February in Pictures

Riley lost her second top middle tooth on the first day of February. She had some help apparently bumping it on a toy drum at the gym daycare. She cried but worse than that, was a little girl in there that took the opportunity to tell her the tooth fairy and Santa Claus weren't real. She was more upset about the information than her tooth coming out by force, but thankfully accepted my reassurance that the little girl was wrong. (And a brat.)  Then on the 24th of February her sixth baby tooth came out to create her sweet jack o lantern smile.
 

Only five days into February and we had yet another day off of school due to ice this time. I have to admit starting so many working days curled up on my couch at the respectable hour of 9:30 am with my coffee spoiled me rotten this year. Also, my house was super clean and organized for most of the winter. And a lot of this happened.
 

A LOT of this.


And plenty of this too.
That Friday we went out for dinner and hair cuts. Camden's hair grows in so thick and wild and honestly needs cut every two weeks or he looks like a feral child. We decided to trim it way back to a faux-hawk, earlier than usual this year.



When it wasn't snowing or icing outside it was still plenty cold. One morning my little cutie looked like this as she headed off to school. Steelers fans for life.

Old Navy's kid section in our mall now has a permanent coloring table that Riley and Camden love. The weekend before Valentine's day they filled it with cards and stickers. Camden immediately said, "I making dis balentimes for you Mama". Riley played it sneaky and said it was for a kid in her class before she surprised me with it later.

We made it 7 "regular" days before the next storm blew in. Then the flakes fell fast and they were the big, pretty flakes that float down and make me swoon. Our whole family headed outside to the the little hill next to our house for some sledding.
 



Valentine's Day was a snow day so I got the treat of breakfast in bed and plenty of love from my three Valentines. Then, sort of on a whim, though we had discussed it occasionally, we decided to spend the day at a local ski resort. Let's just say that I failed miserably at skiing and ended up actually crying a bit as I tried to gather myself after I hurt my arm (and my pride) falling. But my husband and kids did really well snowboarding! We signed the kids up for a beginners class and then spent the next hour or so letting them show off their new skills on the bunny slope.

Tiny snowboarders are so cute.






They were WORN out after a very long day of snowboarding, but we've gotten hooked! We went 2 more times before the winter was over and we're hoping for a cold, snowy winter next year too.

Speaking of hooked, we got her a used board, bindings, and boots the very next weekend.


The Monday after Valentine's Day was a holiday, not a snow day, but yet another work free day to enjoy!  Hubs took the kids to see the Lego Movie.  I went to the gym while they were there and when I came back to pick them up this was the reaction I got. Riley is yelling "MOMMY!"   I love that they love me so much they were this excited to see me after a 2 hour movie.

School was back on for Tuesday and cutie girl had her Valentine's Day party at school.  She loves a chance to wear a themed outfit.  You can see some of the Valentine's Day decor in the background and little man who is always the last at the table.


The rest of the week was without incident, no more snow, just cold February days and our usual routine.  We had a bowling date night with our friends on Friday that was so much fun, even though as documented, I'm a horrible bowler.  Clearly we were having a good time.


On Sunday after church we went to our favorite Mexican restaurant for lunch.  I always loved eating out after church growing up.  Sometimes we would go to brunch at the Officer's Club which I think may be why my sister and I love brunch so much.  Sadly my non military children won't ever experience an O'Club brunch, but Mexican food is a close second.





Our weekly swimming dates continued. We almost always had the entire kids section to ourselves and I started letting them choose a few toys to bring. She was pretty excited that her my little pony could have her first swimming date.   That long torso though, she get it from her Mama.

We had so many snow days this year that the 100th day of school was much later than usual - the last day of February instead of before Valentine's Day.  Riley's class had to make a t-shirt showing 100 things.  She had LOTS of ideas - most of them get turned down because of the supply cost or work involved (like 100 my little ponies) but then she decided to draw 100 bees because they are the bumblebee class.  A few sharpies and a couple of hours later she was finished.  Her finished shirt was adorable (some of the bees became girls with bows) and she was so excited to wear it to school.