February Roundup

After a long January, February seemed to just fly by! Our calendar was full with basketball, play dates, snow days, and other fun.  Here are some pictures of our February:

The kids love attending the Home Depot workshops on Saturdays. This time they made a Valentine's Day decoration that we actually put on display. 

Life at home with the boys while Sophie is at school

Celebrating National Frozen Yogurt Day with BOGO yogurt cups at Orange Leaf! We hardly ever go to places like this, so the kids were thrilled that they each got to have their own cup and choose their own toppings.

Making candy houses at the Discovery Center

Saturday shopping run at Sam's Club. It will be tricky once we have a fourth kid in this cart. I don't think there will be any room for groceries!

Sophie lost her 8th tooth! If they keep falling out this fast she's going to have nothing left to chew with. 

She's also getting a little bold with the Tooth Fairy. This was the note I found under her pillow that night. Luckily the Tooth Fairy found a very small bag of jelly beans leftover from last Easter to give her. 

On Presidents' Day I took the kids swimming at WT. It was a challenge without Dave (who still had to teach), but we survived and they had a blast! I was too busy life guarding at the pool to take pictures, but I did take these two of Charlie on the way back to the car and Davey passed out on the way home. We put him straight in bed without dinner because he was so tired.

The Discovery Center got a new traveling exhibit about butterflies that the kids have enjoyed

I found a Russian doll massacre in my room one day. They were scattered around and all the littlest babies had been kidnapped. After investigating, Davey turned out to be the guilty party. 

Every time we go somewhere with friends, the kids beg to trade cars even if it's just a short drive to a boring place like the grocery store. On this day I ended up with Emery, while Davey went with Jaxon until we traded back at the end. 

Hair cut time for some scruffy looking boys!

Every Monday morning we do a Walmart pick up for our grocery order. Davey loves that clothing is not required since we don't have to get out of the van :)

I took a grumpy Charlie on a walk one night. It drastically improved his mood and we were treated to a beautiful golden sunset while we were out strolling.

I've started taking the boys swimming at the gym with a friend on Tuesday mornings. I've been working with Davey to get him ready for swim lessons that will start at the end of March. They love it because we swim in the aerobics pool that is nice and warm, and I love it because it wears them out!

Eating lunch with our favorite 1st grader!

The boys and I went to SLAM zone one Friday as part of a home school field trip. We don't home school, but there were extra places available and we are always up for a trip out of the house. The boys had a great time climbing and exploring and Davey keeps asking to go back.

While buying soccer cleats at the consignment store I found this huge set of Picasso tiles for $4.50 - major score!!

Sophie had a sleepover with her friend Emery at the end of the month. She came to our house after school, and then we went to Braums for an ice cream treat. In retrospect all that sugar may have been a bad idea because it took them FOREVER to fall asleep, but they had an amazing time playing together. 

Finally passed out at 11:45 pm. Sophie is on the left laying across two beds, while Emery is on the right half on the bed and half in the dish chair. If that was me I would need to see a chiroprater in the morning!

February 2020 Video Clips

Sophie's First Basketball Season

Sophie played basketball for the first time this year through a program called Upward, which is sponsored by the Baptist church. Because of this, practices always started and ended with prayer, every game had a half time devotional and players received awards for things like "being Christlike." Everything was very well run though, and the church rec center also had a big indoor playground, so the boys looked forward to her games and practices as well!

Her team was called the Eagles and was made up of 1st and 2nd grade girls. They won their first game, then lost six in a row before finally winning their last game. At least they ended on a high note! 

Sophie had no basketball knowledge or skills going in to the season so it was really fun to watch her learn and progress. She improved so much over just two months and is excited to play again next year now that she understand more about the game. 

The Eagles Team

Sophie's best friend Emery played with her. It's always more fun with friends!

A few video clips from her season

February Weather Roller Coaster

February was a crazy weather month for us! The general pattern we kept repeating was a nice, sunny weekend, followed by high winds bringing in a cold front, mid-week snow, which would then melt as things warmed up again headed into the next weekend. 

There were four weeks in a row of this! Two weeks had measurable snow, while the other two just brought flurries and freezing temperatures. It seems like we need to have shorts and t-shirts, and snow gear accessible at all times here in Amarillo. Life is never plain on the plains!

The backyard on one of our snow days. Any measurable snow in Texas is exciting and the kids had a great time playing even if it wasn't much. 

Sophie couldn't wait to get home from school and go outside

Charlie hated our October snow storm that was deep and heavy. This time around the snow was light like sugar and he was able to walk around without getting stuck or falling over.

My little marshmallow man

Valentine's Day 2020

Valentine's Day was fun this year because Sophie didn't have school! The district gave everyone a 4-day weekend, since Presidents' Day was the following Monday. She was able to do her Valentine exchange with her class the day before, and then had Friday off.

We started our morning with heart shaped donuts from Dunkin for breakfast, and a few fun gifts. We don't normally give presents for V-day, but since there was no school and I had been very successful with my clearance shopping this year, we decided to give the kids toys/crafts instead of candy or treats. Charlie got a big, bouncy ball and the big kids each got a Lego set and a slime kit.

Heart donuts for my three little loves

Our district had no school, but the neighboring one was still in session so we went their library where it would be less crowded. The kids got to decorate heart-shaped cookies after story time was over. Sophie and Davey both loved having unrestricted access to the frosting and sprinkles, and Charlie enjoyed licking a frosting spoon. 

That evening we had a ward Valentine's dinner. While it would have been nice to eat out, this was definitely cheaper and I still didn't have to cook - yay! The kids had fun running around in the gym with their friends afterward and eating way too many cookies and dessert. Happy Valentine's Day!

Project Upstairs!

Dave's sister Liz moved out at the end of January. She had been living with us in our upstairs room since July 2018. She left us to move to Tyler, TX to take her dream job working as a NICU nurse. We are so excited for her!

After she was gone, we got to work moving our current playroom, which was also the guest room and piano room, to the upstairs. It's taking the kids some time to get comfortable going there to play since it's been off limits for so long, but we know that eventually they will like having all the extra space and we will love having all the toys and mess out of sight. Charlie will also be moving into the guest room once baby comes, so it was nice to get all the toys out of there to make room for him. 

Farewell to Liz! Charlie is going to miss her the most. She moved in when he was only a few months old and he does not remember life without his "Lizzie."

This space is still a work in progress. Eventually we will get some big cube shelves for toy storage, a better couch and maybe some bean bags for extra seating since this is also the movie/video game room.

While we were working on the upstairs, we also tackled the attic! Since access is through the upstairs room, it had been neglected for the last year and half. Everything had just been dropped by the door and you could barely move around. Now it's nice and organized. I even vacuumed the floor!