red toes

For weeks Conrad has seen my red toes and really wanted his toes to be red too. I always try to distract him from it, but last night I just couldn't say no anymore. I looked at Ransom and asked if he would paint them red. He really didn't want to do it, but he was a nice daddy and did it anyways. Today as soon as he saw my family he ripped his shoes and socks off to show everyone his red toes. Every time he sees them he gets so happy. -Katie

our tiny visitor

About a month ago I was in the kitchen and I saw something small dart across the kitchen. I started to freak out. When Rans got home he made this goofy little trap for it, but we never caught it. The next day we bought sticky traps because I did not want to kill it, I just wanted it out of my house. Days went by and there was no sign whatsoever of a mouse.

We finally figured I had just imagined it so we threw the traps away. Well, a couple days ago Rans saw something dart across the floor and then yesterday we found some mouse poop for the first time so we set out some more sticky traps.

This morning Ransom took the kids to church while I finished getting ready. I was doing my hair when I heard something in the kitchen so I went to investigate. Sure enough there was a mouse stuck on a trap. I started to panic because Rans wasn't home so I called my mom. I was secretly hoping she would offer to come get it for me, but she told me to grab a box and gloves and to drive him to a field a few miles away. I stood there for a few minutes giving myself a pep talk then grabbed a box and put a bag on my hand. As soon as I set him in the box I realized I didn't know how to get him unstuck. I googled it and started reading. Everything was saying that there was no way to get him off and then finally I read that you should put oil on it. After a few minutes he got free and started trying to jump out of the box. I didn't realized that they were such good jumpers so I hurried and threw the box outside so he didn't escape inside the house and went to find something else to put him in that he couldn't get out of while I drove him away. I finally found a tupper but as soon as I opened the door he was scampering away so hopefully he doesn't find our house again.

He was the cutest little thing but I am so happy he is out. I have dreams of being attacked by him. Rans has sealed every little nook and cranny we could find so I hope we our done with this problem. -Katie

muffins for breakfast

Last night Conrad wanted muffins really bad so I promised him if he went to bed that when he woke up we would make muffins together. That made him happy in the moment and I figured he would forget by morning. When he woke me up this morning the first thing out of his mouth was, "Momma make muffins." I have got to start being careful what I promise because he is remembering everything! -Katie

a valentine's tradition

All growing up I remember my mom telling us she just saw the mailman drop something in the mailbox even though we already had gotten the mail. We would rush to the mailbox and there would be invitations for a Valentine's dinner. On Valentine's Day people at school would be walking around with flowers, candy, or balloons but I didn't care. I knew at home we would have a beautiful table, delicious food, treats, and a rose from my dad. To me Valentine's Day was spending time with the people I loved the most, my family.

Now that I have my own family this is a tradition that I want to continue because I want my kids and husband to know how much they are truly loved. We celebrated a few days late, but I made a VERY unhealthy meal of things Ransom loves. We had raspberry cream sodas, fancy bread dipped in balsamic vinegar, and spicy chicken pasta. We invited Emily over to have dinner with us. It was nice to have a quiet night together. I love my family! -Katie

breakfast

Ransom loves breakfast and I never really have so I rarely ever make him breakfast so I made a goal to start making him breakfast at least once a week. I have been looking for ideas that I can make ahead of time because he works at 7 or 8am every day and I am NOT a morning person. I found this recipe and thought it looked easy enough. We were up until 1am (probably the reason I am not a morning person!) the night before getting it prepared.

I woke up this morning with just enough time to get them in the oven. Turns out the broil on our oven doesn't work so I had to load up all of the kids and go to my parents to cook them. It turned out to be a much harder and more complicated process to make these, but I made extras so I was able to give some to my family and some buddies at his work so I guess it was better that way! -Katie

image via Pioneer Woman

hide and seek

We got to watch Avery for a couple hours today before we took off for Arizona. Conrad LOVES playing with her. Their favorite game was hide and seek. I would shut the door, count to 10 and knew right where they would be. They hid in the same spot every single time with the blanket on top of them, but it was exciting for them every single time. I love that he has a friend to play with. -Katie

Conrad and Avery

today . . .

Conrad would fly his apple into his mouth and say he was eating Peter Pan. Not sure where that came from!

Phoebe is trying really hard to sit up. She can almost do it all by herself. -Katie