February

The kids always like to help Jeff when he's working outside. Jeff enjoys the company, but a lot of times they slow him down and get in the way. After the catastrophe of only having one rake this fall and attempting to shovel our first snow storm this winter Jeff told me that if I ever saw kids snow shovels to grab them - it didn't matter the cost! I happened upon some at Toys R Us on clearance and immediately got them. I think it was more of a present for Jeff than the kids! Even though they haven't had the chance to use them much, they have loved 'helping' their daddy. And they look so cute doing it.

 With Emily's only sibling being a boy and with how much Jacob just adores his sister, we haven't really been too surprised or concerned when he wants to wear headbands, crowns, bracelets, necklaces, and lip gloss. But the other day Emily was dressing up and Jacob decided he wanted to get the full experience and he dawned Snow White's gown. Now I remember when I was little my sister and I would dress up our younger brother Chris all the time. He's turned out ok so I guess I shouldn't worry, but seeing Jacob in a dress that day definitely threw me. Atleast he wore his more manly boots  in case he needed to tackle any dragons... or tromp around outside in the snow.

Since my youngest brother Matthew is getting ready for his mission we all met up at the bountiful temple for his first session. It was fun to be with so much family and it was nice to have some quiet time away from kids. We went out to dinner together afterwards where I enjoyed eating without a child on my lap, not hearing "this is yucky" and "I don't like this", as well as not having to mop up any spills during the course of my dinner.  Thank you Mike & Niki for switching me places for the night and handling all the whining and messes for a few hours.

My dad is out of town on business for several months so the night before he left we got together for dinner and 'goodbyes'. I think I heard every grandkid say at least once, "I don't want you to go!" Of course all of us adults were thinking, and sometimes saying, the same thing. We love you and miss you dad and can't wait til you come home!

I helped with Emily's Valentine's Day party at school. She got to hand out her valentines, play several games, decorate a picture frame, make a candy necklace and decorate sugar cookies. It was fun to be there and see all the fun the kids had. I was in charge of the cookies and had spent the day before and the morning of baking and getting things together. I was amazed at how much frosting, sprinkles, and candy some of those kids could pile onto a little cookie!

As soon as we got home I donned my apron again and started in on our Valentine's dinner. Stan & Mel were in town and were able to join us for our festivities. We had a yummy candlelight dinner and instead of using Grandma's goblets I bought some fun heart straws. I figured with two 2 year olds this year, staying away from the crystal was the best option.

After dinner we played a game with some valentine jelly beans, Valentine's Bingo, and decorated sugar cookies for dessert. Since there was candy involved in every activity, Jacob chose to take advantage of me being distracted state and snack on candy all night.

After the festivities were over we got ready for bed and read our "Love Notes" as a family. Then the kids got to open a valentines present before heading off to bed and before I completely passed out from such a crazy busy day.

The kids absolutely loved having Heidi and Ryan in town to play. I was horrible about pulling my camera out this last month so I had to steal all the pics from Melanie. Emily loved having another girl around (especially one that would do anything she asked) and she was always wanting to hold Ryan. Jacob was hilarious with Heidi - they'd just sit next to each other and laugh forever. He also really liked 'helping' the baby. It gave me some good insights as to what I'm in store for this summer.

Stan & Mel's last night in town we all got together with Mike & Niki. After dinner we sat around talking, laughing, and wrestling with the kids. At some point a beach ball started getting thrown around and at 10:00pm we had all 4 kids running around hyper as can be, the couches shoved to the side of the room, and 6 adults laughing hysterically as they tried to keep the ball in the air, away from the "dark hole" behind the entertainment center, and still nail anyone they could in the face. After a while (and no serious injuries) we finally decided to call it quits, say goodnight and goodbye and wrestle some extremely tired kids to bed.

Jeff is such an awesome dad. Emily & Jacob both just adore him and love playing with him. One night as I was cleaning up dinner they decided to play superheros and pulled out all of Jacob's capes. Of course daddy had to have one too and pretty soon all three of them were racing around the house (Jacob yelling "Fwyyy! Fwyyy!" in the process). It just made me smile to see Jeff play along with them. I'm so grateful for how involved he his and how much he just adores them. They couldn't ask for a better playmate than daddy and I couldn't ask for a better husband.