Love Doesn't Make the World Go Round...

Love is what makes the ride worthwhile...which is definitely true in our home!

 The Clayton Crew is enjoying our adventure of life together and what a great way to celebrate the love than a day full of heart fun! I treated each of my loves to a special setting for breakfast before Dad had to leave for the day...

The others read: I wheelie like you, You make my heart race, and I like how you roll :)...

 With our house 3/4 packed up, it made setting up pretty interesting this year. It may not have been the cutest display, but what we lacked in cute we made up for in fun! We started off with a delicious breakfast of Nutella French Toast Sandwiches, bacon, and strawberries...

followed by an entire morning of Valentine's activities. The kids enjoyed sorting heart shaped pasta...

Kason is used to all our games and activities, but Zoe is still tickled to get to finally participate in a few with big brother!

 I had Daniel write secret messages on hearts the night before and let Kason watercolor them...

He was so geeked up to find Dad's love notes to him, Zoe, and Max :)...

 One of Kason's favorite games was cupid's arrow where he had to shoot a q-tip out of a straw into a bucket...

as you can see, Zoe just had too much fun placing them in their all on her own. Another activity the kids enjoyed was trying to pick up conversation hearts with chopsticks and place them in the container...

Well, little lady was a bit more interested in eating all of them rather than transferring them :)! Of course Mr. Max hung out with us all morning even though he couldn't physically participate...

although he did love watching Kason and Zoe from his stander. I made sure he could help me with the last activity, making stained glass hearts...

 I tore off the pieces of tissue paper and barely touched it to the heart, then used his hand to press it down...oh how he loved it! He just smiled and did his noise/gesture for more! Before we finished, I helped the kids make Valentine's for the grandparents using their thumbprints...

and cookies for dad and Derek at the bike shop.

We even took them up there at lunch to say hi since we were missing him.

While Daniel and I may not celebrate this holiday together, we can't help but spoil our three loves! Being their parents is the best gift of all and we truly believe that together we will go far on love...and bicycles ;)!

Valentine's Chapel and Party at Superkids...

I know I say this all the time, but we LOVE Superkids! Kason and Zoe's pre-school at our church is so good at not just teaching our kiddoes, but also supplying plenty of fun for them...especially around holidays. Today was their big Valentine's celebration. There is a parent's chapel every year where each class leads a song and it is just too precious to see all the little tots on stage. Our sassy little thing Zoe just adores being on stage as you can see...

 she was so proud, smiling and waving at us :)! I am sorry for the aweful pictures...my auto focus was turned off and I didn't have time to readjust the settings for pictures at chapel...therefore they are mostly blurry. Oh well, at least you can make out her sweet face...

Kason every year dreads getting on stage because he is shy around large groups of people. He normally just stands there and cries, or has a panicked look on his face....but not this year though!!!

 Daniel and I were beaming to see Kason get up there smiling, sing the song, and do the motions...he has come so far!!!

After chapel, Daniel and I stopped in to each of their Valentine's parties. Kason keeps cracking me up the older he gets because these sorts of things are starting to be really important to him. I had to hide my smiles as he went through each friend's valentines noting how "cool" each one was :)...adorable!

I must confess that with the move, our Valentine's weren't as awesome this year. Kason and I really enjoy taking the time to make something for his friends every year, but it just was not going to happen in between packing boxes. Therefore, we repurposed a package of glow in the dark bugs that we found while cleaning out...

 As for Zoe, well she can care less about Valentine's from friends because all she wanted was the food!

 She is definitely the little porker of the group...you can even see her spying her friends' plates to make sure she wasn't missing out on anything :). And yes, we did the same for little lady...we struck gold packing when we also found a package of play-doh to share.

I am just savoring all of these moments with my loves...

 it won't be long until they will be too big for holiday shirts and parties with their momma! In fact, I have a few fun lovin' activities for the real heart day tomorrow...so check back to see what the Clayton cuties will be up to.

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, No It's...

Super Kason's 5th Birthday! Due to the move, we opted to have Kason's party early so he could celebrate with all his friends before saying goodbye. Kason and I had so much fun planning his party together...I love how opinionated he is and all of his ideas that he shares :).

This year, Kason decided he wanted a superhero party, so we sent out a signal calling all of his buddies to join him at the Superhero Training Center (aka Ready, Set, Go)!

