Family Time

 Not much I love more then time to focus on family and just how much I love them all!!  Valentines and family Day all in one weekend is the best set up. 

Leading up to the weekend we kept busy.  I'm trying to pull WR back out of his movie overload (due to the broken elbow) and back into normal fun lol.  We have been doing lots of crafting.  Orange is always his favorite color to work with.

 

On Wednesday night we had out Baden Powell dinner to celebrate Scouting.  I couldn't resist making it look a little cuter ;)  Thanks to my talented friend that made these amazing cupcakes it was adorable.

We had a very simple dinner and then each scout group did a skit for their families.  My cubs did a light saber skit that they had been working hard on and it turned out great.  We also enjoyed a great slide show of all the fun we've had this year. 

 The next day I took the play kitchen and table and chairs out of hiding in basement storage and brought it upstairs.  I love seeing imagination at work!  And I love their excitement for "new" toys.

On Friday night we had a Valentine's breakfast for dinner!  I knew I didn't want to feel rushed Saturday morning before T and I headed out on our date so this was perfect timing. 

 

 The kids poured over all the adorable Valentine's they brought home from school

 And T got his Man bouquet (pretty lame compared to years past but zero complaints)

 The weather was mild so we had promised the kids some skating.  When we arrived it started to pour with freezing rain which then turned to ice pellets.  After we all took a bunch to the eyes we packed it in and headed home within the hour.

 On Saturday we celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary and Valentine's Day.  I truly don't know where the time has gone.  I feel like the luckiest girl to have had the last amazing 11 years together.  Sure do love this guy. He is absolutely perfect for me.

I saw an ad for a mini valentine couple photo shoot and jumped on it.  I knew T wouldn't be too thrilled but being our anniversary I knew he couldn't protest much ;)  We woke up to some mega snow and the beauty couldn't have been more stunning in the ravine where we took the pics (although I was dreading my shovelling route).  We had a great time taking pics then heading out for lunch. 

Here are some of the pics.  Gorgeous scenery and the photographer did a fabulous job but just as I feared we are so squinty eyed, that foot of fresh snow and sunshine were blinding.  Fun though to have some pics of just the two of us.

 

 We then headed home and took the kids and a neighbor sledding.

 We all took a ton of powder to the face but we had a blast!

 We ordered in some Chinese and enjoyed our time together.  Topped off with a movie and snuggles with my Valentine after the kids were asleep!

 AL gave us the sweetest card she had made at school

 The next day she spotted this card I gave T and couldn't figure it out for the life of her.  She finally concluded it was an invite to go out to eat ;) What she thought were pillows were clearly placemats.

 There was some back breaking shovelling Sunday and Monday am. (so wet and heavy)
After the torture we headed to the lake for the family day fun.  It was pretty quiet there, maybe because it was pretty cold suddenly, but we loved it.  We headed to the maple shack and made maple taffy for the first time!

 We enjoyed treats and balloons in the club house along with the photo booth

 Grandma and Grandpa met up with us

 We got in some skating and hockey

Before long WR was too fascinated with sweeping the snow that was falling off the ice with his stick ;)

 When we decided to go in and warm up with hot chocolate T stayed outside and enjoyed some kid free skating.  Can you spot him way out there?

 We then headed down for the ice fishing demo.  I wasn't sure what to expect but before we knew it the kids all had a hole and a rod and were determined to catch a fish!

 WR seriously fished for a solid hr.  I couldn't believe his patience.  He kept saying "wait for fish".  One of the pros was very taken with him and was determined to help him catch some thing.

 T and AL headed into a nice toasty warm tent to fish and a while later AL emerged beaming ear to ear!  She caught her first fish!  They declared her "Female Angler of the Day" and gave her a gift card to their sporting goods store.  She is so excited to buy a rod.

 Not much later with help WR pulled in a fish.  He was actually not sure what to do when he saw it.  (Ironically he had tried to kiss AL's fish earlier).  He did hold it in his hands and toss it back in the hole after.  JA was so determined to catch something too but after close to two hrs I was frozen and called it quits (mean mom).

 We seriously had so much fun.  I love days that just embrace winter.

 T's brother was in town for work and so he brought his oldest daughter (much to AL's delight) and spent the night.  We met up with family for dessert at the end of the day which was a good end to a fun day.