Spicy Thai Noodle Curry. This was supposed to be this, but I added more veggies than the recipe called for and it didn’t come out a soup! Oh well! It didn’t come out looking too great either, but it was delicious, and the only ones who didn’t like it were True and Glow. True seems to be our most finicky eater. I want to try this again, but make sure it comes out a soup. Ben was loving it and indulging until he realized I didn’t use whole wheat noodles. Next time, I’ll be sure to use buckwheat, so it will be a little more guilt-free.

Mackerel & Sesame Leaf. My BFF and her mama have some of the greatest recipes up their sleeves and I feel lucky they teach me their ways, and then I can share them right back to you! Don’t you worry, there will be a recipe for this.

Week of 2/10 – 2/14
Monday: Spaghetti and meatballs
Tuesday: Bossam (We just had it, but it’s so good so we want more!)
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Sushi night… oh yeah!!!

We’ve been so much better at eating veggies throughout the day and figuring out ways to incorporate it in at night, so while the veggie dish isn’t always listed here, it’s been happening. What do you do to make sure your family is getting their needed fruits and vegetables throughout the day?

This is the big girls’ room and it always looks like this. It stays clean for oh… about 10 seconds, and then their room looks like a tornado (of 4 girls) blew through. While the majority of the house stays reasonably tidy, this room cannot. It’s kid life for sure!

This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

“I Feel Like a Mean Mom” post (via Girl Talk) really resonated the struggles of my heart.

Again amazed by Katie’s bus transformation. This latest post of raising a bus roof is just so interesting!

Thankful that one of my first blogging friends, Nathalie, is back to blogging! She makes such amazing quilts! Follow her instagram (here) to see more of her work.

I love this whipped body butter from SQ Apothecary. I’ve got the driest hands on the planet (seriously), and this makes them feel so much better!

We are still obsessed with Frozen over here and I love how the girls get into singing all the songs. I secretly recorded them the other day.

Thankful for being able to check things off my to-do lists!

Don’t forget to check out the things I’m swapping over at Swapdom.

This would be so sweet to make for Valentine’s Day!

Thanks friends for taking the time to visit here this week, I sincerely appreciate it. You guys are just so great!

I’m sure every household is filled with lots of doing. I’m constantly hollering from one activity to the next, and the girls are troopers and jump from one activity to the next. They finish breakfast, and I clean up, then it’s about time to start school and they say, “But we just started playing.” Um kiddos, school is first. We finish up school and then we jump to lunch, then jump to piano practice, ballet, swim class, more reading, dinner prep, family chatting, and it’s just a constant barrage of doing. I think I need to schedule in some stop and freeze time or something! I’m going to try and work on that next week.

Anything you do to help slow down the busyness of the day? Tips and tricks appreciated because I for sure can always make room for improvement.

2008. True and I made cupcakes together, and I made love notes for Ben to find all day long.

2010. Ben made the day quite special with all his kisses.

2011. Another Love Day filled with surprises he left all over the house, and I made us a teepee where we ate our special dinner and cuddled.

2012. Another year that we were spoiled by Ben.

2013. Grandmama was in town, so she got to celebrate Valentine’s with us. It was a super busy time for us last year, but Ben still made sure to display love towards all his girls. I’m almost sure I totally didn’t do anything for him at all.

I’m thankful for the blog because it’s fun to be able to look back and see how our family has grown and the different ways we have celebrated. I’m not sure what happened 2009, but I couldn’t find a post on it or pictures on my computer. Maybe we fought?! HA! February 14th also happens to be my mom and dad’s wedding anniversary, so maybe we did something with them. A couple things have been consistent throughout the years… Ben always gives all his ladies flowers and we always have sushi for dinner.

Oh! Now I remember 2009! We were so busy that day that we decided to go out to eat sushi, and (crazily) thought our favorite all-you-can-eat sushi joint shouldn’t be that crowded. Yeah right! That was a bad idea and we learned never to eat out on Valentine’s Day again. We know it’s a totally commercialized holiday, but it’s still fun to use that day to show our loved ones how much we love and appreciate them. Celebrating love is always a good thing!

Sweetheart Felt Hair Clip

Supplies:
Sweetheart Felt Hair Clip Template (in case you want to use the same size I made)
Small scraps of wool felt fabric
1 1/2″ – 2″ snap clips (or whatever size is appropriate for the sweet head you’re making this for)
Coordinating embroidery floss
Hand sewing needle
Scissors
Decorative trim (optional)

1. Cut 2 heart pieces (front and back) from your wool felt. You can also get creative a cut a smaller heart to layer on top of the larger heart (see template).

2. Cut a 1/4″ slit on the back wool felt piece (see template for the location to cut the slit). Open up snap clip and insert through the slit, so that center portion extends out the back of the felt.

3. Layer the two front and back pieces together; use a running stitch 1/4″ from the fabric edge to stitch the two hearts together. If adding trim, layer it on top edge of the top heart, and sew a running stitch through the trim as you also sew all the layers together.

Clip on and dance! Well, it made my Brave spin and twirl for sure, but that girl is always dancing, twirling, and flying (as seen here and here).

I have to make one more, so that each of my girls will have one to wear on Valentine’s Day. Can you tell we are totally getting geared up for next Friday?!! I’m not even sure what we’re going to do, but the girls have the day off from school, so I think we will have our own mini party at home during the day, and Ben and I will get our special time together at night.

The glitter gold headband is from Mane Message and the dress is from Misha Lulu.

These Nathalie Lete Planners from Mochi Things. These would definitely help with organization!

The custom diaries from Minted. I know my girls would love these (and they might be getting them for Valentine’s)!

Cool wallet for the mister from Bellroy. He found it on The Weather Channel (ha!) and it’s the only wallet that Ben likes (he hates the bulkiness of wallets).

What are some things you (or someone in your family) have been loving on the web lately? I love giving handmade gifts for Valentine’s (or any occasion really), but treats like these, which are kind of practical, are nice too.