Be my Valentine

How is February half over?  January kind of dragged, February is flying by.  

I dropped the girls off at the farm last week and went to pick up meat at the locker... I came back to this:  they talked grandma into making cupcakes.  And a mess. 

Usually, on a good morning, the younger two sleep through Cecily and Bob getting up (neither of them are very quiet).  Ideally I can take Cecily to school and be back before Bob leaves for work and I get a few minutes of quiet before they wake up. This particular morning I walked in to Cadence getting breakfast for herself and Emmy.  Ha.  I'd left waffles on their plates on the counter and she'd gotten a chair and retrieved them.  

 We like snow.

 Trying on shoes for Uncle Jakey's wedding.  That's Cecily's hair in Cadence's face... she was unimpressed.

Mom will you draw shapes so I can cut snowflakes? 

She's getting so big!  Happily building towers for herself. 

 So I have a list of things I want to sew someday... check coat off of the list.  These aren't the greatest pictures but I was so excited that I finished it and it doesn't look too bad!  I liked the cool collar/hood combo on the pattern; not as sold on the hood in real life.  It's not quite deep enough and the wool is pretty stiff so it sticks out like a halo.  Ha.  

I was brave enough to wear it to church Sunday.... with my favorite little Emmy model.  I kind of wish I would have gone for a fun color now instead of navy.  Oh well.  Maybe the next coat I sew. 

Friday was a big day.  I got to talk about acids and bases and practical applications a la Picture of Dorian Gray.  (It's so fun to watch their faces! I'm weird, I know.) Then the mail came and Samantha came home from the doll hospital! They were so excited.  She came back in a hospital gown and socks and a bracelet.... and doctors instructions to rest.  Haha.  Her hair looks so much better now and I have satisfied my lifelong curiosity about the doll hospital.  All those years of reading the AG catolog cover to cover, now I know. Also, I apparently have more of an emotional attachment to Samantha than previously thought. 

We also finally got around to opening a bank account for Cadence.  Third kid... Cecily and Emmy were super excited to go to the bank because they have popcorn.   

That evening Michelle and Nathan and Matt came over for supper and to plan Jake's bachelor supper. 

The three littlest were fighting over the doll stroller until they discovered that they could push each other around in it.   

 Saturday evening we went to Bob's coworker Jason's house for supper.  Their kids are close to our girls' ages so they had lots of fun. 
Busy making Valentines.  

 Playing in the snow again.

 Tuesday evening some of the potluck kids came over to make cards and decorate cookies- we were missing 2 families and there were 13 kids.  A little crazy, but fun!  

Cecily got to stay all day at school on Valentine's day and then we delivered our Valentines.  It's always such a blessing to make people smile.  We added the church widowers this year so we got to deliver a valentine to Uncle Cleo- "You've got it backwards!  Boys are supposed to give Valentines to girls!"  He makes me smile, he also said he's celebrating his 99th Valentine's day this year.  
The rest of our day was pretty uneventful.  I made a bunch of red foods for supper and Bob worked late.  Woot.  
 We have the best library ever.  They had a stuffed animal sleepover this week.  The older girls dropped off 'Minnie' and 'Flower' and last night we picked them up.  They read a couple of stories and had a scavenger hunt to find their animals.

Cadence insisted on wearing her pink boots and bringing a kitty and her blanky.   

 Emmy was thoroughly enjoying herself.

 Then they showed slides of what the animals did at their sleepover.  This was a sack race that Minnie and Flower were both in.  I don't remember who won.

 They decorated cookies (and ate them).

 And got a Polaroid picture of themselves and their stuffed animal friend.  Cadence found the book they read.

 Today was school again.  We did a fun titration in lab and got to stay for the soup lunch.  Cecily got to go to Stuber's for lunch while we were gone since Matthew and Alex ride with us to co-op.  It's always interesting having teenage boys in the van- you hear things like, 'listen to this truck and tell me what kind of engine you think it has.'  Um... haha.  
Raising capable, independent women in this house!  She's fixing the table for me.    

 Also, girls after my own heart.  Cake is the best thing ever.  

Blessings.

Winter fun

I really don't mind winter.  I don't like being cold, but I like going into hibernation in our cozy house.  

We took advantage of a warmer day to ride bikes.

We had a quiet week and then a busier week; last weekend Bob helped Sharon and Rustin move.  
Oh dear little Emmy.  She wanted to wear her (short sleeved) unicorn shirt so I told her to put a long sleeved shirt underneath it... she came out like this... three year old fashion at its finest.  Pink pants, lavender shirt, teal striped undershirt. 

Bob has been really busy at work and working long hours, which is of course no fun for us.  We get a little lonely and cranky.   So, I was dreading another long afternoon of whiny cooped up children begging for screen time.  About 15 minutes before we had to pick up Cecily I decided to take them to Monkey Joe's, Emmy's crazy outfit and all.  

 Cecily thinks Monkey Joe's is the best thing ever.  Emmy and Cadence like it too.

 Cadence had no fear. And thankfully, her sister were willing to help her climb up the inflatables. 

 They barely stopped moving.

 The little one did really well keeping up with her big sisters.

 So much fun.  Which I guess makes the time and expense worth it. 

I got to go to sewing club, which is always fun.  I even managed to get a few stitches done on my never ending cross stitch project.
Mom, take a picture of me with Rebecca holding the cat! 

 Thursday afternoon we met Mom, Jack, Shelly, and Gideon at the children's museum- getting in all of our winter fun in one week! Gideon loves the moo... and Cadence was pretty fascinated with milking it too.

 The little boys loved the balls.

 "Oh!" 

 The apron was a little big for her.  

 Future engineer connecting pipes to turn the water wheel.

 Jack was zooming in on grandma, and the girls were not impressed.

 Emmy's happy place.

 Our last stop was the kinetic sand.  All lined up...

 Friday we went to teaching school.  I had a slight sore throat so thankfully it was a lab day and I didn't have to talk as much.  That afternoon I was working on an embroidery project and Cecily decided she wanted to sew. right. now. and would not be dissuaded.  And she decided it HAD to be a shirt for Rebecca.  *sigh*   So I traced out a basic t-shirt shape for her.  She actually did a really good sewing the seams.  And Emmy would not be left out, she made a "ball"  and a scarf.  

 They were so proud of themselves and their creations!  (And I was a little proud of them too.)(Also, another wonderful Emmy outfit.)

And then my cold got worse and Bob came down with the same sore throat.  So we've been holed up at home coughing and blowing our noses... the girls have been healthy so far, thankfully.

Blessings.