It's Always Fun In Astleyland!

Our house is rarely quiet.  We have three children and most of the time we encourage them to express themselves, have fun and be creative.  We turn up fun music and the kids will dance.  The dancing is cute and makes me laugh, but my favorite part is the sound of their laughter filling the house.  Every night Logan draws a picture for me on the Magnadoodle and brings it to me.  He always writes, "To Mom, From Logan.  I love you," somewhere on the picture.  Alex will randomly walk up to me, give me a hug and say, "I love you, mom.  You're the best mom ever."  And Kaitlyn runs to me, hair bouncing, huge smile on her face.  I catch her and she hugs me SO tight and then pats me on the back.  I say, "I love you so much," and she says, "Love you."  The Astleys are a happy bunch who enjoy spending time together.  We just make each other happy!

Yesterday was Valentine's Day. We love to have any excuse to do something special for our three gremlins and Valentine's Day is no exception. Jacob and I don't do the traditional flowers, candy, jewelry stuff.  Flowers just die, candy isn't good for you and Jacob says jewelry is expected and he wants to surprise me.  (He buys me jewelry when there is no occasion and DOES surprise me!)  This rule applies to the gremlins as well.  They don't need a lot of candy so we don't buy them candy.  This year the boys received Thunder shirts and brownies (who doesn't love brownies). They have to ask before getting them (unlike candy where they just sneak pieces and eat it all day).  Kaitlyn loves Mickey and Minnie Mouse.  She got a new DVD of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and was so excited when she opened it.  She held it up and shouted, "It's Mickey!"  

                              Kaitlyn's Mickey and Minnie holding hands!

I love Sara Bareilles.  She is a brilliant pianist and songwriter and she has the most amazing voice!  Jacob gave me the DVD and CD of her live performance at the Variety Playhouse and the sweetest, heartfelt card.  It was perfect and, as usual, he did an awesome job surprising me with something amazing. 

It's nice to go out and do something together--shopping, eating out, seeing a movie.  It's also nice to just sit on the couch together, eating York Peppermint Patties, watching a show we both enjoy and just being together.  We just love being together--whether it's decorating the living room for a fun movie experience, playing board games with the kids, acting out story books, cooking together or dancing around to fun music. I am blessed to have these four amazing people in my life and I thank God for them each and every day! There is never a dull a moment in Astleyland--and I wouldn't want it any other way!