Songs of Love

This Valentines Day may very well have beat out Christmas as far as

festivities are concerned.

It was a month long celebration of love!

I gave myself a nice pat on the back for not only buying the kids

valentines a couple of weeks before their class parties, but I let them do their cards

ALL BY THEMSELVES.

Yes, this may not be a big deal to most moms, but this was huge for me.

I start to twitch when they get ripped weird, or their name is in the wrong spot

and the uncontrolled mess starts mounting. 

 I swoop in, like the finest  helicopter mom there ever was, and take over until

the project ends in all kids crying and me utterly upset and grumpy!

This year I don't know what got into me, but I sucked it up, bit my lip and let them have at it!

I even let the boys hot glue their Air Heads candy onto the cards all by themselves.

And what do you know... it ended happily with smiles and positivity!

Even when one got burned by hot glue.

I did help Lindi, just a little. 

With her permission she let me write her name underneath.

I love the way she writes her name.

Self taught and all!

However, this was the true test of letting go of control.

Lane is my child that never tells me what is going on at school.

Now that he is in the 5th grade, teachers don't send home flyers with announcements anymore.
So when he was in the living room going to town on a diapers box with scissors  and masking tape I was a little confused.
He mumbled something about a competition at school so I let him be.
I don't know how, but he created the coolest snowboard out of nothing!

Thinking he was done, I gave him my praises. Still not knowing what this
competition was all about.

When he asked for spray paint my heart started racing.
Finally after more questioning I figured out it was a Valentines box competition!

I sucked it up and found the colors he wanted.
He was really good to not spray the house and in the end I thought he might have a winner!

I was proud of him for his creativity and proud of me for not nagging and taking over!

When I picked him up from the bus stop I quickly asked if he had won!
He smirked and said uh, no.
Some girl made a life size telephone booth that barely fit through the classroom door!
She took first place.

I asked what the others were like and after rambling about more life sized hot air balloons,
minecraft tv boxes and what not, I was just glad he had something to bring in!

 In my mind, we were both the real winners:)
But I'm worried what he will want to create next year!
Deep breaths.

My buffet table, ready for the holiday

 This is where it gets exciting.

All of my ward and neighborhood friends were

SO stoked to get this text invitation from me!

(did you catch my sarcasm?)

We have been doing a lip sync battle with my family the past couple of

years, and I thought it would be fun to do with our friends!

The only rule was that if you came, you MUST participate.

One couple admitted that the only reason they would do it is because 

they knew Casey was as well, lol!

If you know Casey, he is not one to perform.

That in itself was reason to come!

We got the backyard all spiffied up.

Our hideous, non working, pizza oven served as the perfect backdrop 

I set up a salad bar and Casey picked up Barro's pizza for dinner.

my cute potted roses from Trader Joe's 

Then everyone started to arrive!

We had 10 couples come.

Everyone is talking about how unprepared they were.

That they only practiced a few times right before, or how nervous they were.

I was starting to feel bad that for weeks they were all dreading my party!

We ate first

Then it was time to get the battle started!

We put names in a bowl and drew the order in which you went, to make it fair.

Lucky Whitmers got to go first!

They "sang" Pompeii by Bastille.

It was awesome, they were perfect to go first and get everyone else pumped up.

We were laughing and clapping the whole time!

Jackson's rapped to Rappers Delight.
Jeanette makes a good thug, wink!

When the Fish's came out as Deb and Napoleon Dynamite we were roaring in laughter!

They memorized the sign language song  in the movie.

"Some say that love, it is a river"

SO, so good!!

The Yamamoto's did Fairytale of New York- No Use For a Name.

Google the lyrics.
When Michelle was on the floor singing "You're a scumbag, you maggot, you cheap lousy..."
We were rolling!
Way to go Relief Society pres!!
HA!

Hogle's performed It's Hard to Be Humble by Mac Davis.
I had never heard that song and it was so cute!!

Rudds went all out on their costumes and performance

from Jimmy Fallons skit "tight pants", Jlo's version.

They cut wigs, spray painted black church shoes white, and

practiced for days!

It was awesome!

Casey and I were next with a little visit from

MC Hammer and his back up dancer!

Ow Ow!

How I got Casey to dress up like a girl, I will never know!!

But it was a great surprise and these $20 amazon hammer pants are super comfy!

I will be sporting them every Sunday:)

Can't Touch This

Casey busted out a sweet worm!

I superman-ed  it.

I tried, but I don't move like I used to.

Ok, I never have been able to move!

I giggle every time I think of the Riece's grinding action to

Bruno Mars, That's What I Like.

They memorized the WHOLE dance from the music video.

We were joking that hopefully the prize included a pregnancy test
(because she was going to need it).
I'm kidding!
It was spot on.

As well as their gold chain necklaces:)

I couldn't get over everybody's creativity!

Blaylock's blew me away with their rendition of 

Turn Around (total eclipse of the heart) by Bonnie Tyler

Yes, he is frolicking around sprinkling us with rose pedals!

The Howards ended the battle perfectly with the Trolls version,
Can't Stop the Feeling which ended with us all getting up and dancing!

 Each person voted for their top 2 picks.

I had prizes for 1st and 2nd place.

2nd place went to the Rudds and Tight Pants

1st place went to the Fish's  Deb and Napoleon!

I didn't take a picture but they both got a heart shaped basket with those suckers that have plastic lips on the end,
some chocolates, chapstick, a dainty heart gold necklace
and a gift card to a crepe store that just opened.

But everybody walked away with kissy lip pops as a consolation prize!

It turned out to be a really fun night with good sports!
Clearly they were all full of it before saying they weren't prepared.
They all brought it!

This may turn into an annual event!

Since Valentines Day was on a Wednesday, Casey and I did our big date the Friday before.

Nothing says I love you like pedicures and a buffet!

We figured out that the last time we had eaten at Rodizzio's Grill was February of last year when we were in Utah!

 This may turn into an annual event for us as well!

I am a meat girl, so this is up my alley.

Plus, their unlimited limeades are bomb.

You can add different fruits to them... what dream dinners are made of:)

Some cute Valentines hair for preschool

I left all of our lip sync battle decorations up thinking it would be fun to eat dinner outside with the kids and let them battle it out against each other.

It was freezing cold and it rained all day long.
Such a bummer.

So we moved the party inside.

I made chicken and waffles for dinner.

My first time frying chicken, it turned out pretty good!

Don't think I'll be doing it ever again tho.

My house smelled like KFC for days and wow,

the color of that frying oil when done was pretty dark. Bleh!

For dessert I made chocolate fondue

This may be the boys love language!

With crazy schedules all around, and due to sickness we ended up having 

my families lip sync battle at the end of February.

Sadly my parents were still sick so they missed it.

Stephanie hosted and of course she had everything so cute and festive!

What would we do without pizza, seriously?

This year everyone tended to do more of a skit.

Abbey and David doing the "Scarn" from the Office.

The Evan's kids did a song which was AWESOME! 

We were all blown away.

They had different formations and movements which were spot on!

Weston lip synced to the whole song which had me laughing.

So funny to see children getting into it.

They ended up winning, which was well deserved.

Uptown Funk

Della checking out what was going on and what was on their heads, lol!

The Late Show with James Cordon and Avril. 

The girls did a Moanna number

And us repeating our Can't Touch This jig
A much better look at LaQuisha... I mean Casey!

Stephanie doesn't play around when it comes to competitions.

It felt like we were really at the Chess tournament with Craig and Arianna! 

These girls loved every minute of it!

You know it was a good time when the play room looks like D- day.

What the... why kids, why?