Funny stories...

Yesterday morning, Damon was having bowel issues. We were in and out of the car a couple times trying to get him to school, then having to go back in for him to use the bathroom. We decided he should stay home just in case. After I helped him with a bunch of math work and him seeming to be just fine, I asked, "Are you feeling better? Do you think you should go to school?" His response, "Yes! I'm feeling fine! I don't want to miss my ice cream party!!"

Tommy is in love with Scooby-doo right now. We bought a new DVD at Target the other day and it has Scrappy-doo in the episodes. Last night it was time for his bath and he came up calling me Velma, Hannah was Daphne, Dad was Uncle Scoob, Damon was Shaggy, and he was Scrappy-doo. I was bathing Scrappy-doo when I told him I needed to clean his bum. His response, "Uh, my tail, you mean?" He continued on being Scrappy-doo until bed time. It was hilarious!

Tommy had his first dentist appointment this week. He was super excited (after I told him that he wouldn't need a shot like Jon on Garfield did). He smiled and giggled and cooperated for the hygienist and dentist. At one point, he didn't know what to do with his tongue when his mouth was open, it was wiggling like crazy...super funny to watch.

Awhile ago, Damon and I were at Target (its rare to just have him with me somewhere). We were walking by the baby section and I stopped to look at the cribs. I said something like, "I keep wondering if we should get Hannah a crib." His response, "Oh no, she needs to prove herself first!" Even he knew she rarely slept in her bassinet (she's better now).

Damon's school had Family Literature Night this week. It was rare for Barrett to have the evening free, so the whole fam went. The boys were so excited. We ate hamburgers and hot dogs in the cafeteria then went to 2 Kindergarten rooms to hear a story and do a little project (each family even got a hardback of each of the books!). Tommy loved sitting on the carpet next to Damon answering questions (without raising his hand and not even caring). When Barrett was helping Tommy brush his teeth, he said, "I had fun at Family Literature Night. It was so awesome!!!"

Tommy was having a conversation with his friend in the car. They were talking about what they wanted to be when they grow up. Tommy said, "I know! I want to be a vacationer!! I'll be a dad and take my kids with me." Oh to be 4 again!

LOVE

We've been enjoying our LOVE month. Tommy has made an H for heart, heart butterfly, heart cookies, a heart puzzle, conversation heart graph, conversation heart patterns, valentines that are hearts and open up, pick a number, dice roll and cover, and lots more:) We've discovered the Leap Frog shows on Netflix and have been letting him watch a lot of them because they deal with numbers and the alphabet. We need more practice with letter recognition so anything helps! 

This little missy is growing and looking more like her brothers. If I go out, I try really hard to remember a headband for her. 

Barrett tried out the baby balance thing one Sunday afternoon. Hannah loved it! She also loves to be thrown up in the air. Tommy was too afraid as a baby.

One day the boys were running crazily through the house. They were driving me crazy! I think I took Hannah up to my room to escape the craziness. When we came down, I found the boys like this watching Angelina  Ballerina!?!?!?!  It made me laugh:)

This girly loves watching tv with the boys. It always makes me smile when I see her like this...too cute.

Grandma Ro sent the kids valentines and stickers. Hannah was lucky enough to score this cute heart headband and some bibs. We all tried out the headband:)

This was Valentine's morning. Notice the heart on her bum:) These are my favorite jammies for her right now and she's getting close to outgrowing them!

Barrett was able to go to Utah for a few days to see his family and snowboard. He wasn't around for Valentine's Day, but I still had my other 3 little valentines to celebrate with! Aren't they the cutest valentines?!  We were able to celebrate as a family a few days early. The boys love to decorate bags and make valentines for each other then deliver them. 

Hannah girl is starting to get super grabby during meal time if she's on our lap. Barrett was about to pour milk in his cereal bowl one morning, but before he could, Hannah had pulled the bowl full of Cheerios onto Barrett's lap! While he was out of town, I pulled out the little seat so she could sit in it and play during mealtime. She does ok, but eventually ends up tipping to one side and dropping her toys on the floor a billion times.

