Monday, February 15, 2016

Valentine's Weekend 2016


We had a great weekend despite some unplanned adventures on our plate! We had planned to go bowling on Saturday but we kind of decided to buy a new minivan which cut into some of our fun time. Totally worth it!

Friday night we attended the Sweetheart Dance at the Blank Park Zoo. This was the only Valentine's dance in Des Moines that was a family dance. Last year Hubs took Elizabeth to her first Daddy Daughter dance, but any dances that I found for Mother Son were truly meant for just a mother and one son, not really two. They had an excellent way of making son #2 feel like an outcast. I was not impressed but quickly bought tickets to the zoo's dance when I saw it was for the whole family. As usual with zoo events, we had an excellent time and spent two full hours dancing until our feet hurt!


Elizabeth and I had matching dresses (both from Old Navy). 


These two look alikes weren't big on dancing at first. We talked them into it by the middle of the evening.


Max and Elizabeth LOVE dancing and hip hopped the night away!



After our first round of dancing, we went through the indoor exhibits and hit up the dessert bar at the end! The dessert bar was every child's dream!
The boys




Back to dancing after PLENTY of sugar to keep them going.







Our last stop for the night was the craft tables. The kids made Valentine flamingos.



Early early Saturday morning we were awoken by a sick child. Four hours later and she was totally fine, jumping from the couch to her make shift bed on the living room floor.

Early afternoon we sent the kids to Grandma and Grandpa Harmeyer's where the kids napped, watched a movie, played cards games, and ate heart shaped pizza. Hubs and I picked up our new minivan. I was very impressed by the dealership who had everything ready to go (we did pretty much everything via email). We were in and out in less than hour! We even had time to grab a late lunch together afterwards AND run errands while the kids napped at my parents house! It wound up being a great early Valentine's day with a big present and time together.



Saturday night we obviously drove around in the new ride and got home in time for jammies and crackers before bed. Elizabeth chose to "drink" her bowl of crackers.

After the kids went to bed, Hubs left for a movie and I played Cupid. We typically don't do gifts for Valentine's Day, but I used the opportunity to give the four the gifts I forgot to give them at Christmas (I blame Mom Brain). The camera was a must have for daycare, but I chose to give it to them for VD so they can have it for playing around with their friends on Spring Break.



The kids were so excited about their gifts. Their favorite? The camera, of course. They went through all 40 pictures in an hour.


My mom made the minis special blankets for Valentine's Day. 


Brunch. I skipped mimosas and opted for tea instead.


The kids played Old Maid before they painted the tea set.


After brunch and shoveling our driveway, we headed to our second favorite sledding hills. The boys loved it; Elizabeth not so much. She went down once and then sat and watched us.


Harrison had the best speed of all of us!







We ended our weekend cleaning (as usual). Obviously the boys have a thing or two to learn about putting clothes away.

What a great (and expensive) weekend it was! Unfortunately we started our week with a sick mini. I'm really hoping everyone is in tip top shape by the weekend so we can have a weekend of fun with friends, at the Science Center, and celebrating my birthday!