Tangled, The Dentist, and Valentine's Day

We had such a relaxed, ordinary weekend at our house this past weekend. We had absolutely no plans, and no events, parties or birthdays to attend - just nothing to do and it was so great. Saturday morning the kids colored and then played all kinds of games with Daddy. Huston got to play Halo in the morning - a rare treat for him since he usually plays it at night after Clarke comes home from work. They played catch and "Hut" and I can't even remember what else. Huston walked around all afternoon with his comb, and a toy light saber that was broken in half and pretended to give us hair cuts. In the evening we had a family movie night and watched Tangled.

For dinner during our movie, I fed the kids peanut butter and jelly (on almost, but not quite, stale bread), popcorn, the last remaining bits of broken pretzels and some raisins (because there was no fruit in the house, but that's close, right?). I should win mom of the year for that dinner. Or maybe not. We all really liked the movie, but I was glad we were watching it at home, because Huston asked loud questions every 5 minutes, and Arden started running around the living room as soon as her food was gone.

On Monday morning I took the kids to the dentist for their first dental checkup. I was feeling mom guilt for not having taken Huston before, and I was afraid they would find a bunch of cavities and chastise me for being a bad mom. But everything turned out fine - Huston had a minor anxiety attack and wouldn't let them take x-rays of his teeth, but he did get in the chair and let the dentist count his teeth, and so did Arden. And neither one of them had anything wrong, so I'll call it a success. I desperately wanted to take pictures of them in the dentist chair, but it didn't seem right at the moment, so I settled for this picture of them in the waiting room. They were playing Tangled, of all things, and the kids were so happy to recognize it and watch it.

On Tuesday I made the kids pink heart shaped pancakes for breakfast. But I didn't take pictures of them, because they weren't very impressive. In fact, they were not impressive at all. But Huston did laugh with delight, so it was worth it. Then we met Clarke at Chick Fil A for a little family Valentine's lunch date.

After lunch, the kids and I headed to a random Cracker Barrel to meet a lady that I was selling something to on Craigslist. While we were waiting, I took their picture in a Cracker Barrel rocking chair. These pictures crack me up.

Then a guy walking by offered to take my picture with them, which is what I always want people to do, but I don't really like the picture. Here it is anyway.

For dinner we had baked spaghetti and breadsticks, and I lit candles and Clarke put on some nice music. The kids got a big kick out of the candlelight and Huston wanted to blow all of the candles out after we ate. It was fun to celebrate Valentine's Day as a family. Huston even got to play Halo with Daddy after dinner (yes, this is almost a daily occurrence now), because, as Clarke said, "Nothing says Valentine's Day like blowing up aliens."