Other February Stuff

On a rare gorgeous day, we went to the park.

 Our garbage disposal bit the dust. Dan installed a new one.

Yum.

 Afton has an assignment to decorate a large heart with things she loves. In this picture, Dan and I are getting married. I am in the red dress with blue high heels. Dan is in the pompom top hat. Top right is a pegasus. Bottom is a pegasus unicorn. Top left is a horse. Eli is next to the pegasus and Sam is next to me, with his head under the horse.

 Eli got better at standing unassisted. He is so close to walking!

He got a new toy from G&G Cheney for his birthday and he loves it.

He can also crawl up the stairs really well now.

It hailed.

 We wrote valentine love notes to each other. This one is from Afton. "I love Eli because he is cute."

 I made a dress (mu mu) for Afton to wear on the 100th day of school.

 Eli and I met Dan for lunch at his office.

Afton received many creative Valentines from her classmates because they don't allow candy at school. One of them said something like "I've got my EYE on you" or something like that and it came with an eye patch. Afton thought it was so cool. She wore it to Chick-fil-a cyclops style (along with a witch dress).

 She took it off when we got home. When I went upstairs to check on the kids before we went to bed, she had put it back on and was sleeping with it. That girl cracks us up.

Dan got the kids their traditional giant Hershey's kiss for Valentine's Day.

Afton took a picture of me and my Valentine.

 Our Valentine's Day treat. It was nice to have Valentine's Day on a Sunday.

Eli learned how to open doors.

Dan made partner at his law firm. They had a special dinner for all of the people who made partner.

 It was really nice. My only hangup is that the invitation said "casual." We know they did not really mean casual. If you tell me to dress casually, I will wear jeans, a t-shirt, and flip flops. Good thing Dan asked other people was "casual" really means.

Someone stole Dan's identity.

 Eli got a balloon when Sam and Afton went to the dentist.

And that is all.

100th Day of School and an Assembly

Last month we got an email from Afton's teacher letting us know that she was going to be recognized during a school assembly for her compassion. (Each month for five months they have an assembly recognizing students who excel in one of five character traits: Perseverance, compassion, integrity, collaboration, and commitment to quality.)

Anyway, that assembly got canceled due to snow.

This month we got an email from Sam's teaching informing us that Sam was going to be recognized during February's assembly for integrity. It's a surprise and the kids don't know until their names are called.

Fortunately for us, they combined the compassion assembly with integrity, so we got to see both kids get an award on the same day. It also happened to be the 100th day of school and the kindergarteners got to dress up like they were 100-years-old.

Here's Afton before school.

Here's Afton at the assembly.

And Sam. (Skip to 43 seconds or so. I accidentally got the girl before him.)

We're so proud of our kids. They are good examples to us.

Other January stuff

Right after New Year's, our local PBS station put on a Downton Abbey season 6 preview at a theater downtown. They've been doing it every year - airing the first episode of the season before it comes on TV. I stopped watching DA a few years ago, but a bunch of girls from church were getting dressed up, going out to eat, and then going to the premiere, so I thought I would join in. It was a great night! After dinner at the Strawberry Street Cafe, we went to the Altria theater to watch. There were so many people dressed up. It was fun people watching. Apparently it's the biggest Downton Abbey event in the nation. After the local PBS people said some stuff, they announced a special guest from the show. You could tell how excited everyone in the audience was... Until they announced someone that was on like two episodes three seasons ago. (He also plays a pirate in the Pirates of the Carribbean movies. I would recognize him if I saw him up close.) So he was funny and talked for a few minutes. Then HE introduced another Dowton Abbey cast member - the woman who plays Mrs. Hughes (and happened to be this guy's wife). Oh, man, the theater went wild. It was fun.

 The girl on the second from the left in the front pretty much single-handedly dressed and styled 90% of our group. She is amazing.

Eli loves bath time.

The Saturday night/Sunday morning after Eli's birthday, Afton came to our room in the middle of the night and complained that her jaw hurt. We felt around and didn't see/feel anything abnormal so we set up a little bed on the floor of our room and told her to go back to sleep. She kept crying saying that it hurt. We didn't get much sleep that night. That morning, Sam came in saying that his ear hurt. Then we put two and two together and figured out that's what Afton was feeling, too. Of course it was a Sunday so I had to wait until 10 and take all three kids to the Minute Clinic because Dan had to be at church. I got there 10 minutes before they opened, but two other guys were already sitting there. So I waited with my kids in the CVS for about an hour. Finally the lady saw them and diagnosed Sam with a double ear infection and Afton with one really bad one after having to ask them all sorts of random questions that had nothing to do with their ears. I wanted to yell, "Just look in their ears, okay???" That was not a fun day! I also got released from my primary chorister calling that day. I miss teaching songs to the kids! Now I'm the second counselor in the primary presidency and I have no idea what I'm doing.

Sam had a school assignment to create something related to Native Americans. He decided to build a model dugout canoe. Dan helped him out a bit.

Very authentic, huh? Sam came home from school the day it was due and told us all about some other kid's two-story long house with faux bear rugs, ladders, etc. Sounds like we weren't the only parents who helped out a little bit...

We went on some pretty walks when the weather was nice enough.

I met Dan for lunch one day.

 We went to the temple. They have this picture of the temple that you can take a picture in front of, so Afton asked me to. I guess people might want to do that so they don't have people in the background? Otherwise, I say just take a picture with the real temple in the background.

 Here's the kid area in the visitors' center.

The kids watched some TV. Let's be honest.

Afton had a school assignment to create a diorama for a dinosaur she was given. I helped with the blue and green background stuff. Dan helped with the other stuff while I went somewhere (can't remember where...), but a lot of it was Afton's idea. I was majorly impressed!

 (She fell at recess and got a big bruise on her forehead.)

Eli was cute.

And then it snowed. And snowed.

The kids had a lot of fun in the snow. Dan shoveled for hours and hours. I basically stayed inside with Eli. If he was already walking, I think we would have ventured out more, but with him just crawling, I didn't see it ending very well. Dan got to stay home on Friday. We utilized that time to play a rousing game of Monopoly.

And a bunch of other games. Church was canceled on Sunday, as was school Monday through Wednesday. So on Tuesday, the kids and I drove out to see my parents since the roads around us and them were clear.

No trip to G&G Cheney's is complete without a game of Hullabaloo.

 We got to meet Grandpa for lunch and Eli also got a few presents from them for his birthday. It was nice to see them for a quick visit!

The last day of the month the weather was really beautiful, so we went on a walk after church and spent some time playing on the driveway. (The grass was TOOOO muddy.)

 Eli is SO close to taking his first steps, but he's not quite there yet.

 Sam got a haircut.

 Eli eventually gave up on the pusher thing and got super dirty crawling around in the melting snow.

 The end.