

They love our kids. They are wonderful grandparents and it shows.
They are very laid back. They go with the flow which works well in a family as crazy as ours.
They babysit for us! Actually - this should have been first on the list:)
They are coming with us on our ski trip. I love that they're retired now so vacation time isn't an issue. This will allow us to go as a family and not have to put the little girls in daycare on the mountain. Love that.
They "conned" me into going to Fort Robinson, NE this summer. My hubby has such great memories there as a child that I said it sounded like fun. Then I found out it's 12 hours away (I don't do well in the car). I cried and whined and had a temper tantrum but it was too late. We're going.
All in all, they are making great memories with my girls. Memories I wish I had from my grandparents.

This shot was taken before dinner out on Friday night. I love it b/c everyone is looking into the camera and you can see the happy-ness in the girls' faces!

2. #1 was in Chicago this weekend. She had a swim meet yesterday and today. All I know is she won 2nd place in team, duet, and figures. What I don't know is 2nd out of how many teams? She's on her way home from the airport now so I will get the scoop tomorrow. This is the first time she's been out of town without one of us. It was kind of weird.

3. #3 is enamored with toilets. This week she and her friend, Ty, threw their tennis shoes and socks into the toilet and tried to flush them down. It didn't work.

Then last night, we went to our friends' house for dinner. (As an aside, #3 rode with me to drop a donation off to Goodwill the previous weekend. She couldn't figure out that Goodwill was a store - she kept thinking it was someone's house. Well these friends have a son named Will. So all day yesterday she kept asking when we were going to "Goodwill's house"?) Back to the story, #3 and their 3-year-old threw chapstick in the toilet and when told to put it down promptly put it on their lips. Gross. Then later, as we were leaving, I heard them in the downstairs bathroom. Again. They were playing with fish in the toilet. Throwing them in and "catching" them in the net.

Luckily, I had my little point-n-shoot in my purse, so I was able to document the evening for my Project 365. See below:

Here's the cast of characters - #4 was already asleep in a pack-n-play. Don't those two little girls just have that "spark" in their eye. You can tell they are mischievous - you can just see it!

4. I have the urge to paint. So I'm going to be doing a lot of it pretty soon! What am I going to paint, you ask? lots!

The foyer and upstairs hall. We have one of those two story foyers where you can see all the bedroom doors if you stand below and look upstairs. I'm going to paint all of it a light, steely shade of gray.
#1 wants her bathroom painted. She has suddenly decided that at the ripe old age of 9, she needs a Pottery Barn teen bathroom. So we're going to be doing some painting in there.
I bought an awesome dresser at Goodwill this summer. It's very modern looking with clean lines. I'm going to paint it dark brown and then paint the doors blue to match the basement. I can't wait. It will look good when I'm done with it!

5. Saturday morning I had the pleasure of shooting Baby Ross again. He's now 3 1/2 months old and is ALL SMILES! He's so big now and has even had a haircut! He was so funny. He would smile and coo at me until the second the camera appeared in front of my face. Then nothing. So I had to work with him to give my any smiles! But it was worth it. I haven't yet edited the whole session, but here's one I thought was cute.

6. Happy Valentine's Day! My hubby and I don't really celebrate the holiday - never have. However, he did run out to the grocery store today and came home with gifts for all his girls! We each got a balloon clipped to a little something. I got an iTunes gift card. #1 got a rose (it's waiting for her in her room), #2 got Starburst, #3 got Watermelon gum, and #4 just got the balloon, which she loved.