Nathan Turns TWO!

In keeping with tradition, Nathan got a car cake for his second birthday.  All of the other boys also had car cakes for either their second or third birthdays, just as they had a sports ball cake for the first birthdays.  Nathan got a red car.  Technically, he has no real birthday this year because of being born on leap day (February 29th).  We celebrated on the 28th before he is actually two because we want to keep it in February, since we have two March birthdays.  He was very tired by the time we brought out the cake and Corey had to convince him that it was fun and to stop crying.  He finally did and we had some cake.  Nathan is such a delight and we can't imagine our family without him!

February Fun Times

We love In-N-Out hot chocolate and every time it's raining, kids under 12 get it free, so we show up! 

 Annmarie was looking really cute in her pigtails, so I snapped a picture.

 Everyone was watching the Sound of Music.

Nathan is just such a cutie.  Really, the truth is that kids of this age are just adorable.  They're so sweet and super excited about just about everything.  You want to see real joy?  Just watch a toddler discover the world.  Nathan loves putting stickers on himself and he loves playing with cars.  When a toddler loves something, they love it with their whole heart and their whole aura lights up when they are doing it or seeing it.  I love this stage!

Haircut Time

Annmarie was playing hair cut with Dad while watching some TV and that reminded us that Nathan could use a haircut. So later in the day, Corey took him up and cut his hair. He looks like such a big kid now with his haircut!

Valentine's Day and More

We baked some cookies earlier this week and Nathan really wanted some. We always store them in plastic storage bags, usually on the counter by the crock pot. In an effort to keep Nathan from them, I had moved them to another counter. Well, Nathan found them and even found a way to get to them.

We have been learning about Asia this month in preschool and I bought some frozen egg rolls that I cooked up to let the kids sample. Most of the preschoolers did not like them, but Nathan loved them and ate three of them!

In Utah for Valentine's Day, the kids always made boxes and it was almost like a competition of the coolest/cutest box.  Here in Texas, it's not an every year, every grade thing to make and bring your own Valentine's box.  Well, we got this idea for a robot box for Jonah, and Westley decided to help out.  It turned out great!

On Valentine's Day, I made heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast.  Annmarie, Nathan and I made heart-shaped mini pizzas for lunch too.  For dinner, we just had normal food, but I made a special dessert of chocolate-dipped strawberries and chocolate brownies.  Some of the kids don't enjoy the chocolate-dipped strawberries, but that's okay with me!  More for me!

A few weeks ago, Eliza used some of her saved money to buy an ukulele from Amazon.  It arrived in the mail and she was excited to get it!

A Little Recognition and Gratitude

Today I was walking by the white board on the fridge where we keep an ongoing grocery/home repair list and saw this little note from Eliza.  "Thank you Mom for Everything! -Eliza"  It was just what I needed to brighten my day.

Cheerleading Trial Class

A new cheerleading club has opened up in Wylie with reasonably priced classes.  I signed Eliza and Annmarie up for a trial class.  They enjoyed the class but I'm not sure if we'll enroll them.  While it is a good price, I'm just not sure I want them to focus on cheerleading.  We'll see what we end up doing.  We aren't signing them up yet, but we might at some future time.

Scripture Notebooks

We had this idea at the beginning of the year to give each of the kids a scripture notebook, or journal, that they can keep with their scriptures to write their thoughts in when they have their personal reading time.  We finally had a time for family home evening when we could decorate the journals we got them, just little journals we got at the dollar store and Walmart.  The kids had fun decorating them.  Hopefully they will actually use them the way they are intended to be used.

Fitting Around the Table

We finally graduated Nathan from his high chair and now he sits at the table with us.  In order to fit nine people around our table, we all squish together.  We will eventually have to extend the table to fit everyone, but for now, this is working.

Biography Wax Museum

For school, the fourth grade always does a biography wax museum.  The kids learn about a significant person in history and then dress up as that person, memorize a spiel about the person, and act like a wax figure who, when touched, will turn on and give the spiel.  Eliza chose Bethany Hamilton as her wax museum person.  She had to get special permission because Bethany is not a significant person in history as far as historical influence goes, but she was a 14-year-old surfer who had her arm bitten off by a shark, lived and continues to live life to the fullest despite her hardship.  There is a movie about Bethany Hamilton and how she even relearned to surf and takes part in professional surfing competitions.  Eliza loves this movie and is inspired by Bethany Hamilton, so she was able to get her biography approved. 

When Caleb and Travis did this, I didn't know parents were allowed to come to the wax museum, so I didn't go to theirs.  This year I learned parents could come.  I will make sure to be at the other kids' wax museums.  Westley did it too, in Utah, in third grade.