Kason and all his friends had a blast playing in a bounce house...

 jumping on trampolines...

swinging on rings...

and dropping into a foam pit!

There was non-stop fun training their wall scaling abilities...

Our little Superwoman had way too much fun trying to keep up with the big kids...

While our little batman hung out playing in his stroller laughing at everyone zipping around the gym...

After the superheros brushed up on their skills, it was time for a refuel!

Kason's favorite meal is breakfast, so this year we switched things up a bit and had a cereal buffet...

serving Captain Crunch America, Mr. Freeze Frosted Flakes, and Cocoa Kryptonite!

 Kason isn't much of a cake eater, but he can't resist sprinkled donuts...but really, who can? Therefore, we had an unconventional cake that all the kids seriously LOVED!

Of course every superhero needs milk to keep them big and strong...

Can I just confess to you that I had a blast at this party...maybe as much as the kids did!

While I loved adding all the special touches to make this party come together, I ended up having so much fun hanging out with my little spider man and all his friends. There were points where I had to put down my camera so I could join in on the fun with them...jumping on the trampoline, oohing and aahing over their mad superhero skills, and laughing along with all their silly antics playing together.

Kason couldn't have a superhero party without capes for all his friends, so I personally made each one with their first initial...which they adored and were so stinkin' cute in!

 Super Kason had a blast at his party with all of his friends!

 This group has been together at church and our Mother's Day out program since they were tiny tots...and now they are all about to start Kinder! Kason and I are going to miss all of his sweet friends so much when we leave. Thank you for flying on over to save the day and celebrate with our favorite superhero!!!

Our Rehab Renovation...

Almost four years ago, we bought an older home in Lubbock from Daniel's cousins. We instantly fell in love with the floor plan, but with the home being built in 1958 it was time for a rehab, especially since most of it was original to the home (over 50 years old!). This was our first project and boy did we have fun! I am so proud of my hunky handy man, that I just had to show off all his hard work. He turned this house into a cozy home for our family...

We gutted everything except for walls and started from scratch. I should probably clarify who "we" is! Together Daniel and I picked out all the materials and cast a vision, but Daniel was all the brawns behind the renovation...of course with a little help from his favorite side kick!

Yes, Kason was a tiny tot when we moved in...around 15 months. The three of us lived out of our master bedroom, Kason's bedroom, and the guest bathroom for several months while Daniel completed the renovation. It wasn't the easiest task watching a rambunctious toddler while your home is in shambles, but we made it work!

Daniel, being the amazing dad that he is, often recruited Kason for help during any projects that were safe for him to be around. Kason fell in love and now has a fascination with all things construction :).

Daniel did a phenomenal job with reflooring, retexturing, painting, installing new lights in the front room, gutting our master bath to its studs, hanging cabinets, tiling our back splash, and the list could go on and on! Yep, like I said...one proud wifey right here! While I'm reminiscing about all the memories this house has shared with us, I thought it would be fun to take you on a quick tour of our personal rehab renovations. First stop, our front room which we use as a more formal dining and living area (mainly for entertaining and kids to run around and release energy!)...

That room opens up into the heart of our home, where we spend most of our time, the living and kitchen...

 I am seriously in love with this kitchen Daniel made me and am having a very hard time parting with it!

 Our living room is nice and cozy, plus we love how open everything is to be able to see the munchkins playing...

 The boys share a room since we bought a 3 bedroom house not ever dreaming we would have 3 kids someday :). Max's crib is under Kason's loft bed (sorry for the bad picture below, I borrowed from the realtor!)...

 The guest bath (kids bathroom) was already renovated by the previous owners, so Daniel got a little break there!

 Zoe's room is fun and spunky, I especially love the old window wood window treatments that are original to the house. I just added a splash of color...

 The one downfall to this old home is the tiny master bathroom. We felt like the rooms were so spacious anyway, that it didn't really matter. When Daniel redid the bathroom, we did put in just a pedestal sink to help open up the area.

My master bedroom will also be so hard for me to leave! It is a quiet sanctuary for us to relax at the end of the day...

 While we are sad to leave this home, we are super excited to accept our next challenge...our new home in Cedar Park! That is right, we are in the process of purchasing a HUD home that needs a little TLC. While the outside is just precious...

the inside definitely needs the Clayton Rehab touch! Daniel and I already have so many plans for this home and I can hardly wait to share our progress with you over the next year...can't wait!