February 2014 :: Insta-Dump

June's first time pushing the shopping cart...she loves to be in charge!

Eating some snow/sleet for breakfast...

Meeting precious Deacon Brooks...

Baking with Mom...

Don't you dare take my earmuffs...

My cute view at dinnertime...

I have no words....

Preschool Valentine's...

Happy Valentine's Day from Lucy and June!

Lucy's Valentine's party at preschool...

Lucy Kate & Leni Kate...

Eating a heart-shaped marshmallow off of a string with no hands!

Valentine's hugs & kisses for Dad! XOXO!

The girls...

Elsa Obsessed...

Elmo Obsessed...

Lucy's drawing of our family. From left to right...June, Lucy, Dad and Mom!

On our way to Community Bible Study with Austen Grace...

GiGi took the girls to see Sesame Street Live...and they absolutely loved it!

Mom Heart Conference with friends and amazing moms...

Princess toes...

June's date night with Dad...

CRAZY hair!

Happy Valentine's Day :: 2014

Sisterly Love...

A Valentine's Card...

I've come to expect and some what appreciate cards like this from Josh...

His sense of humor is what first attracted me to him 12 years ago....and he still keeps me laughing after all these years!

Our Newest Valentine...

ACTORSCIA....What does that spell??

This morning when our alarm went off Josh handed me a valentine's card with a big A on the front of it. Inside it read....

A if for Amazing. You're an amazing wife, mother and friend. You amaze me with your excellence at work and at home.

8 More of these cards showed up randomly throughout the day. Josh told me to keep them in order because they would eventually spell something. As you can see, the order was quite odd...I could not figure out what he was going to spell.

C is for Caring. You are so caring towards other people which is why everyone wants to be your friend.

T is for Team Rives. I am so excited about Team Rives growing bigger and sticking together.

O is for Old. I cannot wait to grow old with you and watch our kids grow up. I love the idea of being with you for 100 years.

R is for Relaxation. I love to just relax and do nothing next to you. We should do that more often.

S is for Sweet. You have such a sweet personality and everyone loves to be around you.

C is for Creative. You are so unbelievably creative and I am amazed at how you can take nothing and turn it into something beautiful.

I is for Incredible. You are an incredible woman of God, an incredible mother to Lucy and an incredible wife.

A if for All. As in you have all of my love and you have all of the letters you need. What does that spell?

After he gave me the last card when he got home from work, he fessed up and said that the cards were actually not in order and that I needed to unscramble them to figured out what they spelled. So, I spread them all out on the dinning room table and finally figured out that they spelled....

That's right....Josh is taking me to COSTA RICA in August!!! How sweet, romantic and creative is my hubby??!! I was SO surprised...I think Josh definitely got the reaction he was looking for!! I was squealing loud and jumping high for a solid minute! It's so much fun to have something exciting like this to look forward to. And another surprise....the Simmons are going with us!! We love traveling with Chris and Marina!! We've racked up quite a few British Airways miles from all of our travels to and from Zambia over the past couple of years, so Josh decided it was time to put them to good use....in Costa Rica!! I can't wait to get there!! Now, it's time to get serious about losing these last 10 pregnancy pounds!! Motivation....motivation....motivation!! :)

Be Mine...

Valentine's...

I will admit it....I love Valentine's Day! Mainly because of the cute decorations, cards and CANDY! Growing up, my mom decorated our house for Valentine's....like over the top decorations. As soon as the Christmas decor went down, Valentine's went up. I loved it...and still do! Josh always does a good job with Valentine's too...it all started on our first Valentine's day (2000...senior year of high school) when he showed up at my front door dressed head to toe in RED, drove me to school and walked me all the way to my first class. It was awesome....classic Josh for sure. We've moved away from the typical Valentine's celebration (spending way too much on pre-fixed menus at fancy restaurants)....and now usually celebrate with our friends at one of our houses. Actually last year, at our Valentine's dinner party, I was pregnant! We found out we were expecting the day before. It was the hardest thing I've ever done not telling our little secret to our best friends!

Did you know that Shutterfly offers personalized Valentine's cards??? They are oh so cute too! Look how adorable this one is!! They have great personalized gifts too....I think these magnets are precious....a great Valentine's gift for grandparents! Or for the coffee drinker in your life, these personalized mugs are the perfect gift. You could include a package of their favorite coffee or coffee shop gift card too. If you're interested in receiving 25 FREE Valentine's cards from Shutterfly, click here. Such a great deal for bloggers! One lucky Peanut Butter & Poptarts reader will also receive 25 free cards...leave a comment if you're interested! I'm going to do a random drawing once I receive the promo codes from Shutterfly.

