The Yarn Octopus Looooves You

Octopus. Valentine's Day. Hmmm...

 

I've been trying to use up some of my yarn scraps. I used this tutorial to make a yarn octopus out of some pink yarn that I wasn't using for anything else...and then realized that the octopus just happened to match my Valentine's Day decorations. But what does an octopus have to do with Valentine's Day? 

I don't know. Octopuses (not octopi, fyi) have lots of arms, so...they're good at hugging? That's Valentine-y, right? I'm going to go with yes. Because the octopus looks pretty darn cute with all my other pink decorations.

A Vast Capacity for Love

{image source}

"We are created in the image of our heavenly parents; we are God's spirit children. Therefore, we have a vast capacity for love—it is part of our spiritual heritage. What and how we love not only defines us as individuals; it also defines us as a church. Love is the defining characteristic of a disciple of Christ." 

-Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Friday Night = Date Night

For as long as we've been married, Isaac and I have tried to have a "date night" once a week. That used to mean going out somewhere cheap--the dollar theater, or maybe Burger King [yeah, we're fancy]. But when Isaac was unemployed, we went from "cheap dates" to "free dates".

Sometimes we go out for some free fun, but usually we stay home with a DVD from the library. Sometimes I'll make some kind of treat, too. Last Friday night, Isaac decided that he wanted to bake some date-night food. He told me he was making blondies, and asked if I wanted chocolate chips in them--um, yes! So this is what came out of the oven:

[It says, "I  <3 toots="" u="">

Aww. Yay for staying home on date night!

[Since I'm pretty sure Burger King doesn't make blondies with chocolate-chip messages on request.]

I'm Too Little

Little Boy, age 18 months 

Little Boy's latest thing is to say, "I'm too little" when he doesn't want to do something. "No, Mommy. I'm too little." It's cute sometimes. But he still doesn't get away with it.

Because no, Little Boy, you're not too little to say "thank you." You've been saying "thank you" since you were 18 months old.

Little Boy's Favorite Christmas Present

...is this:

 
 His very own set of Lincoln Logs. That's Isaac's hairy arm in the shot--I'm a Lincoln Logs dunce (and my arm's not that hairy).

It's always been hard for me to picture things in 3D in my head. I just can't visualize a little log cabin easily enough to build it out of all those little parts.

But that's a good thing, because now Lincoln Logs are Little Boy and Isaac's thing. It's something for just the two of them to do together. And they do--they build little log buildings almost every evening when Isaac gets home from work.

Your Light

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

-Matthew 5:16 {image source}

My Baby-est Brother

It's my youngest brother's birthday today. I post more about my other siblings than about Blake, so I thought I'd introduce y'all. Here's Blake through the ages [sorta]:

 
This is the oldest picture I have of Blake. I stole it from my grandma [I'm pretty sure she had a double]. This is probably about...1991? Playing in my grandma's front yard.

 
He skateboards [this is from around 2002]. At least, he did. I'm pretty sure he still does. I think. Maybe.

 
And he snowboards [also from 2002]. Dad and Thane ski/snowboard, too. The girls...don't.

 
He's super cute with Little Boy [2007]. Little Boy calls him "Batey".

 
Like any sibling, he can be a stinker [2007]. But most of the time...


...he's a sweetheart. [Senior pic].

 
Did I mention that he drums? Oh. Well, he does. [This is the worst-quality video ever; I apologize.] He's playing Isaac's brother's drum set--I assure you that Blake drums much more loudly on his own, bigger set. Haha.

 
This is our most recent family picture--well, our most recent sibling picture. From left: Thane, Blake, Little Boy, me, and Kaylyn, with Isaac down below. You can kinda see in this picture that Blake and I look more like each other than like our other siblings [2009].

 
And this one's from Christmas Eve. Yeah, he's a little silly. But that's why we like him. 

So, there ya go. That's my mysterious, seldom-blogged-about little brother. Happy birthday, Batey!