I adore three-day weekends.  

I love the feeling on Sunday night when you remember you don’t have to get back on schedule quite yet.  I love that Elle got to have a little adventure in California with some friends and I love that Dave and I got to soak up our girls.
Lu and I made a “puppy valentine’s box” which she was pleased as punch about.

 Claire, much too mature for home-made boxes, just whipped up a “love”-ly Trader Joe’s bag:

 The older girls had tennis tryouts all week long culminating on Friday.

Elle’s so excited for the season to start again and Grace is trying out this year!  

 She really hasn’t played much before so the made the “practice team” which we are so excited about.  She’s so motivated to start taking lessons too.  Love that girl and how willing she is to put her heart out there and try new things.

Claire had her first soccer game of the new season on Friday night.

Elle had two photo shoots on Saturday (she’s keeping pretty busy with those) and I know I’m a little biased but she is pretty darn good at capturing things.

We went to two baptisms and then Elle took off for California on a grand adventure and Dave and I went and had our own little adventure with friends at this place called “Escape the Room.”  (It’s a pretty cool place where you get locked in a room and try to figure out all kinds of clues to “escape” within an hour.)

I loved being surrounded by our “heart-attack” all month (back HERE), and also Lucy and Claire’s chalk board Valentine’s art.

Words of wisdom from Lucy.  
(We finally got our barn doors in and painted and one of them is a chalk board.  The girls think that is pretty fantastic.)
For a family who went off of sugar for January we sure got back on the sugar bandwagon in February!  Oh boy!  Check out all that candy sprinkled on that Valentine’s table.  We need to get a hold of ourselves.
But it was Valentine’s Day, for crying out loud, the day that candy makers eyes gleam with dollar signs because they are raking it in.  Ha!  
Let’s get a closer look at those little chalkboards I found at Target:

I love those things and I’m picturing all kinds of great things I’m going to do with them.

 “Wo ai ni” is how you say I love you in Chinese and that’s how we say it a bunch around here.

Dave gave the girls each a bunch of pink roses and told them what he loves about them.

Their faces tell the story of how excited they were to get their very own flowers.

We did our traditional pink pancakes but I let the kids cut out their own hearts this year.

 Lucy set the table for dinner that evening and left her signature place-setting notes that she does for special occasions:

Claire and I had a goal to make blankets for her and her sisters as a surprise to the others for Valentine’s.  
Well, we got as far as hers…and didn’t finish until Valentine’s night…just in time to snuggle up for a little bit before bed.

The next day (President’s Day) is was mid-80s here in the desert.

And what do you do when it’s so dang hot in the middle of February?  Invite all the neighbors over for a polar swim.

 …and to make heart-shaped pizza.

I kind of got in a little over my head there, but boy these girls were great little chefs.

We used this recipe over HERE (yes, it’s flatbread but works awesome for pizza crust too).

 I LOVED that they asked if we had “greens” they could add.

My kind of girls.
That night we had FHE with Dave’s parents who are leaving on a mini mission to Ghana very soon.  
Trying to soak them up while we can.
Elle had a pretty grand time in California.

 …and we were pretty happy for her.

But boy I’m not ready for her to leave us!  

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