I Love...

Watching the sunrise. The sun has been coming up earlier in the morning so I get to watch it rise on my runs and enjoy some sunshine for the last portion of my runs. It amazes me how much it brightens my morning and puts me in a perkier mood to have the sun up for even just a little bit while I run. I know daylight savings time is coming so I'm enjoying the sunshine in the morning while I can!

Random stuff I get to see while running that I wouldn't otherwise. One of my favorite things about going on vacation is going for runs and discovering new things. I always see stuff I wouldn't see just walking around. A few weeks ago I got to watch the Super Blue Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse on my run. It was so cool and I wouldn't have been out and about that early in the morning had I not been running. Check out more on it here if you're interested.

Odell Beckham Jr. and Eli Manning's super bowl commercial. This was by far the highlight of the super bowl coverage for me. The minute the music came up and they started to dance, I was so excited. I've watched it so many times since then and noticed more references to Dirty Dancing in the commercial. It is so cute! If I'm feeling tired or worn out, I just pull up the commercial and watch it again. It makes me laugh every time. I've always liked Odell, ever since his crazy one handed catch for a touchdown, but now he's probably my favorite football player or at least tied with Jordy.

Hummus. I hadn't eaten any in a while and got some at Aldi because it was on special. I have been loving it! I look forward to carrots with hummus for lunch. The first day we had it the kids ate a ton of it and haven't wanted any since.

Apples with peanut butter. Apples were another special at Aldi that I picked up and I started having an apple with peanut butter as a dessert after lunch. So yummy! Now the kids are hooked on it too and they have one for snack most afternoons. They'll choose an apple with peanut butter over Cheez Its and Carter prefers it to fruit snacks. Elise on the other hand is beyond obsessed with fruit snacks and would eat them all day long if allowed.

Elise being potty trained! It is so wonderful to have Elise fully potty trained. She still has occasional accidents, but for the most part can hold it for a really long time and hasn't had an accident in her car seat in a long time! This morning I forgot to remind her to go before we left the house to drop Carter at school and I realized it part way there. I was so sure she'd have pottied in her car seat when we got there, but she hadn't! I was so proud of her. I told her, "Elise your car seat is dry! I'm so proud of you! I even forgot to have you go potty before we left." She kissed me on the cheek and said, "Thank you." It was so sweet!

Art classes. One of the art museums in town does really neat programs for kids. Elise goes to Museum Babies to learn about art and play with toys. Carter now goes to Mini Masters where we walk through galleries noticing certain aspects of artwork and then the kids get to make their own art. I love that we have this opportunity and it is so much fun!

Random, beautiful days and warmer mornings! I was way too excited this morning when I saw the wind chill was over 20 degrees for my run. It's so nice to be able to go for a run and be comfortable in just tights. When the wind chill gets below 20 degrees I either freeze or need a pair of wind pants over my tights. I am sooooo ready for spring!

The Spellman Files. My friend recommended this series to me and I'm reading the first book right now. I am loving it. It has been a while since I've read a series of books. Coming in after quite a few of them have been written is my favorite way to do it. I started the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich when there were already 7 books (I finally quit the series when she hit 20 books). Harry Potter I read right away and hated having to wait for the next book to come out. The Spellman Files reminds me of the Stephanie Plum series.

Valentine's Day. As you all know, Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday! I'm so excited to open valentines tomorrow and make our heart shaped pizza. Carter is having his party at school today and I always love looking through his valentines with him when he gets home! I'm really excited about the little gifts we got the kids and look forward to baking with them. I also love hitting up the post holiday shopping to get lots of fun goodies! Last year I got a ton of awesome stuff half price at Target that we used as Christmas and birthday presents for the kids and that's how I got their special cookie baking sets we are giving them for Valentine's Day tomorrow.

Elise playing with photo props during our Valentine's Day party with our playgroup yesterday.