February 23

My kids amuse me!

I couldn't help, but laugh to myself when I saw the magnet board with this on it.

And here's Ashton's purchases with his paper money from the month. Trix cereal, white bread, batteries, a toy for Calvin, a Skylander for Matthew, and a little toy for himself. I love that kid!

February 22

Today was the last day of the Ephraim Elementary book fair. These are some the books Calvin and Ashton chose. One of my favorite parts of my job is that I can spoil my kids with books. When Ashton was little he said, "We may not have lots of money, but we are book rich." I am so happy my kids love to read and learn new things.

February 21

They LOVE baths! Sophie gets so excited! She loves to kick and splash and Calvin loves to "swim." They also love each other... it makes me so happy!

February 19-20

So... I guess I missed another couple of days. Let's just say I had a book fair going on then. BUT this sums up the first part of that week, for sure! Our piano was delivered! We let Kiersten play it first since she was leaving on her mission soon. Katie played it next. After the rest of us had a turn Katie and Kiersten played and sang songs from Wicked for awhile! I will never grow tired of listening to them sing!

February 18

Stacie came down for the long weekend and Sophie and Haylie were little twiners (gray fleece with pink hearts). I just love these three girls!

February 16 and 17

I love Sophia in her cupcake dress! She has so many cupcake things... blankets, hair bows, a couple of outfits, a couple of pairs of pjs... it is so fun! I think it is perfect since I LOVE gourmet cupcakes. :)

Somehow I missed the 17th... bummer!

February 15

This is what February was for me... Reach for the Stars!! Each week I was either kicking off one, working at the book fair at the end, or doing the paperwork for one. It was a lot of work, but by the end of the month I had $1,800 saved for our Mediterranean cruise in May.

February 14

Wow... I have a month's worth of photos to catch up on! That feels SO overwhelming! It has been a very busy month. :) Here it goes...

February 14... Valentine's Day... was also Sophie's 5th month "birthday." Here she is in her February tutu. She kept putting the toule in her mouth. I think she liked the texture.

For our Valentine's Day date, Jer took me to lunch at one of the only places I could eat (without Sophie getting sick later), Tucanos. It was so fun and delicious. After lunch we went to the Piano Gallery to check out their sale. Our piano was in serious need of tuning and major repairs. It really wasn't functioning well as a piano. After spending a couple of hours in the store (and being prepared to leave without a purchase) we ending up getting a great deal on a beautiful piano. The kids called while we were there to tell us about a different piano sale and were so excited when we told them we had just purchased a new piano! It was definitely my best Valentine's Day ever!

February 13

This was the BUSIEST day! I left my house for Cub Scouts at 3:15, stopped back home for a minute to pick up Katie and Sophie to take Katie to Musical Theater, brought her home an hour early so she could go to her class Utah History program, and then as soon as it was over went straight from the elementary school to the middle school for Matthew's semi-finals basketball game. Matthew, Katie, Sophie Jeremy and I got home after 8:30 pm and they hadn't started their Valentine boxes yet. (Thankfully I had helped Will with his valentines that morning before school and Matthew and Katie did theirs while Ashton and I were at Scouts. Also thankfully, Kiersten had the little boys in bed when we got home.) Although she was a perfect angel during Katie's program and Matthew's game, Sophie was still not feeling well from her immunizations and WOULD NOT sleep after the boxes were done!

 I couldn't get a decent picture because the lighting for the program was weird, but Katie looked adorable and did a great job on her solo. After the program, one of her classmates mom's came up to us and said she sang like an angel and that she could listen to her all day. Sometimes I take it for granted that all our kids can sing pretty good (at least carry a tune most of the time) and that Katie's voice is especially good. Mr. B. also said, "Her voice is amazing. You really, really need to pursue that. You really, really do." I know she is talented... I just don't know what to do. We've thought about putting her in voice lessons, but she is already SO busy with musical theater, technique and piano... I don't know if she would have time to be a kid! We thought about just having her do voice instead of musical theater, but she LOVES the acting, dancing, and socializing in musical theater, just as much as the singing. So... I don't know what to do with her!

 This is probably Mr. B's last year of teaching. He is such a wonderful teacher! I feel very blessed my kids were able to have the same wonderful 4th grade teacher I did.

 Here are some pictures from Matthew's game. They lost by one point in the last 3 seconds of the game. It was such a heart-breaker for his team. All the boys were crying. I really felt for them, but I was also kind of relieved because if he would have won they would of played in the championship game that was  starting at 8:30 pm that night. Does that make me a bad mom!

I bought all kinds of valentines in the morning... sports ones, laffy taffy ones, Disney ones. We also had some angry birds ones left over from last year. But Ashton wanted to make his "more special," so he made homemade ones. He is not one for aesthetics. I tried to convince him to tape his homemade ones onto the cute store bought ones, but he wouldn't. It's kind of embarrassing, but if  you know Ashton it is really cute. I hope the second grade moms don't judge me!

February 12

 Sophie had her 4 month check-up (a month late). She has hit all the developmental milestones that  a 5 month old should have reached, was in the 86% for height and 37% for weight. Katie was a tall baby (and still is tall for her age) too. She got her shots and then a fever... so she was a sad little girl all afternoon and evening, but I managed to catch her sleeping just after we got home from the doctors office.

February 11

Jeremy was holding Sophie so I could exercise and they both crashed. While they were sleeping I gave Calvin some crackers and he offered to share them with me and Will. When I went into Sophie's room I discovered that he tried sharing them with Jer and Sophie too. He is so cute and kind most of the time... I just wish he would obey!

Happy Girl!

Genean Blauer gave me the recipe for some delicious treats! They are gluten-free, sugar-free, and dairy-free. I love them! I am trying to see if a dietary change can make a difference with my fibromyalgia symptoms.

February 10

I love these girls! I am so happy they have each other.

Calvin takes his trains very seriously!

February 9

Matthew had a basketball game first thing this morning. It was the last regular season game. His team made it into the play-offs which start Monday. 

The kids and I got the house cleaned up by lunch. It isn't perfect. The basement needs to be vacuumed, Katie's room is a disaster, the bathrooms need to be scrubbed and the floors need to be mopped. But it is livable. And for today that is GOOD ENOUGH! So, we are having a lazy day. Ashton asked if we could have a "Readasaurus Birthday today." So, we are in our jammies, reading, playing games on iPads/iPods, etc. It was much needed. Maybe we'll play Pit when I finish this post. :)

February 8

Warning: Below is a VERY gross picture, but it was the only one I took today and it was MOMENTOUS! I had to pick up Katie from the church after Activity Days and when I got home all the kids ran up to me and said, "Calvin pooped on the potty! He did it himself! We didn't tell him too!" He has had #1 mastered for over a month, but still didn't have #2 down. I am not declaring victory, yet, but this is definitely a step in the right direction. I took a picture to text to Jeremy, who was, of course delighted and not grossed out.

February 7

 I got this new book with Calvin in mind, but was going to wait until the Reach for the Stars book fair before I gave it to him. Well, he found it, of course! He said, "Look! It's my new book! It's my big new big train book!" So, how could I resist. It is actually pretty interesting.

Sometimes when Jeremy does Insanity, he lets the kids do it with him for the first 20 minutes. If only this picture could capture the smell of sweat and sounds of pain coming out of their mouths. Katie definitely looks the most graceful when they exercise... you can tell she takes dance.