I may as well back up and fill you in on Valentines Day. Valentines Day is my mom's favorite holiday so growing up she always made it special for all of us. The tradition that stuck is a candle light dinner with Martinelli's in goblets, chocolate covered strawberries, and red velvet cake for dessert with butter cream frosting. This is the traditon I have carried on and it is so fun to do it with my own family now. I also cut out 100 hearts (with my cricut) and taped them around the house the night before. Then while I was doing piano lessons on Valentines Day we made a game of it and the boys had to try to find all 100 and put them on the table. They thought it was great. They were also able to make their own Valentines and have a Valentines Party with their homeschool group that day.
And the red velvet cake which really is a lot of work, I always make it the night before. It is so yummy. Let me just say, if the only red velvet cake you have ever had came from a box at the store we are not talking about the same cake. The cake mix from the store in my opinion is absolutely disgusting and tastes nothing like this beautiful cake you see below.
That was my Valentines Day: simple yet, perfect!
A few weeks ago we found this butterfly in our mud room. Now mind you, it is still winter here and too cold outside for this thing to survive. I don't know where it came from, our wood pile maybe? Then I do recall several months ago we found a tiny caterpillar and put it in our little bug house. The boys couldn't leave it alone, it got lost, and I assumed it was dead. Could this really be the same creature? I don't know how it would have survived in our house either if that's where it came from. It gave a us a little taste of spring.
Now my boys are not into bugs and that is primarily my fault because I do not like them except for ladybugs, caterpillars...you know, the nice pretty bugs. So they wanted to hold the butterfly but were a little nervous. I picked it up and set it on their hands and told them they had to be very still and quiet. 
They were very skeptical as to why this thing wasn't flying. Benson and Grant did a great job at being quiet but Porter was squawking at it the whole time. Then all of a sudden it flew away and he was terrified. It was very humorous how sure he was of himself until it moved then he was scared.
I took this at 17 weeks.
Due July 24, 2012
A week from Tuesday we have the "ultrasound". I think we are not going to find out the gender. We'll see how much self control I have when I go in.
Last weekend Josh and the boys and his brother went on a winter campout. We also happened to get one of the few snow storms this winter that night as well. I think Benson and Grant got a little confused between the concept of camping and hunting. They had their hearts' set on killing a deer and eating it for dinner. Instead, Nathan shot a robin. They cooked it over the fire and they each had a small bite. Benson and Grant were satisfied with that. Josh said it tasted like liver, incase any of you ever wondered what robin tastes like. Now you know.
I love camping, but I hate being cold so I opted out and read all 3 Hunger Games Books last weekend instead. Yes, I gave in. Actually, I was looking for the right time because from what I heard it was one of those books you have a hard time putting down. I really enjoyed them and it was so relaxing to just read and not have to think to hard. I wish they would just make one movie about all three books though instead of dragging it out because I summed them all up to Josh in about an hour. Maybe I'm wrong. I'm anxious to see how the first one goes.
