the last of February

 I love to see my older kids reading to Isaac.

 Isaac came down with the worst virus.  He was so sick, the poor little guy.  He lived in my bed for a couple of days with the humidifier next to him.  He called it his 'human on fire' 

 Ben asked how he was feeling one morning, and I sent him this picture.  He had wanted to get out of bed and get dressed, but he was still feeling terrible.

 Later in the evening, Ben asked again, and I sent him this picture.  Isaac had finally started feeling better and wanted to play.  I was up on Luke's bed changing the sheets when he asked.

 My girls and I went to see Hailey's friend perform in the musical, Annie. 

 It was so fun to get dressed up and go to the theatre.

 Sharla makes the best donuts.  It's so fun for the girls to cook with their Grandma.

I babysit my sweet nephew, Jett, usually once a week.  I get to snuggle him until the girls get home from school.  Then they rush in to steal him away. 

Valentines Day

We love Valentines day around here, so much fun going on!

   

 The girls looked so cute in their red and pink hearts

 Isaac and I made cookies for our YW activity

 I chaparoned Luke's Valentine's dance.  

 I wanted a picture, and he barely let me take one quick one.

 Tuesday nights are usually terrible for us.   Carly has piano at 3:45-4:45, The girls have activty days from 5-6, Luke has scouts from 6-8, and I have YW's at 6:30.  Ben usually gets home around 7.  So, I usually burn dinner on Tuesdays.  I keep trying to not let it happen, but it always does when I'm running kids around.  I always want them to finish eating before I leave so they don't choke during the half hour before Ben gets home.  My parent's always bring the kids mini papa murphy pizzas for Valentines.  I felt especially terrible when I burnt their dinner.  Hailey and Ike were so upset, the older three put on their best faces and said they didn't care and I was the best mom anyways.  They helped me keep it together, and since I had to leave while they were still eating, I was extra grateful that no one choked.

Since YW was on Valentine's day, we offered free babysitting to the couples in our ward.  The YW made fun games and activities for the kids, and they also decorated sugar cookies.  I sent this picture to my friend, Sarah, because her little girl, Sawyer, was so sad when she dropped her off. Sawyer was my little buddy that night and followed my around.  The activity ended up being more fun than I thought it would be. 

Field trip

The 4th graders went on an awesome field trip in Salt Lake.  It started with the Natural History museum, then to the Pioneer Museum, and ended at the State Capitol.  Even though I went two years ago with Luke, I learned so much.  Abigail and I especially enjoyed the pioneer museum.

 Abi and her best friend, Kate, were the only two in our group, it was so fun.  These two girls are the sweetest!

 Abi's favorite part of the Capitol was the dome with the paintings inside.

First of February

Ike likes to be read to after lunch.  Usually it puts him to sleep, and then I carry him to his bed. Sometimes, it puts me to sleep too.   But on this day, I just held him the whole time, it won't be long                                             before he's too old for this,  and I am cherishing it.

 my kids have loved having a new baby cousin. If they're not holding him, they're standing extremely close to the person who is holding him. My kids are baby crazy, and it's been a while since we've had a little baby around.

 my banister started out that terrible honey oak color. I stained it a really dark color, and I ended up hating it.  Now,  a year later, I decided to re-stain it.  Carly helped for a minute with the sanding.  It ended up being terrible to sand all the spindels, so I changed my mind during the process to painting it white.  It lightened up my foyer so much.

 We dog sat Lola for Larry and Sharla.  Ike loves the dog so much.  He asked if we could walk him to his friend's house to show Ben the dog. 

 Isaac and I are the popcorn ticket people every other Wednesday at the elementary.  When Carly's class goes to the lunch room, Isaac would go eat with her.  Then the Carly and Hailey would help me hand out tickets after their lunch.

Isaac wasn't much of a helper, and I usually had to send Carly to go look for him.  His favorite place to go was the library and the teacher's lounge.