Valentines, Birthdays, and more

I've been meaning to post for days, but things just keep getting busy! Matt, Joanna, and I had a lovely Valentine's Day. We ate pizza, exchanged valentines, and attempted to take a family picture. We went outside and set up the camera on the tripod. Here is something I learned: the good thing about a tripod is that the image isn't blurry due to movement of the camera, the bad thing about a tripod is that it doesn't say, "Joanna, look over here! Joanna, smile!" So... in most of our pictures, Joanna is not looking at the camera; she's looking at the noisy barking dogs or a leaf or something.

We've been trying to get everyone together for play day for some time now. We almost had it on Friday except we were missing Aidan. Poor Caleb was the only boy, and I think he felt it. :)

For a minute it looked like Anna and Caleb were going to ride in the car together. Then she pushed him out. Oh, well.

Here is Joanna trying to get between the couch and the side table. It kind of worked. Later, Caleb came by and pushed it over for her so she could crawl inside. Fun.

Joanna started to crawl toward Caleb's rocking horse, and Kim asked if she'd like to ride. As soon as that happened, Anna and Caleb wanted to ride, too. It was kind of a catastrophe. Caleb looks so sad in these pictures, but I thought they were cool because they just seem so real and full of emotion. Then, as soon as his turn was finally here, pure bliss! Joanna picked this spatula up from the play kitchen and carried it everywhere with her, even in the makeshift walker, a.k.a. the kitchen chair. My mom found these things called Baby Mum Mums that are rice husks, which doesn't sound very exciting. But they're long boat-shaped little rice crackers that babies can feed themselves and they're NOT MESSY. Joanna loves them, and Abby got to try one on Friday. She had no problem with them, and I think she thought they were pretty fabulous.

Joanna got a birthday present early from a friend at church, and I couldn't stop myself; we had to open it. It was pure torture for the 17 minutes we waited to see what was inside. :) It was this sweet little doll named Baby Stella who has a magnetic pacifier for her mouth! As soon I finally got it out of the package, Joanna took her, put her over her shoulder, and patted her very sweetly. It was soooo cute! Her favorite thing to do with Baby Stella is take the pacifier off her mouth, try to put it back on, have Mommy help, take it off, try to put it back on, succeed!, then take it off again. It's cute. She's so nurturing -- Ha!

Did I mention this was a long post? No? Oh, well... keep reading.

I posted a picture of this rose a while back. I have been so amazed at it; it just kept blooming and blooming and blooming. It finally went kaput in the storm last weekend. It sure had a good existance if you ask me.

We celebrated Matt's dad's birthday this weekend. He turned a big age, but I'm not telling which one. We were over at Aunt Mindy's house and her dog Rusty was outside. Joanna was pining for him at the door, but he didn't pay her any attention -- is that sad, or what?

Okay, were nearing the end of this post...really.

These pictures were just too cute not to post -- I love this brown outfit! The sleeves have a little embroidery on them -- so sweet!

Matt was making her laugh here -- what a precious face!!

Okay this next part is just for kicks. I ran across this picture that was taken on February 17th of last year. As you can see I was pretty pregnant and quite swollen. I though it would be fun to take a picture on the same day this year in the same place wearing the same thing. What a difference a year (and about 75 pounds) makes.