Heading in to All things Cutesy (and something new!)

Phew....what a month! January always seems to be the never-ending month. Nothing exciting ever happens in January...there aren't any awesome Holiday's. No significant time spent out of school for Ri. It's cold, it's dark, it's usually just a pretty miserable month. And, other than a couple little happenings in our world, this January was no different than any other one!
Some of the memorable mentions from January:

• I got my NEW camera!!! My wonderful Super-Hero got me my T3i as a delayed Christmas gift, and I'm in camera-love! It's a beauty, with so many fun functions...and accessories! I let my Super-Hero spoil me by getting the grip I've been drooling over! I've had so much fun playing with it! Yep, it's definitely camera-love!

• My Super-Hero and I got to spend a wonderful evening out with some friends at The Melting Pot. We took full advantage of the Restaurant Week special again this year, and had some great food! I won't tell you how much chocolate fondue I may, or may not have, devoured!! Soo yummy!

•  We had Ri's very first Pinewood Derby race with the Scouts. He was thrilled, and excited, and pretty much everything a 6 year old boy could be when it comes to cars, races, and building! However, it quickly became a lesson in losing gracefully. My poor Ri! =( It was heart-breaking for us to see him come in last place in all 6 races that he did, so I can only imagine how hard it was for him. He held it together, though...through all the races, through getting his "atta-boy" patch, and all the way until he could come out and get a hug from Mommy and Daddy. That's when my little boy lost it. I will admit that I almost lost it, too. We quickly told him how very proud of him we were, and that even though he didn't win, the fact that he had fun is all that matters (yeah, right!....we couldn't really say that we wanted to pound all the other cars into the dirt, and challenge the fact that our son should have won because he doesn't have an older brother who's done this before!). We then promptly rewarded him with a sugar rich, calorie laden sprinkle donut--and you can bet that I would have given him a million of them if it would have made him smile again! (I'm sure I'm being judged by all the health nut conscious parents out there)

So, now that the never-ending month is FINALLY over, I'm very much so looking forward to February! All things pink, red, hearts, candy, and cutesy-ness (yes, that is now a word)! I've never been much a Valentine's Day person (psh---that's a "holiday" for mushy, gushy, love people, who have bags of money laying around to spend on expensive diamonds, and perishable flowers, and very small portions of food for too many dollar signs!), until Ri was about 3 years old. Something inside me warmed up (much like one would think of the Grinch's heart at Christmas time), and said that I need to make this day special for my family. So, each February the 14th (or, the weekend before depending on school schedules!), my table is set with heart plates, candy, cupcakes, and special bags full of goodies for my Super-Hero and my littles! I think there was even a heart shaped out of candy on our living room floor last year.

Oh, and on a non-cutesy note...we're heading straight into the uncharted waters of Potty Training for Girls! Wow...if I thought my son was difficult to potty train, then I was WAY off base! And people say that Girls, AND your 2nd are MUCH easier to potty train! HA! They apparently didn't have MY daughter! This should be an interesting ride, that's for sure! I'm sure there will be many scatter-brained adventures to share on that front! 

Time to leave the blogging world and return to the world of a messy kitchen, and what looked like a 2 year old toosh streaking through my living room!