I realized I hadn't taken any pictures of the kids' valentines, so a few days after the fact, I pulled them all out. My mom sent the kids a little box of jelly bellies that she had bought from the Jelly Belly factory. She also made them little valentines that had a dollar bill folded into a shape of a heart stuck inside. It was so cool! Tommy made Hannah a little valentine with bottles on the front. So cute, but kinda outta the blue, since she never takes a bottle:)

Tommy with his Valentines. Damon made a skateboard that said, "I Love You" on it. Pretty clever.

Tommy loves Scooby-doo. We were at the craft store one day and he found these little paper treat bags with Scooby-doo on them. He made cute scooby-doo drawings on his valentines for his Dad and Damon, so we put them in the bags. They were pretty cute.

So our Valentine's Day was nice. We had pink oatmeal for breakfast, Tommy and I had heart shaped sandwiches for lunch after coming home from a cookie decorating party with friends, then we had pink heart shaped pancakes for dinner. My mom had sent us See's chocolates, so I ate a bunch of those plus cinnamon hearts. Barrett was able to spend time with the other valentines in his life while in Utah...his mom, Grandma, and aunt...oh, and BYU! We're lucky to have such a wonderful, loving family.

Snakes and Penguins

We celebrated Chinese New Year. Tommy had made a cute red snake (since it is the year of the snake) at story time during the week. One day he said to me, "Mom, today I want to make something Chinese-y." So we made a red lantern. He loved learning about Chinese New Year and we even called aunt Kim to hear her speak some chinese. We made orange chicken from one of our favorite food blogs (Melskitchencafe) and egg rolls (from the store) then made a snake fruit pizza(s). It is always fun to have a reason to do something different.

One Friday night we had a movie party. We ordered pizza and ate it on the floor while watching Mr. Popper's Penguin. We all had a lot of fun and the boys thought the movie was hilarious. Afterwards we made  brownie penguins (I had some leftover brownie bites in the freezer from making them before). Once again, it is always fun to do something a little different and special:)

January Project Fun

We've made Oreo penguins a lot. 

 For Family Home Evening one night, we made brownie penguins.

 Tommy has made snowmen, penguins, a polar bear, "S" is for snow, "P" is for penguin, and tons of snowflakes (with mom and Damon's help).  He sure loves his projects!

Miss 4 Month Old!

Little sweetie pie turned 4 months old this week! She is still adorable. She has been drooling like crazy, so we change out her bibs a billion times throughout the day. When one gets soaked, we hang it on a door knob until it dries. She has also started to roll over. Most often, when I put her on her back, she'll immediately flip over, then get mad she's on her tummy, so screams. She hasn't figured out yet she can flip back. She loves to smile. She'll stare at someone until they look at her and acknowledge her, then her face beams! So adorable! She's starting to grab at things now. She's almost pulled Barrett's bowl of cereal and dinner plate onto his lap. She's also doing a better job about sleeping in her bed, not every night, but it definitely is progress! We love this little pumpkin!

SNOW!

We finally got a bit of snow one night. Tommy was ecstatic to see it. I let him go out and play in it. I felt really bad that he was all by himself, but he sure didn't seem to mind. He made snow angels, ran around, and ate the snow off the neighbor's trampoline. A few days later we got about the same amount of snow, but school was delayed an hour. I let Damon and Tommy go out in the snow for 15 minutes before school. Damon basically pestered Tommy the whole time so then I felt bad Tommy wasn't playing in the snow by himself this time:)

This morning we got at least 3 inches of snow. We were shocked school wasn't delayed or cancelled, especially since it was a half day! I told Damon he didn't have to go to school, but he wanted to. Barrett picked him up and all 3 boys played in the snow all afternoon. The wind was freezing!! They didn't seem to mind the cold and loved it!! They ran, made snow angels, made a snowman (maybe our family's first ever), tackled each other, ate tons of snow and icicles, and loved it! When they were done, I had hot chocolate waiting for them. Barrett and I taught them the grasshopper cookie trick too...we'd forgotten how awesome it was!