Yeah, We Got the Lion. Waiting For the Lamb

The weather has been bipolar this month. We've had snow followed by 70 degree weather followed by more snow. The kids have enjoyed both the warm and the snow though. They love playing outside in the warm and what's not to love about playing in snow?!?

Brooklyn has been obsessed with books lately! She always loves a good book, but she has been spending hours flipping through books herself. she also spends hours having me read her books.

Dustin is having a hard time deciding what he wants to spend his allowance on. He likes the bottom silver fish a lot but isn't sure he wants to kill seventh to get the silver one (I haven't yet told him you can own more than one fish at a time).

Some time in February we did secret sisters in our ward and I made this table runner for mine (along with other things). It was all out of scraps and turned out pretty good. It's the only real sewing I've done in a long time. I need to get a new project soon.

We had a friendship bracelet making night recently! The kids picked out their colors and we twisted them into bracelets together (since they don't know how to braid yet). They got really excited to make these and Brooklyn puts hers on whenever she finds it. She loves bracelets.

Dustin discovred it's not good to draw on yourself with Sharpie. It takes a lot of scrubbing to get it off your face. And it's too much work to remove from your legs, belly, arms and everywhere else.

We've all been sick off and on a lot for the past month or two. But when Logan feels up for it he will read to the other kids. He reads Dogman to Logan and any board books that Brooklyn brings him. Logan came home 15 minutes before school was over yesterday feeling bad. He didn't have a fever until today. Hopefully this one doesn't last long and doesn't get passed around.

Speaking of not feeling well, over the past 2 weeks I have sprained both my ankles. Not so much fun trying to chase around 3 kids like this. So we've been taking it pretty easy around the house lately.

Friday night Dave's parents took the boys for a sleepover with their cousin McKay. They had a great time and Dave and I had a great break with Brooklyn. She reveled in being an only child although she got bored without her brothers a lot. I worry about how she's going to do when Dustin goes to school in 1.5 years.

We took her on a walk on the Jordan River trail Saturday and she just loved chasing the ducks and geese around.

She loved it so much we decided to take the boys back on Sunday to explore. They loved wondering around the outside of the Cultural Center. They had to pose with Olmeca because they have a book with him in it.

My favorite was the arch from Taiwan. It's just beautiful!

We also got to see the oldest standing building in West Valley. It was a tiny cabin the size of our shed with an upstairs loft. We couldn't go inside since it's falling apart, but the boys were fascinated that the whole family probably lived in the one room. We decided we would much rather have our house.

We also saw lots of wild life on our walk. We saw geese, ducks, and our favorite a beaver swimming in the river! We also saw horse and goose poop, raccoon tracks, horse footprints, and dog footprints. Also a beaver dam and LOTS of "beaver trees" (trees that had been gnawed on or chopped down by beavers). It was a great day.

February

The end of January and the beginning of February passed by in a haze! But we got Logan's school pictures back! I promptly lost them (along with the pictures I printed out to send out Christmas cards this year... which I never mailed out). But he smiled so great!

We went to the dentist and he told Logan that his 4 front teeth that would be falling out in the next 6 months! He is ecstatic. He's been WAITING to loose one so the tooth fairy can visit our house. Someone told him the tooth fairy leaves gold coins, so he is really excited for that (Mom, not as much).

He and his friends at school decided he needed a hair cut, so they cut his hair during class. So now he has 1/2 inch hair buzzed all around. We learned if we need a hair cut to ask Mom because it's awful cold to not have hair in the middle of winter.

Logan has excelled at first grade! We are looking into putting him in a different Elementary School that will challenge him more. I'm a little stressed by the thought of having to drive him every day but it will be better for him (and the rest of our kids) in the long run. I've applied to a few Charter Schools and a school one district over. So far he has been accepted into two schools. One is my second choice school, so unless he gets accepted there too, he will probably be attending this one in the fall (smaller class sizes, higher over all rating, and WAY higher test score passes than his current school).

Dustin is learning like crazy too! When we put Brooklyn down for morning naps he and I practice writing our letters each day. He's mastered Dustin and has been working on other letters and words. Yesterday I was cleaning up from our writing practice and saw this written. I was so excited! "Dustin! Did you write MOM?!?" he responded "No, it says Momo, you know from Avatar? I ran out of room for the last o so it's on top." So cute, but I wish it said Mom.

He is so smart too! Dustin gets into everything I leave out. And he usually enlists Brooklyn's help. Today I was cleaning up breakfast and they had gotten the hot chocolate powder, snook it into the living room and ate who knows how much! I found trails of powder all over the house. Brooklyn was covered in chocolate, Dustin used a spoon so was less messy.

Brooklyn has also learned to get out her own toys and books. She makes such a big mess. She gets out and looks at EVERY book she owns every day. I'm glad she loves reading but I'm trying to teach her to contain the books to her bedroom instead of dragging them all over the house. She's also learning to clean up as well. She doesn't mind helping (which is more than I can say for her brothers).

As for me? I've been reading in my spare time and crocheting an infinity scarf. A friend of mine introduced me to Lemon Tart (a culinary mystery series) in September or October and I've been slowly reading them (ok, I'm still on book two, so really slowly). The mystery is interesting but the recipes and food she eats! It makes me so hungry! I've made two of her recipes so far and they were fabulous as the book described. 

Other than that we've been battling sickness. Dave got a cold, then he passed it onto Brooklyn, who passed it to me then the boys. We still have lingering coughs, and hope to be done with it soon. 

Oh, also somewhere in February we did a mini build at the Lego store, Logan saved up enough allowance to buy a really big Lego Dragon, and Dustin saved up the same. But he decided to spend it on gum. He didn't use ALL his money on gum, just a little of it. So he still has money to spare. We went swimming at the Murray pool in there somewhere too. This is the first time I though Brooklyn actually enjoyed herself! She loved wandering around in the shallows where she could touch and when we took her in the deep water she would throw herself on her back and just float with her live vest. It's good to see her enjoying herself!