a day of lovin'.

We sure were lucky to have three such darling little Valenines...

The scary movie was totally scary. Tyler screamed like a school girl. True story. But most of all, Valentines was awesome because of my lover's surprise gift: I get to accompany him on a trip to San Francisco when we are in California over spring break!! Woohoo! It turned out that while we are in Santa Barbara for a week, Tyler has to drive up to the Bay area for a business meeting. (This is how he got around the "no spending" clause of our holiday...) He's gone to San Fran so many times on business over the past years and I've always wanted to go with him. It's a quick overnight trip, but I am so happy! P.S. Also, I want my girls to remember that their Daddy truly does LOVE them. Case in point: On Super Bowl Sunday, rather than spend four hours watching the game, Tyler snuggled up with his little girls and watched "Anne of Green Gables" for four hours instead. Now that is true love...

When Pinterest goes terribly awry...

I have recently discovered that while Pinterest is usually a source of beauty, great ideas, and delicious recipes, it can be downright hilarious. Hilarious because someone, somewhere, has pinned these atrocities because they genuinely thought these were awesome ideas worth saving.

Here are some of the genius ones I've come across tonight:

1. A hippie's dream accessory...or their worst nightmare...

2. A bit of Vampire humor for the garden...

3. Fashion. This is a "Don't" even for a risk taker...

4. Who doesn't want this Buffy the Vampire Slayer DIY wall clock hanging in their home???

5. And finally, my personal favorite:

WHAT?! I believe it is for people who are sewing clothes for their kid's dolls and need to know what size the various types are, like American Girls, etc. But the pictures! It's like a bizarre doll criminal investigation line-up! I died!

v a l e n t i n e s

Happy Valentine's Day 2012!

{Thanks Heather for the pic!}

I love Valentine's Day. I always have. And now that my girls are old enough to enjoy it too it's been extra fun. We came up with pretty darn cute valentines for them to give to their friends:

Tyler and I are on a "no money" gift-giving this holiday. He has some secret surprise for me that I have no idea what it could be- I can't wait! Tonight we are going to see the scary movie "Lady in Black" with my sis and her husband. Because nothing says romance like clinging to one another in a dark movie theater because we're scared! :)

But so far my favorite part of this little holiday was when Caroline brought home a "secret" note from a boy in her class. She was acting all embarrassed and not telling me what it said so I was teasing her:
"Oh, he thinks you're cute!"
To which she replied: "No. Worse. He thinks I'm funny!"
And he did. The note, written on purple construction paper, reads as follows (in rather good kindergarten penmanship)...
Dear Caroline,
Your funny.
Shane

We agree Shane. We agree.

Technologically advancing ourselves.

2012 has seen this Haws family officially leap decades in technological advancement:

Out with the small bubble television that has been our DVD-watching tool for the past 7 years. We bought it for $75 forever ago when we lived in California. Grace watched her beloved "Bambi" on it when she was 2. Back when we used to have to remember to rush in at the critical mother-killing time in the movie and hit fast forward...

In with a new, thin, 47" flatscreen! We can actually HEAR and SEE what is happening on the television now! And, since we bought a used wii for Christmas, now we can watch Netflix! Yeah! (No, we we still don't have cable or regular tv stations. We're not THAT advanced. And we don't care for it. Any tv watching needs can still be met with Hulu on my trusty computer. Also, don't worry: We still hooked up our VHS player to the fancy new flatscreen so the girls can continue to enjoy watching their favorite "Big DVD's.")

The girls have especially enjoyed playing Mario Kart with their Daddy and friends. It's hilarious to hear their shouts of joy and/or abject despair from upstairs as they race each other! I love craigslist- I was able to find games and wii equipment for a fraction of what it would cost new.

And, finally, the single most advanced thing we did this past Christmas? We gave each of our girls an ipod Touch. I now refer to those genius little devices as "The Nannies." You see, since we don't have tv at home, or a DVD player in the car, we thought it would be great to have individual little movie players for each of the girls with their own headphones. Now Lila can watch Barbie movies and Grace can watch "Chronicles of Narnia" and I won't hear a single squabble about sharing a movie! My girls aren't much into electronic gaming, but the ipods have a few games and their precious disney music on them, besides the few movies they each got to buy. NO, they aren't able to make phone calls and NO, they cannot access the internet. And NO, we did not buy new ones. One is Tyler's old iphone, and then we bought two other used ones off of Craigslist for cheap. Then I found three different colored sparkly hard cases for them to feel "new" to the girls. Also, they are mostly only allowed to use them when we're driving in the car. As a matter of fact, they stay in the car unless they need charging. This way the screen time is really limited AND peaceful tranquility has replaced mind-losing as we drive from ballet to piano to reading buddies to horse lessons to grocery stores and orthodontist appointments. Blissfully quiet. Just me and NPR now...

So that's our story. And I do think it's hilarious that Lila whips out her ITouch and I whip out my free contract-renewal samsung when we're sitting in the pick up lane at the girls' school...

Hello faces.

We've had this giant empty space in our stairwell that I could never figure out what to do with. (It's the last gross brown in our house waiting on painting funds.) So when my friend Bethany decided she wanted to do something similar to this from Pinterest, we did a trial run with some pictures I had taken of my family. It doesn't SOUND tricky...

Tutorial:

Take pictures of everyone

Print 8x8 from costco

Cut foam board from Michaels

Spray paint foam board

Mod podge pictures onto boards

Hang with double sided tape

It was harder to do than it sounds. And honestly it doesn't look that great up close. But, now that it's up, all of us enjoy the shock of seeing our own faces big on the wall! 

(Especially Lila. She's enchanted with her own beauty.)

Grace, however, asked me why we needed pictures of our family all over the place, and then informed me that when she grew up she would be living in a "plain" apartment.

I've scarred her with my rampant use of Mod Podge.