Sometime in the middle of January (I think) we got some exciting news from Dane.  He asked Samantha to marry him, and she said yes (the news would’ve been much less exciting if she’d said no, I guess).  Telling the kids and seeing their reactions was pretty cute.

If Blake hadn’t made the cut for ring bearer, we might not have put this video out for public consumption.  But he is going to be the ring bearer, so all is well on that front.

We told Alexandria at a separate time since she was at Papa and Ma’s house when we told Blake the news.  Apparently that video is too long for Xanga to upload.

And then a couple of weeks after the engagement news came out, we received this fun package in the mail from Samantha, asking the kids to be ring bearer and flower girl and me to be a bridesmaid.  The real bonus was that the package included Ring Pops!  I took video of the kids opening their packages and reading their messages from Sam, but the videos are too long for Xanga, I guess.  I will post them to FB.

With the mild weather we’ve been having I knew we were definitely going to have to head outdoors for our annual Valentine’s photo shoot.  Have I mentioned how much easier it is to photograph a 4 and 6 year-old than younger kiddos?  Of course, I realize that we will be starting all over in a couple of months, but I am really enjoying their ability to follow photo direction these days!

After just 15 minutes in the back yard and about that same amount of time at the computer, I had my finished product (thank you, Shutterfly).

You know those women who go 40 weeks and don’t realize that they are pregnant until they are in labor?  I’m not one of those.  Nor I am the woman who wears her regular clothes for the duration of her pregnancy.  I have been embracing maternity clothes since about week 10!  I, however, have been blessed with an incredibly easy pregnancy with my biggest problems being along the lines of not fitting into a shirt that I wore just last week.   And for that I am very grateful because I have a whole lot of things to keep up with and with Matt’s busy season upon us,pretty much up until the baby comes I am mostly running this show myself (except for the income part, of course).

30 weeks pregnant.  I should dig up my 30 weeks shots of my hugeness with the other kids.  Making a mental note.

This beautiful weather has certainly helped it seem less like winter.  There have been so many play outside days in January and February that we even started digging through the Spring/Summer clothes bins in the basement.

The girls really love me taking their pictures together–YAY!

Oh what fun they’ve had jumping off the retaining wall!

Once I realized that we were not going to make it back to Iowa before the baby comes, I boxed up all the Iowa presents and mailed them off.  And Aunt Jami did the same thing with ours, much to the delight of the kiddos.  They went crazy opening their unexpected presents!

I found a recipe for Raspberry Lemonade on Pinterest (of course) that inspired a craving, so Alexandria and I got to work on that right away.

And I guess it must have been pretty good because I quit taking pictures after this.

Normally this is against the house rules, but Blake desperately needs practice playing catch.  So Matt has decided that they need to play catch a few minutes every night.  I’ve tried to tell Matt that Blake isn’t headed for baseball stardom, based on his lack of interest alone, but Matt’s still trying to mold him into a ball player, at least for Little League purposes.  

Alexandria actually shows slightly more interest in playing catch than Blake does at this point.

Matt had a business trip to Fargo, ND a few weeks ago, and he was sweet enough to pack this giant treat home with him.

Blake, who is the most serious breakfast eater in our house, ate most of it.

And then he made a nice little menu of what we were offering for breakfast that morning.  I’m pretty sure Alexandria slept through the whole thing.  Girlfriend is serious about her sleeping in.

I have a ton of cousins, so I have been to my share of family weddings.  But I have to say that Geoff and Lauren’s wedding was one of the most unique weddings I have attended.  You could tell how excited they were to start their life together, and that really made the day fun for everyone in attendance.

Before the wedding party came in they showed this neat video where they were interviewed about how they met, what they like most about each other and what they were most looking forward to as married folks.  It was adorable!

They wrote their own vows to each other, which were so very sweet, and then to top it all off, Geoff sang Randy Travis’s My Love is Deeper to Lauren.

Lauren’s younger sister, Alyssa (on the left) was married last May while we were in San Diego, and I am still so disappointed that we missed that wedding.

Aunt Lindy and Travis listening to the speeches.

Jackson being bashful and CUTE!

I LOVED the bridesmaids’ hair bows.  They were all really great.

This girl loves cake!

And this is the part of the reception where Blake took over my camera…

And then I got it back…

And then Blake got it again…

And then I think Angela or Meaghan must have taken over because I had some business to take care of on the dance floor.

Blake really wanted to twirl me.

We were welcomed back to the Midwest with this. 

The kids were thrilled to come home to snow.