What are you planning for Valentine's Day this year? I need to come up with something creative to do for Josh. And plan a dinner party that I think our friends (or at least the guys) are starting to expect! :) Just kidding...it's so fun! Happy Valentine's everyone!!

Valentine's Dinner...

We had a great time last night celebrating Valentine's with the Simmons, Brazeals and Rectors! Here are a few pictures from the evening....

The menu...beef tenderloin, stuffed blue cheese potatoes, green beans, chopped salad and heart shaped brownies and cookies with ice cream! It was delicious!
Place cards/Hot Tamale favors...
The Simmons...
The Rectors...The Brazeals...With my Valentine...The girls with Kaci and Sophie (one of the Simmons pups)...The boys playing some dominoes...Sweet baby Owen...in the PJ's I got him for Christmas. Isn't he adorable?! The Simmons haven't had power since Thursday, so we had fun house guests last night! Thankfully, their power is back on today!

Guess what I got for Valentine's from my sweetie....a Cooking Light cookbook and a subscription to the Cooking Light Magazine! I'm so excited to try lots of new recipes! And here is the lovely poem that was in my Valentine's card...my hubby is so creative...he cracks me up!

It's been a while since my last rhyme,
On Valentine's Day I think it's time.

I love you more thank you know,
Like Pete Delkus loves the snow!
(Pete Delkus is the super intense weather man on Channel 8 news)

Enjoy the book on Cooking Light,
Its made your buttocks firm and tight.

Every month for a year,
An issue will be delivered here.

I am the luckiest man alive,
Unless you cook from page two-oh-five!
(Page 205 is the start of the vegetable section)

I'll love you, my dear, for all my life,
Thank you for being my wife!

Valentine's Treats...

When I think of Valentine's treats, I automatically think of chocolate. But, this year I decided to do something a little different. Instead of the typical chocolates and heart shaped goodies that I usually give, our family will be receiving homemade bread! This is the Kindergarten Bread recipe that I posted last month...it's so good, it's like you're eating dessert! Josh and I have to pace ourselves when I make it. Hopefully our family will enjoy it as well! After all, homemade treats are best....especially when they're made with L♥VE!

Enjoy the weekend!!

X♥X♥,
Mindy

Valentine's Plans...

I do LOVE Valentine's Day (especially all of the cute decorations, candies and cards)....but Josh and I are completely over spending lots of money on gifts and eating out. It's just too much. We still exchange cards with funny (and sweet) messages, but instead of wasting the time and money to go eat out somewhere nice, we've started staying in on Valentine's evening. We either cook or order in and usually end up watching a movie. To us, it's more fun and of course, cost effective. And I really hate when restaurants have pre-fixed menus for Valentine's...it just drives me crazy! Last year we had some of our good friends over on Valentine's...we all had so much fun that we've decided to do it again this year. We all pitch in on the cost for food and have a great time being together. I love decorating the table cute with Valentine's decor and dishes and I always make everyone go around the table and share what they love most about their spouse. They make fun of me for this....but I know deep down inside that they all love it. What are your plans for Valentine's day this year? Do you have any fun traditions?

I'll be sure to post pictures from our Valentine's dinner party on Monday!

XOXO,
Mindy

A Valentine's Dinner Party...

Here are a few pics of the table from our Valentine's dinner last night...


My mom let me borrow the heart shaped bowls...I just love them! I used my everyday red dinner plates and spiced them up with a doiley from Target. I also found the paper napkins from Target. I LOVE Target....they always have the cutest holiday accessories!


For place cards, I filled clear candy bags with cherry sours and used labels (also from Target) to write everyone's name on.


A beautiful arrangement from Bella Flora of Dallas.

Everything turned out really well....and we all had a great time too! It was definitely a fun way to celebrate Valentine's....and cheap compared to going out to eat....restaurants are always way over priced on Valentine's day. For dinner I made a really yummy chopped salad (served in the heart shaped bowls), my famous chicken pot pies (a great recipe from Williams-Sonoma) and heart shaped chocolate molten cakes for dessert.

Whenever I host a dinner party, I always have a "question" or two that everyone has to answer over dinner....last night everyone had to go around and share what they love/admire most about their spouse. The boys always make fun of me for doing this....but deep down, I know they really enjoy it.

I meant to take pictures of the party in full swing....but I completely forgot to get my camera out once everyone arrived....I promise people actually came! :) It was the same group from our Christmas dinner back in December. We truly are blessed with such amazing friends...I heart them. :)